Another Move

Tuesday 21^st October 2008

When Mark picked me up this morning to have lunch at his house, (cooked by the wonderful Judy,) he’d bought a bed for me and it was already delivered and assembled, so all I need now is some bedding. As it will take a few days for the internet to be installed I’ll probably move on Friday, just as my month here is up. Actually it will be much more convenient to share with Mark again.

Friday 24^th October 2008-10-23

Another Moving Day.

The rain woke me early this morning and I dozed for a while in my bed, absorbed in the tumult of sound. It began to ease off as I got up and started to pack my things; not a lot I thought, until I’d filled a large case with clothes and kitchen-ware and another one with bedding, and still had carrier bags of things like toiletries, cleaning materials, packets of noodles, teas and biscuits, electric kettle and bug zapper not to mention my refrigerator that I’d paid for. Add to that my laptop case and other small bags and it seemed a lot to be conveying by motorbike.

I was on messenger having conversations with Michael who was offering his help, and Mark who had an impending Doctor’s appointment. Eventually the rain ceased and Thim came in to see me, so I asked for her help in getting a taxi large enough to take everything and in no time everything was stowed in the large hatchback. It took all of four minutes to get to the new house and cost 40,000 VN Dong, which is about £1.30.

While Mark went off to his appointment, I made myself at home and found places for all my stuff, hanging my clothes on the large clothes rack in Mark’s bedroom as there’s no furniture as yet. So far his room is the only one with AC, but a breeze blows through the house and fans do a good job of keeping us cool downstairs. The redoubtable Judy arrived and cooked us a delicious lunch of fried rice with chicken and we spent the afternoon preparing lessons.

Soon our first private student arrived; the 20 year old daughter of our landlords. Her English is quite good and we had a good hour’s testing conversation. During our class I got a desperate call from Michael, saying he was too sick to teach tonight and asking if I’d take his two level 5 classes! Of course I said I would, though I’d no idea of what to prepare and not enough time anyway. In contrast to Mark who always prepares interesting classes, most of the teachers simply go into work and teach what’s in the books, so I’d have to find out where each class was up to when I got there.

It had been raining most of the day, but stopped by the time I was ready to go to KTV with Mark at about 4.45pm. Halfway there, as we came up to the main crossroads we were amazed to find a huge traffic jam of motorbikes and cars with one policeman trying to sort out the melee. This was worse than any exodus after a football match. We knew of a tiny back road that would lead to school if we could extricate our bike from the crush we’d got into, and luckily we got to KTV in time for our first lessons.

Only six students out of the eighteen in the register turned up for the first class and it was very enjoyable. The second class arrived in full strength and then I was suddenly informed that a teacher who’d been caught in the traffic hadn’t yet arrived to teach his class, so would I mind if his class and mine were amalgamated? So there I was, teaching 24 students material that I hadn’t even prepared! What fun!! Luckily, after 15 minutes the absent teacher turned up to claim his class. Apparently he’d been unable to get home after shopping and was literally caught on his bike in the pouring rain for more than half an hour before finding a coffee shop to wait for the traffic to move.

Apparently, the chaos that was spread over a large area had been caused by serious flooding after the heaviest rain for many years. We were lucky that where we live wasn’t affected.

As I retired to my new bed in the new house, I heard for the first time the sounds of the jungle, or at least, the bit of country that borders our house. It was the hum of insects and croaking frogs right outside my window, which I then closed tightly, hoping that I’d have no more bites in the morning!

Actually, it was very peaceful away from any main roads and eventually I slept well.

Thursday 30^th October 2008

Over the past six days I’ve been settling into the new house and a slightly different routine. Its great being here with Mark as we help each other out preparing lessons. I’m learning so much from him, but can also help by proof-reading for him; two heads being better than one.

Sometimes I go with Mark in the morning to teach his private students; two teenage cousins who live a few kilometres away, and we’ll usually stop on the way for a nourishing breakfast of Pho. At other times Judy (or Khan, which is her real name), goes with him. She’s always bringing food and cooking for us, which is making me very lazy, but to tell the truth, food is not such a priority. I don’t know if it’s the heat, but I just don’t seem to get very hungry. I’d like to tell you that I’m losing weight, but without scales it’s hard to tell. In spite of all the sweating and diminished appetite this all-too-solid flesh doesn’t yield so easily.

We’ve already started to attract private students and I’ve been teaching the 20 year old daughter of the landlords since last Friday, while her brother and his friend have also started coming for lessons. We’re not charging very much, but every little helps pay the rent.

Now I can get to school and back with Mark I have no further need of Mr Duan, my motorbike taxi service, but as funds are running low, (we get paid at the end of the month) I’ll have to pay him next week. That’s because of the extra costs involved in taking on this house; one AC, my bed, curtains and internet connection, which for some reason I can’t access on my laptop (and we’re still waiting for them to fix that problem!) So Mark now owes me a small fortune!!! But never fear, by Saturday we’ll be millionaires again.

I’m glad to report that the house is mainly free of insects and the only bites I get now are usually when I’m out somewhere. I even sleep with my windows wide open; the trusty bug-zapper standing guard in the window. So what’s new? I’ve been eaten alive by midges in Snowdonia! As Diane tells me that insects don’t like aloe, I’m using my aloe deodorant stick on arms and legs to hopefully make me bite-proof, but whether that has any affect at all remains to be seen.

It’s not as quiet and peaceful here as I first thought and a couple of dogs have been jolting me awake early in the morning. Worse than a cock crowing! They sleep for the rest of the day then wake up as I’m going to sleep! There’s also a lot of building work going on in the neighbourhood so it’s a bit dusty with Lorries depositing materials. With a brand new Hotel around the corner and some beautiful houses going up this is becoming a very up-market area.

Little Michael as he’s known at KTV, (Duc is his real name) has come at Mark’s invitation to have lunch with us. He’s a lovely young man but I must admit that our intention is not simply to have interesting conversation or to feed his skinny frame. We’re both having laptop trouble and Michael is pretty good at fixing problems. Although he’s not an expert, we trust that he knows more about IT than either of us. So after heartfelt welcoming hugs and a quick meal, he’s shackled to our desks to resolve all our woes.

However, he can’t understand why it is I can’t get online with Mark’s security code and we’re still waiting for the guys who set up our connection here. The main trouble seems to be that no computers here have genuine Bill Gates’ Windows, so the whiz kids simply go into DOS and change the code to achieve what they want, which I think is bound to affect the way the programmes work; but I could be wrong!

The Internet man has now been and gone. He took all afternoon to sort out the problem, but now I’m back online!!! Halleluiah! I was beginning to have serious withdrawal symptoms; lethargic, withdrawn and trembling. (That’s a joke by the way.) Now I'm happy that I'm able to phone home again!