For some reason, the vids are not loading from YouTube onto blogger.com. I don't know why this is but I have stopped using this blog for the time being. If you are interested you can see my YouTube vids by typing 'binh tan saigon' into the YouTube search bar.....
Wednesday 13 May 2020
Sunday 3 May 2020
Thursday 30 April 2020
Thursday 23 April 2020
Saturday 18 April 2020
Sunday 12 April 2020
Saturday April 11th 2020 - Binh Tan, Saigon
Very big day! I had my new class assigned on the Friday so I was able to prepare my weekend lessons. I have been given a group of 17 young teenagers who I will teach online at 18:30 every Saturday and Sunday until we start up the regular classes, currently unsure of course about when that will happen. Things progressing quite nicely with the lesson prep today when I got a call at 14:30 to ask to cover another class at 16:15 because someone was sick. Very stressful trying to prepare for that two hour on line class with so little time to prep. But I got through it. And yesterday was payday which was a bit sweet.
Thursday 9 April 2020
Monday 6 April 2020
Thursday 2 April 2020
Monday 30 March 2020
Sunday 29 March 2020
Friday 27 March 2020
Monday 23 March 2020
Sunday 22 March 2020
Saturday 21 March 2020
Thursday 19 March 2020
Friday 20th March, 2020 - Binh Tan, Saigon
YingYing is not well and this is making things very difficult at the moment because it is all my fault that she is here with me in Vietnam! Also I am picking up a lot of ILA online classes this weekend which I need to prepare for today. Not a great day!
Wednesday 18 March 2020
Sunday 15 March 2020
Saturday 14 March 2020
Wednesday 11 March 2020
Tuesday 10 March 2020
Sunday 8 March 2020
Sunday 8th March 2020 - Binh Tan, Saigon
So I prepared lots of lessons yesterday and printed out lots of lesson plans for the different classes this weekend and looked at lots of slide presentations which they pair with. At the last minute I mixed things up. I had in front of me at the start of the online class a lesson plan for teaching some teenagers and loaded up some slides for teaching some six year old kids. 15 minutes into the lesson I realized my mistake. I decided to carry on and teach the slides that I had in front of me, rather than try to swop in the correct level-appropriate lesson slides. I managed to make things more challenging (just). But...... Oh the humiliation when I asked them to get out the crayons......
Thursday 5 March 2020
Monday 2 March 2020
Tuesday 3rd March 2020 - Binh Tan, Saigon
Left China after Xmas, arrived Saigon January 13th, gave up my online job teaching Chinese children because I was just about to go into Vietnamese classroom teaching. Because of the virus the schools are closed, so ILA Vietnam have come up with the idea of online teaching! So far I have taught one class on line. I am not busy!
I am not busy but some people on my balcony are very busy...…..
Saturday 29 February 2020
Friday 28 February 2020
Wednesday 26 February 2020
Tuesday 25 February 2020
Wednesday 19 February 2020
Wednesday 19th February 2020 - Binh Tan
It's a five minute walk along the highway from the hotel to get to the 24th ILA Vietnam school to be opened in Ho Chi Minh City (HCM24) (my school). It's the tall white building on the left side of the main road in this vid., it has big blue letters ILA on the roof....
Saturday 15 February 2020
Tuesday 11 February 2020
Tuesday 11th February, 2020 - Binh Tan, Saigon
So we have moved rooms. We are at the front of the hotel now on the second floor and it has a large balcony so we may move our desk and two chairs out there. The new room is bigger and costs about $11 per night. At this price we may end up staying at the hotel rather than moving into an apartment with all the start-up costs incurred in that. Let's see how it goes. If I am earning $1000 per month it's not a great starting salary but if we are only paying out $340 per month for accommodation that doesn't seem so bad and it is a short walk from the hotel to my school. After six months I should get an uplift in salary and things should get a little less uncomfortable cost-of-living wise. Today we had lunch at a roadside 'restaurant' and a plate of rice and vegetables was less than $1. A local coffee costs less than a dollar. Need to do the sums...….
Monday 10 February 2020
Sunday 9 February 2020
Sunday 9th February - Vietnamese noodles
Wifee says that there are big problems in the area around our apartment in Shenyang. The next road up, North Road West 3, has been cordoned off because someone or some people in one of the apartments there has tested positive for the virus. No-one is allowed in or out of the cordoned off area. She says that her family in Harbin have not been out (at all) since the start of the New Year holiday. Each family has been give a special card and they have to inform the police where they will go to, every time they go out. One member from each family is allowed out twice per week. But no-one is going out. Every day someone knocks on the door at a given time, suited up and masked up, and asks what they want to buy for that day. It is then delivered to the door. People are meeting with their friends on social media. Everyone is paranoid
Saturday 8 February 2020
Wednesday 5 February 2020
Saturday 1 February 2020
Thursday 30th January, 2020 - Ben Thanh, Saigon, local Tet holiday celebration
This morning we were woken up early by the sound of a percussion band out in the street just round the corner from the hotel so I was moved to go out and check it out before breakfast.
Wednesday 29th Jaunary 2020 - Coronavirus in Vietnam
So far there have only been two confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Vietnam, not sure which city. I haven't seen much evidence on the streets of increased awareness, as in the same number of people seem to be wearing masks as when we first arrived here a couple of weeks ago. YingYing says that her family in China are still no Chinese New Year holiday and this holiday has been extended by the government. She tells me that the restaurants are closed in PingFang (Harbin, China) where her mother lives, and there have been confirmed cases there. She tells me that her auntie (in Shenyang, China) has not been out during the holidays
Sunday 26 January 2020
Friday 24 January 2020
Friday 24th January 2020 - ILA Vietnam District 3 branch, HCMC
It's New Year's Eve at about 6pm and the streets in Saigon and almost deserted. Most shops and restaurants are closed and so we walked to where I will be doing the training soon and it took about 25 minutes to get there from the hotel...………………………..
Thursday 23 January 2020
Tuesday 21 January 2020
Tuesday 21st January, 2020 - three days to go before the start of Tet
Made the mistake of walking to the laundry during rush hour...………………………...
Monday 20th January, 2020 - ILA Vietnam Centre HMC24 - Ben Thanh Street Market
Yesterday I learned that I would be transferring out of the city centre once I have completed my training. There are classes waiting for me there, apparently, unlike at the city centre school which is apparently losing students who previously had no choice but now can attend a school nearer to where they live e.g. HMC24!
In the evening we went to the Ben Thanh Street Market in D1 and then stopped off at a microbrewery pub for some expensive beer,,,,,,,,,
In the evening we went to the Ben Thanh Street Market in D1 and then stopped off at a microbrewery pub for some expensive beer,,,,,,,,,
Sunday 19th January, 2020 - VinMart 3/2, D3 HCMC
Breakfast in the hotel is substantial but a little boring. It keeps us going until mid-afternoon. On the Sunday afternoon we headed west in search of a supermarket and found VinMart 3/2 and were disappointed with the results in terms of fruit and bread but we did find some imported cheese....
on the way back we stopped into a noodle bar for some guess what....
Saturday 18 January 2020
Friday, 17th January 2020 - Saigon river
Walked to take the laundry to be done and then to Phatty's Bar to make sure we could find the way in the dark and then continued on down to find the Bank of China (now been taken over by Vietcombank {!?!?!} <splutter> <splutter> so carried on down to the Mekong river to see what was what....................................................................................................
Stopped for much-needed refreshment at Banana's Juice Shop and watched the goings on at the school opposite (spring cleaning?)
Thursday 16 January 2020
Thursday 16th January 2020 - Vietcombank issue
Getting lost in the Vietnamese banking system...……………………………………………...
Getting lost walking to try and find Phatty's Sports Bar and Grill........................................
Monday 13 January 2020
Tuesday 14th January, 2020 - City View Hotel, D1, Ho Chi Minh City
We booked in advance for a standard double room and then realized that there was no window for a standard room. In order to have a window at the City View Hotel so that your hotel can really live up to it's name, you have to book a Deluxe Double Room
Sunday 12th January, 2020 - PassApp, Phnom Penh
There are plenty of tuktuks in Phnom Penh and a few apps so that you can order up a driver and you know exactly how much you will pay for the ride in advance. We use PassApp. Very handy...…...
Thursday 9 January 2020
Thursday 9th January, 2020 - Sarina Hotel, Phnom Penh
Greenery and serenity at the Sarina...…………………………………………………………
A pledge from the Chinese contingent...………………………………………………………
Wednesday 8 January 2020
Monday 6 January 2020
Tuesday 7th January, 2020 - Victory Day. Cambodia - Lavanya Hotel, Street 136 Phnom Penh
Okay so I got to the school for 07:30 as planned and it was all locked up. When I got back to the hotel I messaged Dyna who told me that the school was closed for Victory Day...………………………...
Later in the day we went out for some happy hour drinks on Street 136
Sunday 5 January 2020
Sunday 5th January, 2020 - Lavanya Boutique Hotel, Phnom Penh
When I booked the Lavanya I was shocked at the price - 53GBP per night for a modest room. Part of the reason to book Lavanya was it's central location, partly also for the swimming pool. On check-in we learned that the pool is closed for maintenance for a good few days. So I looked online to see about a move and found a great deal with booking.com at the Sarina hotel where we have stayed previously so we are moving there on Wednesday. On a brighter note I checked my Cambodian bank account and I can see that I have been paid $135 for the missing week (Summer 2018). So that will pay for our night out at Hard Rock café tomorrow night wooooo hooooo……………….
This is the view over Street 136 from our third floor balcony this afternoon as the sun was going down round about 5.00pm...……………………………………………………………….
Saturday 4 January 2020
Friday 3 January 2020
Friday 3rd January 2020 - Bangkok - Atlanta Hotel
On the two hour drive back to Bangkok from Pattaya we saw all sorts of poverties and riches and the outer suburbs of Bangkok seemed to go on forever......
The Atlanta Hotel restaurant makes a peaceful retreat.............................................................................
Thursday 2 January 2020
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