Phan Thiet June'12

Unsurprisingly I had a late start the morning after getting back from Saigon but I still had to make it into the office, which I did. I had no idea what Ms.My might want me to teach on the summer course, did she have an idea, how many students and what the schedule was going to be etc.. Fortunately I was able to get some of these questions answered, the teaching plan that Justin had supposedly put together last year isn't one. It's just a list of six topics and associated vocab, although I cannot complain as I am not going to put together anything for someone to follow next year. I am still bitter about the change in my contract details for the school year just gone and feel that it should have been handled differently. Every time I have to complete a task outside of my teaching time I feel as if APC is getting my work product for free and I don't like it. I didn't have to teach in the afternoon as Ms.My had arranged for the students to watch a movie has I had had no time to prep for a class. She is really sweet and so helpful, she is one of the few people I will miss when I leave. After school I was headed to Win Cafe for some much needed blog time when I guy I know drew up along side me. He joined me for a coffee and I didn't get any work done. I then went and had dinner with Xu, the Novotel chef, and his friends and finished the night with a beer at Hau's place on Bo Ke. Not quite the evening I'd had planned for myself. The following evening my Vietcom Bank class was cancelled, I haven't taught there now since April and I don't know if I will again as they've put off classes until July. I had dinner with Doan, he is working just outside the city again. And yes the conversation took a familiar turn, have to say it for the guy, he's persistent. Despite the most attractive offer I went home alone. Wednesday morning was spent with the students at a coffee shop. I sat through a two hour "thing" and can honestly say that I am still not sure what the point was. I think Mr.Huan wants to demonstrate that the summer program has exciting outside school trips planned and people should sign up their children, or something like that. Ms. My says that this will only happen for two weeks, so just one more school trip to get through and I should be done. That's the hope anyway. My afternoon was much better, I had an Indian lunch with Carlo in Mui Ne at Ganesh. Ganesh is a good restaurant, the chef and owner are both from India and the food is great. I wouldn't say that it is better than my favourite Indian restaurant in the U.K. but that's only because they do their Korma's differently. My ESL class went well, I like the students in that class. There are 16 of them, all teenagers and they can be a bit boisterous, Daniel doesn't like the class and is more than happy to let me teach it. I don't mind them, I think they're interesting and their English is great and they're all generally very confident when speaking. That makes all the difference when speaking a second language. After class I had dinner with Daniel and Anh, which I tend to do at least once a week and then I met Chien for a few beers before going home. These days I seem rarely to have anything planned but often end up going out. Am not complaining, just commenting. The end of the week was in sight and I was really looking forward to it despite only teaching a couple of hours in the afternoon for the summer course. I finally got paid, a week late and only 75% of my wages. Not happy but I was better off than the Vietnamese staff, they were still waiting for their wages. I keep telling Ms.My that it is fine if Mr.Huan decides he doesn't need me for the whole six weeks of the summer program. I would be happy to take July off! I was running late on Thursday afternoon when I realised that my bicycle was busted, I called Ms. My and said that I wasn't coming in. I then got a call from Bael and met him for coffee at Hau's. It was a nice relaxed afternoon, much better that teaching. I went to work Friday and spent the evening finally opening my birthday presents. Have to say that I was pleasantly surprised, I got some really good presents and there was only one present that was awful. I hope it was a joke. My Ao Dai tailor gave me some Ao Dai material that I never would have chosen for myself. Of course I will get her to make it for me. The past few days have passed quietly enough. I haven't seen either Bael or Hau. Bael is sick and I've not been really in the mood to go and see Hau. School has gotten better this week even though I am now teaching a kindergarten class in the morning. It's only for an hour and five students, I can handle it in my sleep. I am definitely getting my teaching groove back. I think that I just got so focused on the end of the real school year that I talked myself into holiday mode. Ms. My and the rest of the staff have finally gotten paid and Ms.My has spoken to Mr.Huan about my wages. Apparently he's agreed to pay me May's back wages and June's wages on the 7th July as well as paying me in advance for July. We'll see. I'll go to Mui Ne this weekend, one of my birthday presents was a massage at a spa there and I don't want to not use it. Hopefully I'll meet up with Huong.