Haiphong, 16:49 local time
After about 30 hours of travel time, I finally arrive in my new home. My new boss and a colleague pick me up at the airport, take me to my hotel and then take me to dinner. To my horror, they take me to a Texan BBQ place. They explain that they understand some teachers go through culture shock and they wanted to ease me in with familiar tastes, which is sweet. My boss, Ms. Linh (pronounced Ling), is a very sweet mother of a five year old boy and seems like she will be great to work for. After a long sleep (or better yet, long coma), I'm taken to see my apartment in the morning before I go to school for the first time. Its a sparse tower of a house wth a small kitchen and a small living room with internet on the first floor, a bedroom on the second floor (WITH AC!!!) and an empty room I can turn into whatever I want (most likely storage for my luggage) on the third floor. If I'm adventuresome, I can climb a rickety ladder to a balcony from the third floor. Guess how much this place costs me per month? A princely sum of $155!! The woman who took me to see the house is both the granddaughter of my landlord and a fellow teacher at the school. We have quickly become friends with her helping me shop and get my way around (thank God for her because outside of the school, no one speaks English). She has taught me a few Vietnamese phrases, of which I have only retained "thank you" (pronounced roughly gahm-ahn) and hello (pronounced zin-chow). Luckily, my Vietnamese lessons will start in 2 weeks when the other foreign teacher joins our school.
On hearing Vietnamese for the first time:
Because Vietnamese is written in Roman letters (Thanks colonialism?), I had somehow fooled myself into thinking it wouldn't be as difficult as other Asian languages. PSYCH!!!! For those who don't know, Vietnamese has 6 tones. Even beyond the tones, the pronunciation is unfathomable to me. Thank goodness for free Vietnamese lessons as provided by my contract. Learning it alone seems a task designed for Sisyphus.
I can't imagine having come here without my experience in Ghana. Though things are still very foreign to me, there are still some things that seem familiar. Street vendors, small family owned shops, sparse living conditions, slow internet and standing out are not new things to me. Speaking of standing out, beyond my pink skin (which quite a few have already commented on), I am no less than a giant here. Everyone, even the men, stand a few inches shorter than me. Eyes follow me walking down the street as there are truly not many ex-pats here. In fact, I've only seen one other and he works at my school.
As for school, I teach my first course today. I have two adult classes, two classes of children and one teen class. Until the other teacher comes, I'll be picking up her classes and working 40 hours a week! Welcome to the world of the employed, I suppose? Luckily, anything over 20 hours is overtime so that will help me save up for my moto really quickly. Tan, the granddaughter and fellow teacher, is going to teach me how to ride as I have scarcely seen ANY public transport and almost everyone, from 12 year olds to 60 year olds, have their own moto. As I live a 20 minute walk from the school, it will be great to drive there when I have early or late classes.
Pictures and commentary on the culture I'm seeing here will be coming soon!!
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