Phan Thiet Feb'12

The morning after Valentine's Day I made it to Novotel's pool for the first time in ages. It felt really good to swim, I can't remember the last time I did. Having an open wound on your foot is not conducive to getting said foot wet. Luckily I think I am going to keep all of my nails but I will have a wicked scar on the sole of my foot. I do consider myself very lucky, it could have been so much worse and/or not healed as well as it has. Wednesday evening saw me start to teach an evening class at the language centre. It's a class that Daniel doesn't really want to teach and I don't think the students want him to do it either. It's a group of teenage students who are quite high level and very boisterous. I think the class went well but we'll see if they try to get me fired. I am not terribly concerned if they do, I only plan to teach it for one session which is ten weeks. It's a little extra cash and another evening taken up. After class I had beers with Tan, Phuong, a waitress from Bien Dong restaurant and her husband. It was a later night than I expected as we didn't all meet up until around 10pm, I might have to curb my school night socialising. Obviously I'm not that smart as the following evening I did the same thing as I had beers with Anh, Carlo and Tony after I finished my VCB evening class. This was in between meeting two couch surfers and letting them into the house. Thankfully it was Friday the next day and I was up to date with my lesson planning. I went home in my lunch break but the couch surfers, Julie and Noe were there and proceeded to talk to me when all I really wanted to do was nap. My tiredness didn't stop me from heading out that night, I had dinner with Anh and Dan Q on Bo Ke, we then all went to Bia Chot on Ton Duc Thang St for more beer and then Dan Q and I went to TP nightclub to finish the night off. The weekend had started. I had coffee with Phoung and the rest of my Saturday was spent at home with excursions for lunch. I wasn't up to much after my night out. Of course that didn't stop me going out Saturday night, I went to Mui Ne to have dinner with Sasha but I actually got home around midnight which wasn't too bad. In fact with Sasha it could have been a lot worse, she's regularly out to 4am, I don't know how she does it. Sunday morning was spent having coffee with Kelly, a Vietnamese woman who works at a resort near Kega. Anna and I had met her when we were having our nails done after Tet and I'd given her my telephone number. She's nice and like many other local people just wants the opportunity to practice her English. I went to the market but didn't buy anything, which was a bit of a let down. I am trying to stick to a budget this month as I want to send money home but I think I can still afford more earrings and/or more shoes. I was on my way home, honest, when I got a call from Phuong (another Phuong), my student friend. Her family were down on the beach drinking and wanted me to join them. Of course I went and had a good few hours drinking with Phuong's father, four uncles, cousin and one of their friends. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch at home drinking a lot of water. Phuong kindly had dinner with me, we went to a street stall for Pho. So much for my quiet Sunday. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I could be stuck at home with no one to drink beer or coffee with, I just didn't think that this is how things would be after Anna left. I'm happy to discover that I can be social and that people do want to hang out with me and that I decide how quiet or busy my life is. The last full week of work in February was pretty much as usual for me, for Kate it would be her last at APC. She came in on Monday very much in countdown mode. It's a shame that she and Winston have had such a bad experience here, I only hope that it doesn't colour too much their view of the country. After work the three of us went out to dinner. Winston can be a very intense guy and definitely doesn't shy away from difficult topics. It can make him hard work to be around and if all you want is a fun,relaxed night, then he's not the person I would choose to hang out with. On Tuesday night I had my VCB class, which went well. I showed my students how to access Facebook. The Vietnamese government blocks access to Facebook but as with most things on the internet there's a workaround. I don't know if they'll use it but they're adults so they can decide. After class I had dinner with Anh, his brother and sister at Bia Chot. Thank heavens that place is on my way home, it makes things easier. I didn't stay late but the delay in getting home meant a delay in going to sleep as I still needed time to wind down. My Wednesday class went similarly well, I do like the students and that makes the class easier for me to teach. A couple of them are able to use their English in humour and a student who can make me laugh automatically goes to the top of my class. I think that the use of humour is a clear sign of a good command of language and of the student's confidence. After class I saw Tan on my way home and stopped and had a beer with him, it was the second time that day I'd bumped into him, we'd had coffee together before I went to my kindergarten class. I don't know how I can forget what a small town Phan Thiet is. If I do, that kind of thing will remind me. The rest of the week flew by and was pretty much spent as always, I had dinner in Mui Ne with Sasha on the Thursday and was out in Phan Thiet the following night. Saturday morning I had coffee at Lien's place, she is more of a friend of Anna's and runs her own small cafe. She's lovely and never wants to let me pay, which I feel guilty about. I never think about what people would have to pay to have an English conversation class, I am just happy to have someone to talk to. My big night out was with Anh Chien again and some of his friends. He always has a few people in tow, he generally says that they are his students. This time we started with dinner at a restaurant beside the railway tracks that I've never been to before. When I think about it I understand that there are a lot of places I haven't been to in Phan Thiet but if I don't think about it then I think I've been to a lot of places. He was three other guys and of course there was beer. The restaurant was followed with karaoke, I escaped having to sing "Hello" but got stuck with "Hotel California" instead. Thank the stars that no one cares whether or not you can sing. Then we moved onto our local beer place for a few more beers. One of Anh's friends, Tuan, saw me home as he was worried about me getting home safely. He doesn't speak much English so I can't explain that I don't think I need a protector, but it was kind of him none the less. Kate left on the last day in February and that's the last I've seen of her. Now we're relying on "Dr." Jason to get us a new teacher, I don't know how long that will take. I have arranged for Daniel to substitute for the rest of the week and for the following two weeks Daniel and Dan Q will split the classes between them. Hopefully it will all work out.