January 23rd (Week 6 Vietnam)

Last Saturday we went for a day trip to Ha Long Bay. 

We were told it would be a 2 1/2hr drive and then 4hrs on a boat. The drive was a bit scary as the bus was passing on blind bends, scooters were constantly swerving in and out and trucks generally cutting everyone off the entire way. The tour guide told us that it is was probably best not to look out of the front window. I guess he has had western tourists turning pale before. We were reading a guide to Vietnam guide book on the bus and were led to a couple of useful points. 
1. If you are in dangerous car accident in Vietnam that was your Karma and it was meant to happen. So, drive like crazy and if its not your time to die you are pretty much invincible. Hmmm. I cant seem to find any road traffic accident statistics on-line. 2. In the absence of Judeo-Christian 10 commandment (particularly ‘do not lie’) morality guidelines the general rule here is to say what people want to hear so as not to offend them. Ie ‘no I did not damage your car’ and then think quickly of a way to break the news to them later while drinking a glass of tea together, Which brings me back to the 2 1/2 hr bus ride with was actually a 4 1/2 hr bus ride with a 1/2hr stop at a conveniently located souvenir shop and cafeteria. Therefore the 2hr bus ride was explained as a ‘Vietnamese 2hrs’ (laugh, laugh) and we will be there soon.
Ha Long Bay was worth the 10hr return trip, however. It is listed as a Unesco world heritage site. It was a bit foggy and cloudy but not cold.

The past two weeks have been the same. We broke out into four classes each with 12-24 students each. We have been teaching new vocabulary words, watching inspirational videos, doing tongue twisters and then breaking into small groups to get to know the students better.   Ryan and Jemma have been great teachers and helpers.

As of yesterday we have our revised tickets home. I can’t remember if we mentioned that we have been looking into staying on for a few extra weeks to explore southern Vietnam and then pop over to Thailand to see friends up in Chiang Mai. This is now all booked so we will be in DaNang for a week (middle Vietnam beach area), Saigon or ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta for a week and then another week in Phu Quoc a little island off the coast. For the last week we will fly up to Chiang Mai in Thailand. We will be home on Thursday March 24th in time for Easter. We have a Timmys card (thanks Neets) with some credit on it and we cant wait to get a double double and a Boston Cream. In the meantime we will enjoy Bun Cha and Pho for breakfast, dinner and lunch for the next 8 weeks!

Ha Long Bay 

The judging panel for a talent show

Lunch on the Ha Long Bay boat trip

January 12th (Week 4 Vietnam)

A very busy week. A couple of videos this week. To see the videos click on the highlighted words below.

Jenny and Ryan went to a drug rehab on Saturday. Ryan shared his testimony with about 30 women through an interpreter. Many of the women there are HIV positive and are recovering from drug addiction and lives of prostitution. We recorded the whole thing but we are not allowed to post the video so you will have to wait until we get back to see it.

I (Barry) went to a private drug rehab on Monday to teach English and we went again on Saturday for worship. They use the Celebrate Recovery program which I only just learned about last year at our church. The authorities here are really opening up to Chr*stanity as the moral teachings and effectiveness of Chr*stian based rehab programs really work and the cases of relapse are fewer.
Attached is a very professional youtube video about the private rehab recorded last year. The worship on Saturday was exactly like this. It was awesome. Gord, I thought of you when I saw their facility and heard about their plans for expansion.

We met a nice Vietnamese family at the park on Sunday. They were at the park last week when we played parachute. They invited us over for dinner Sunday night. They have a 13 year old daughter and an 8 year old son. We went to their place and then went out for some pho (noodle soup).

Here is a short video of Ryan reciting some of his Vietnamese.

Family car in Vietnam

Carrying a fridge home and a dog on a bike

Small group today. We have four classes now 24 in each, twice per day.

Ru ro

Jenny did get a photo of the crepes. 

Our apartment at night. We are on the 3rd floor (4th level)

Thuy (pronounced twee) and her daughter Sunday night

January 4th (Week 3 Vietnam)

Happy New Year! Blessings everyone for 2016. 
Very few Vietnamese recognized Christmas so it was business as usual in the streets with people going to work and kids going to school on Christmas Day and throughout the week. 
Chinese New Year, or TET, will be a different story. TET starts in February and pretty much everything will be shut down for at least three days. Last week we had our first almost full week of teaching with New Year’s Day off on Friday. 
This is our weekly schedule.
Monday

• 9:00am meet at Waterman’s apartment to discuss and plan upcoming week
• 11:30am go for lunch or when the meeting ends
• 5:00pm team of 5 goes to  Detech college to teach conversational English 6:00pm to 8:00pm.
• Detech is on Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday evenings. Check out the video of the crazy rush hour traffic. Mopeds ride on the sidewalk. Detech

Tuesday - Friday

• 7:15am everyone goes to NT University to teach conversational English 8:00am to 11:00am
• 1:00pm meet at Waterman’s to review lesson and debrief. Repeat Wed, Thurs, Fri.

Saturday is our day off but we have an opportunity to visit a drug rehab and an orphanage on these days. Some of the team went this week and we may go next week.

This past Saturday we played tourist and went in to Old Hanoi. We went to the Ho Chi Min Mausoleum which was very somber. The line up was at least 1/2km long and we went early to avoid the rush. We watched a Biography of Ho Chi Min and can see why the people of Vietnam loved him.

We then took a cab to one of the indoor markets which was massive and packed full of everything you could imagine.

On Sunday we played some games with some kids in front of our apartment. We took out the parachute and played duck, duck, goose.

At 2:00pm we went to church in Old Hanoi and went to an awesome pancake house after for crepes and ice cream - sorry no photos, the crepe was way too good!

Our new favourite lunch is bun cha. It consists a bowl of soup; with some charcoal cooked meat, usually pork belly and meatballs; a plate of cooked rice noodles and a big bowl of salad including coriander, mint and basil. The idea is you put some noodles and salad in the soup and eat a mouthful of everything combined. The mint and basil add an interesting but tasty twist. It's surprisingly filling and costs around 30,000 vietnamese dong which is about $1.20 Canadian. Deep fried spring rolls are also available for 5,000VDN each (20c).

Bun Cha

I thought I was ordering a bun and I got this. It tasted as good as it looks. And I survived! 

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. No photos past this point.

Playing parachute with the local kids

The Chợ Đồng Xuân Market

A tourist