Not a lot has changed here in the past few months...still working the same schedule, eating at the same restaurants, and hanging out with the same people. I'm still enjoying it a lot, though, so it's not like it's a problem.
I wanted to write about my birthday, but since it was over a month ago, it seems like there's not really a point anymore. My birthday fell on a Sunday, which meant that I had to work all day (teaching four classes, in school for twelve hours). The classes themselves weren't anything special, apart from a few students bringing me small presents. Since I knew that I'd be exhausted by the end of the day, and not feel like teaching four classes on my birthday, I planned ahead with Adam, another teacher, to co-teach The S5 Olympics. We both have S5's (Seniors, so students from age 12 through 15 or so) during the last class, and Adam's class is only about two weeks ahead of mine in the book. We planned a bunch of events - a scavenger hunt with clues hidden all over the school, a three-legged vocabulary sprint in the hallways (which we had to cancel after one trial because it was too noisy), and a few other things. Overall, it went really well, and even though it was significantly more planning than a normal class, it was nice to have a bit of a break from "teaching" at the end of the day.
I share a birthday with another teacher, so we decided to combine our efforts and go out together. A group of 20 or so teachers went out for dinner at Bernie's, a fairly new restaurant where the chef is American and the food tastes like it - I had a burger (recently ranked the best burger in town by one of the expat magazines). After dinner, we went to a bar next door. I had another two drinks and started to feel a bit sick, so I called it an early evening and headed home. I woke up in the morning with what I thought was a terrible hangover, which was weird since I'd only had three or four beers. When I was still feeling terrible that evening, I realized that it wasn't just a hangover. I spent the next four days curled up in bed - throwing up and unable to move.
Minor medical crises aside, everything here is still going really well. I recently finished the free Vietnamese class that ILA offers. A few weeks before the last class, we went on a field trip. Our teacher told us the name of a market, and we had to ask people for directions (in Vietnamese, of course) and once we were there, buy different fruits and haggle over the prices. It was pretty cool being able to do it all in Vietnamese, plus we ended up with lots of different fruit to eat that afternoon. I'm planning on continuing on with private lessons with the same teacher, just so that I can keep practicing.
On Sunday I'm heading to Indonesia for a week. My best friend Rob and his girlfriend Sam are teaching English in Jakarta. It's been almost a year since I've seen them, so I'm really excited about it! I'm not entirely sure what we're doing yet, but I'll be sure to post an update once I'm back.
I recently decided to extend my contract for six months since I'll be going to grad school in September, and would rather be here working, earning money, and spending time with friends than sitting at home bored. With the contract extension, I'll be in Vietnam for a total of a year and a half, which is too long to go without going home. Sooooooo I bought a ticket home for Thanksgiving to break things up. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody, but more importantly, to eating some Allen & Sons BBQ.
Back to lying in bed and doing nothing....ahhh I love days off!
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