Phan Thiet May'12

My last week at school went by quickly thank heavens. As I had anticipated there were a lot of cancelled classes so that the students could rehearse for the closing ceremony. I had to write a speech, which I did and Mr. Huan came back with a load of suggestions. I wish he had just written the speech in the first place, it would have saved me a load of time and effort. He obviously had an idea of what he wanted me to say. I went to a wine tasting that Marie was holding in Mui Ne and got to meet a few people. Most of the casual expat workers have now left and just the year round upper hotel management remain. If I were looking for work in Mui Ne this kind of event would be a good place to start. The following evening I had beers in my local Bia Hoi place on Vo Thi Sau St. with Anh. Anh is a guy who works at Sealinks hotel. I have known him for a while but haven't seen him in ages, he lost his phone and my number with it. The closing ceremony on the last Saturday in May was a complete waste of time that I actually put my Ao Dai on for. However it was super nice to walk away from school afterwards and think that I was finished with APC. And I didn't know if I was totally finished, it still isn't decided that there will be a summer program this year, it depends on how many parents sign their children up. As with everything else in this country, it's all very last minute. I spent the afternoon at home as we had our very first rainy day of this wet season. We have had rain before but it's been in short bursts, this was the full first day of rain. I had the opportunity to go to a party at Jibes 2 in Hom Rom but couldn't be bothered going out in the weather. Eventually I had to leave the house through hunger, that is one drawback of not cooking, there is never any food in the house. After having some Pho at my local lady's stall I wandered up Bo Ke and had a few beers with Anh and Mr. Thanh, who it turns out know each other. Anh's friend, Tuan the tattooist, was also there. Phan Thiet is really a small place and everyone knows everyone. I spent the majority of Sunday drinking and singing karaoke with Anh Chien and some of his students. Chien's birthday is on the 30th May, the day before mine and this was how he celebrated. We sang for six hours and then I had coffee with three of his students before drunkenly cycling home and injuring my foot again, but a different toe this time. Great! Needless to say that it was an early night for me. Finally on my first holiday Monday it hit me that I didn't have to work any more, it felt great not having a schedule. The run up to my birthday was relaxed and quiet. I thought about the party but since there wasn't much I could do ahead of time I relaxed, went and had coffee, met friends and generally did very little. And for once I hadn't planned anything for my actual birthday day, I was just going to see what unfolded. The day before my birthday I had lunch with Ola at Novotel, it was the first time I had seen her since she got back to Vietnam. She is lovely and very easy to talk to. She asked me what plans I had for my birthday, I said none but that I was thinking of going to Mui Ne for lunch. She said that worked out well as she and Patrick were going to give me a spa treatment at Anantara spa for my birthday. Result! Then we could go and have lunch after that. I was very happy. I had a drink with Carlo after lunch, he wasn't very well and so looked forward even more to his trip to Bangkok at the end of the week. I started my second course of evening classes at the ESL centre that night, Ms. Sam said that the students had requested me. I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or scared.I haven't taught at Vietcom bank all month as Ms. Nguyen had said that they would have staff training in Saigon the whole month and so many staff members would be away at one point or another. That was fine by me. I would resume the classes in June. During my evening class I had seven missed calls, which is unusual for me, no one usually calls me. They were from Hau, one of the ladies doing the cooking for the party and another number I didn't know. I dropped by Hau's place on Bo Ke on the way home. I had seen her the previous night and decided the menu for the party, then she had said that she wanted me to meet a friend of hers, Bael, but I think he pitched up after I had gone home. He was there when I arrived and the other number turned out to be his, I am not a big fan of people giving my tel number out to people I've never met. Fortunately he turned out to be a good guy with great English. The evening then proceeded to get weird as Anh turned up, the guy from Sealinks, and started to act like he was my boyfriend. I have no idea where that idea and/or behaviour came from. As far as I am concerned he is a friend and nothing more. Andrew and I have talked about the Vietnamese view of relationships as I asked him if he could explain why men are so happy to tell me they love me after meeting me for the second time. Generally Vietnamese people don't date the same way we do in the U.K.. They get to spend very little time alone with their partner as many people still live at home and extra martial sex is really frowned upon. So you might have a few dates with someone in a public place before deciding to get married, the whole process is accelerated if both sets of parents agree to the marriage. Also there is a lot of pressure on women to get married before a certain age. Then when they do get married they seem to have children very quickly. Which makes sense as they don't have sex outside of marriage why would you need to practice safe sex and use contraception. I started my birthday reasonably early considering the late night I had had, I ended up going to a nightclub with Bael. I had Pho near my house before catching the bus to Mui Ne. This turned out to be the time when I wished I had spent the money and caught a taxi. The bus driver was racing a bus from another bus company and took the most outrageous risks, but I did get to Mui Ne in record time! I had a facial at Anantara spa, it was amazing and was a great way to kick off my birthday. I then had lunch with Marie and Ola at Mia, where I was given my first birthday cake. Ola was so sweet, she took every opportunity to wish me happy birthday, by the end of lunch I loved it. I stayed behind to chat with Larissa, she might have some work for me at Mia, I am not sure that she can pay me in cash but she mentioned food and hotel rooms, I would be very happy with that. She then had the hotel bus take me back to Phan Thiet and I met Huong for coffee, she is planning something for my party. I finished my day with dinner on Bo Ke with Huong senior and Bael. Hau and Huong surprised me with a birthday cake and Bael gave me flowers. As I was walking home I bumped into Chien and had a couple of beers with him. I had a wonderful birthday, even better because none of it had been planned. June started quietly but I knew that it would be a false quiet, I was getting nervous about my birthday party. I had organised for the party to be catered, bought wine and vodka, picked up my birthday banner for the front of the house. The cleaner would come on Saturday morning, so the house would be clean. Theoretically I wouldn't have a lot to do but I was still worried. I hoped it would go well.