Brief Updates

Mui Ne trip was debaucherous and fun. Don't really have any blog-appropriate details to share, but suffice it to say, it was nice to get away from work for a few days and relax by the beach...

Teaching's still going well. I have a few classes that I'm really disliking, so I'm trying to figure out how I can strategically dump them. I think that once summer school starts, my schedule's going to change, so that'll give me the perfect opportunity to get rid of some of the worse classes. The good classes are still really good though, so that's keeping me enjoying the job. I was talking to another teacher the other day, and he told me about a conversation he'd had with one of the other teachers talking about how, despite complaining about teaching and disliking kids, when you're teaching here, you're guaranteed to legitimately smile or laugh within the first five minutes of your workday around these kids. When I thought about it, I realized it was true. And the more I think about things that way, the more I think about how great this job really is.

Other news...Zara and I found a two-bedroom house in a nice part of town, so we're working on getting the lease signed and moved in now. I'll be sure to post some pictures once we're moved in and starting to get settled. I'm looking forward to getting out of the guest house...it's a bit obnoxious having to ring the bell whenever I'm coming back after 11pm and hope that somebody wakes up to let me in...

Only other update was that I started volunteering at one of the orphanages here. ILA has tons of volunteer opportunities, but this was one of the few ones that doesn't involve teaching English (I really don't want to teach more during my free time). Every Wednesday and Thursday, people from ILA (both teachers and TA's), take a taxi over to the orphanage. When I got there, it was a bit overwhelming. We walked into a room full of about 25 baby's cots, with babies either crying, sleeping, or just lying there. We'd arrived after they'd been fed, so we'd just pick babies up out of their cribs, play with them for a while, then put them back and get a different kid. I also visited the toddler's room, and played with them for a while. After a few hours, we fed the babies, and put them down for naps. It was my first visit, so I wasn't quite ready to go into the room with kids who have disabilities, so I just stayed with the babies and toddlers, but eventually I'd like to start working with some of the other, less fortunate kids. Overall, a very good experience, and I'm glad that ILA is involved in the community as much as it is.

Other than that, Zara and I have found a house and will be moving in tomorrow (I had a slight moment of panic when I thought I'd lost my passport, so I wouldn't
have been able to sign the lease, etc., but just found it a bit ago, so I'm good to go). It's a nice place, on a really nice street and alley, and I'll post some pictures as soon as we get a bit more settled!