Phan Thiet Sept'11

September arrived without me noticing. I am still disorientated not having had a full week at work yet. I never thought that I would say this but I am hoping that that changes real soon. I met Sasha, an Australian girl, on the 1st, she met us for dinner with Dan Q. She has just completed her CELTA and wants to work in Phan Thiet. She's cool. I hung out with her a couple times over the following few days, she's very easy to talk to. She even came to our school opening ceremony on the first Sunday. Afterwards Dan, Anna and I had to go to a school lunch, I made sure that we had plenty of beer to drink. Jason had a chat with us after the lunch, he had cancelled the training as Anna had said she couldn't attend. Ms My had texted us on the Wednesday to say that Jason wanted to set up training for the Sunday afternoon and all day Monday and that we would get paid for it. I wasn't surprised that this was what Jason was trying to do, Anna went ballistic. During the "chat" Anna wasn't afraid to say what she wanted to and put her point of view across very forcefully. I sat back and watched, I am not very good at confrontation. Jason turned up in the office on the following Tuesday and Anna had a meeting with him. I don't know how it went but Anna has decided to stay. She did say that she didn't want to take the house we had seen on Le Loi as she wasn't sure how long she would be in PT. I am disappointed, I really want my own space. I am going to have to try and find a small place for just me. On Monday 10th PT celebrated the Moon festival, of course Anna and I had to attend. All the schools gathered just behind Co-Op mart, we were there for about an hour. All of the students have an individual paper lantern that they carry and each school has a large paper lantern on a trailer/cart thing. The schools are interspersed with dragon dancers. Our students were just about to tag onto the end of the parade when we were grabbed by a Vietnamese woman and asked if we were tourists, we said no, that we are teachers. She asked if we could say we were tourists, realising she was scouting for a TV programme we said yes! So we got to be interviewed on live TV. Very cool. Then we ran to catch up with our students and marched with them through the city. We ducked out after about an hour and went to get some beer. I had had a great time. So much more relaxed than last year. What a difference the absence of one person can make.I had the next day off and in what is fast becoming a habit spent it beside the Novotel pool. Later in the week Anna and I went out with two of the Catholic boys. They are now living in Bien Hoa and were visiting for a few days. We ended the night at MTV and although it wasn't a particularly late night I definitely felt it the next day.My kindergarten class was a real struggle! I do not recommend doing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with a hangover. Other than the Moon festival I haven't been terribly interesting so far this month. I have been out in Mui Ne a couple of times but only to Pogo, the place is growing on me. Unfortunately Mui Ne is never going to be party central like Nha Trang, the lay out of the resort is all wrong. The resort is squeezed between the beach and one main road, about ten kms in length. If you stay in the wrong place you have to rent a bicycle or motorbike to get around, either that or pay for a taxi every time you want to go somewhere. Most of the good restaurants are at one end while the late night hang outs are at the other. I guess I should consider myself lucky that I don't want to spend more time there. I would be a lot poorer and fatter if I did. In Phan Thiet I went to MTV a couple of times, the club now has two pole dancers. I was a bit shocked when I saw them, not because they were very scantily dressed but because they were simulating lesbian sex. Not quite sure what I feel about that in my quiet, country town! On the last weekend Anna and I went to Dalat for Curtis's birthday party. I'd met Curtis when he played at a goodbye party at Coco Beach, Mui Ne in March and we had got talking. When he said that he was having a party I contacted Denise, both she and Anna were up for a weekend away. The party was held at Curtis's restaurant in Dalat. It was an awesome night, fuelled by too many free Margaritas.Luckily I wasn't too hung over the next day, the road between Dalat and Phan Thiet goes through the mountains. On top of having a load of switchbacks it is in very poor repair so there is a lot of lurching around. Last week Anna and I joined the Vietnam Brewery guys for a night out on a Thursday. We ended the night at MTV and me with a busted bike. One of the guys was going to ride my bike to the club with me on the back, my poor bike couldn't take the combined weight of the two of us and the back wheel buckled. If I'd been sober, I would have been very upset. Jan very kindly lent me his bike so I could get home and get to work the next day. Work was a struggle. I have to get back into the habit of not going out on a school night.