Sorry about the lack of a blog update. After the Mekong Delta we had to buckle down and focus on getting our certificates. This involved two tests and six individual teaching practices, which would have been easy had we been at a different school. Now I know people always say "don't blame the students, blame the teacher" ... however, all 16 people on the course agreed that we were thrown into possibly the worst school in history.
From hearing about various peoples lessons I have decided that we may have even been in a "boys/girls town" type of school. Seriously. Students would hit each other, and not just lightly. In one of my classes I caught one girl punching another so hard in the back of the head I though she was concussed. They would also throw things at each other. This doesn't include the odd paper ball flying around the classroom like we used to do, no no. They threw shoes, books, one teacher said he thinks he saw a pot plant go flying past. I actually have a video of one of Duncan's lessons which I will sell to those who want to see it. It is brilliant, he had an exceptionally rowdy class that would not keep quiet no matter what. At exactly 23 minutes and 18 seconds he screams "QUIET" so loudly one of the little girls literally jumped out of her chair. I shall start the viewings at R 30 each.
But we made it, all of us threw at least three kids out of class and got a few tears out of them. Aah revenge :) And proud to say we did SA proud with the marks we got too.
The day the course ended we were taken out to lunch and made plans with everyone in class to finally go to a karaoke evening. Duncan was a bit apprehensive about this and I remember him saying something like "I refuse to sing karaoke, I will not lower myself to that level". I don't know if it was the Egyptian themed karaoke room we had or the mass of beer consumed but he sang. A lot. Good times.
With the course finished we were all feeling a bit lost. It was quite strange not having a pile of homework to do or lessons to plan. This is where the plan to go to Mui Ne came from. We thought that it would be best to relax for a few days before hitting the job market.
Once this plan was in place the guys decided they needed some new baggies so off we went to Benh Tanh market. We found a great little tore where the Duncan and Donovan found shorts, baggies and a few t-shirts. Thinking the lady would give us a discount as we had about 8 items in total. Nope. She wanted 175 US dollars for the lot. I pulled up a chair, sat down and 5 minutes later walked away with everything for 60 dollars. She even apologised for thinking we were tourists. Ha!
Next it was my turn to try and find a new swimming cozzie. We walked and walked and eventually found a place. I thought my biggest problem would be finding a costume my size here, turns out the biggest problem is my height. They do not make costumes for people over 5 foot.
Tuesday we left for Mui Ne with the Canadians. It was a 5 hour bus trip which was absolutely terrifying. When we got out we all agreed that South African taxi drivers are way more cautious. Arrived in our hotel which was nice and clean. Along the stretch of the beach is all the hotels and restaurants, none of which are more than 5 steps from the ocean. The smell and sound of the sea was instantly relaxing and I realised how much we take it for granted back home. The five of us walked about the town and found a lovely spot for lunch which had a beautiful swimming pool and decent prices. After lunch and a cocktail I had a dip in the sea which was incredible.
That night we had a relaxed evening and a few drinks on the beach.
On Wednesday Duncan and I woke up really early, grabbed a coffee and went for a stroll along the beach. It was so nice just walking and listening to the waves crashing. A very nice change from the constantly traffic jammed city. Once everyone was awake, we decided to go see the "fairy stream" which promises gorgeous waterfall at the end of the walk. From looking at the map we guessed it was about 2km's away, so we started walking. 5km's later we reached the entrance to the stream. It was stunning. A very low river in between clay hills with overhanging tree's letting in the odd beam of sun. The kind of place we want to take everyone that comes to visit us! We walked and walked, really enjoying the scenery when I fell in a hole. Not good, I had heard a pop and the camera had gotten wet. So after the really long walk I had injured myself about 1km from what we came to see. I tried to convince Duncan to carry on but he was very chivalrous and stayed with me. We managed to get back to the main road and take a taxi. I felt really bad about ruining the trip to the waterfall so I offered to buy him a beer. We were there for about 2 hours and when I tried to stand to leave I realised I couldn't walk. And that is how the next few days went. Everyone was really sweet about it and joined us for drinks on our balcony. On Thursday the guys literally carried me to the swimming pool and we spent the day relaxing there. I was quite relieved to get back and take some proper pain meds.
The 5 hour bus ride back went quickly, although that might be because this driver was more of a cowboy than the first and we had about 4 near death experiences. Mutual agreement to NEVER take a bus here again. No shoreline or sunset is worth it! When we arrived home Ms Tu's helpers made a doctors appointment for me, and told me to leave at 16h30. Perfect, this gave the guys plenty of time to out and grab some lunch. About 10 minutes after they had left there was a knock at the door. I hopped over and it was Ms Tu's son who said, "We go doctor now" and handed me a helmet. I then spent 30 minutes on the back of a motorbike with a dodgy leg weaving through traffic. We eventually arrived at the "doctor" who's office was down a very dinjey alley way. I hopped into the office, he rubbed some yellow stuff on my foot, twisted it in the way it really hurt then put about 9 small plasters in different spots, then about 6 round black plasters over that and a bandage. I have no idea what these thing he put on me are, but for the last 18 hours they have been going from super hot to super cold and I woke up with a much less swollen foot.
That's about all the interesting news from Nam, I will try update the blog more regularly
Love to you all xxx
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