A Weekend at Giao Diem Homestay, My Tho

Last weekend I needed to get out of Saigon's traffic and get myself into a quiet, green area, stat. Fortunately, Sieu's colleague broke his leg (I mean, that part's not great, obviously), and he needed to deliver his work computer and materials to him at home in My Tho for extended work-from-home. Opportunity buzzer sounds!

We packed up for three days and two nights to travel to the closest city southwest of HCMC and set about looking for a place to stay, eventually landing on Giao Diem Homestay, which has a big ol' garden and DOGS. While it isn't very close to the city of My Tho proper (about 8 miles/14 km), that was just dandy for me. I generally subscribe to a more isolationist, and decidedly lazy, view of vacation. Going out and doing things? When you just did things all week?? That's how they get you, man.

Click through to learn all about Giao Diem Homestay, My Tho!

That One Time I Went on a Vietnamese Talk Show

Pics or GTFO? I'll do you one better! Here's some video to file away under 'WTF just happened'.

In June of 2014 I was invited on this HTV talk show in Ho Chi Minh City. That's me, in the coral shirt and black suit.


This segment is about the quality of English education in Vietnam. It's a very interesting topic (see my post  about their national plan for increasing foreign language skills in their student populations for more details - it's pretty fascinating stuff).

I was invited on to provide the perspective from a Native Speaker's vantage point. It's about 20 minutes long and I'm only in a few minutes (sweating and rambling... too many 'uhhhh' and 'ummm's to even mention!).

Oh Nothing, Just My 1st Graders Singing Christmas Songs and Dancing

It's Christmastime in Vietnam!

Despite being a primarily Buddhist/Atheistic country, it's been a great surprise to learn and see first hand how much Vietnamese people TOTALLY DIG Christmas.

It's the lights. The tree. The songs. Santa. Decorations are everywhere, and people flock from all over the region to the area around the Notre Dame Cathedral in downtown District 1 to take dozens of facebook profile pictures in front of the decoration displays.

I anticipated a week like any other week, but from the traffic to the atmosphere, it's been a pleasant surprise.

To get into the spirit of the season, I've been singing Christmas songs with my first graders for several weeks. Although I'm pretty sure my ears will bleed if I ever hear Jingle Bell (sic) again, it was still pretty darn adorable.

And Now For a Word From Our Sponsors...

A couple weeks ago I came into my first primary school of the day to be greeted by this nonsense. There was a massive promotional push to get kids to drink a particular brand of Vietnamese milk (Dutch Lady) happening this morning.

Because I have to walk through the courtyard to park my bike in the rear of the school, I had to navigate it past maybe a thousand children playing with the mascots, getting pictures taken, and generally running amok because there was some kind of change in their schedule.

You remember how fun changes to the school day were when you were little? It was crazy! All bets were off when things didn't follow the normal day! And it always felt so great to bust out of the routine. This was like a mixture concert, basketball contest, circus, and toy giveaway, and it was totally crazy.

First Experience with the HCMC Public Buses

Recently I went to Monkey Island with a friend on Teacher's Day, and we ended up taking public buses to get the full experience.

This is the first time I've been on the bus system here (seriously - this long! It even took me months to try the buses when I first moved to Chicago! I don't even know) and it was a pretty good experience. Long, but very interesting, and I got some fun videos.

I thought I'd write a brief post about it, as some aspects are a bit... different... than bus rides I've had in the past.

Read on for a short primer on "how" to ride the city buses in Saigon! Complete with amusing videos!

What Is Happening in This Video?

Seriously, if someone could let me know, that would be awesome.

It's not like they were even very well coordinated, and the leaders - were they the leaders? - weren't really that great, either. I just have no idea.

Saturday morning in Asia, y'all:

XE ÔM RIDE!!

Yesterday I got some video of what it's like to be on the back of a motorbike going through Saigon at 7am. I've been trying to get a good trip video for a week now and finally realized this is about as good as I'm going to get.

The driver in the video (not the one in the picture on the left) is my regular guy - he camps out where my side-alley exits into the main street - and he is a little faster than some of the other xe om taxis that I've taken. Not the fastest on the road by any means... some people with their own bikes really zoom. But he doesn't limp along like some of these weaker bikes I've been on. I like that. He also doesn't go the wrong way down one-way streets, which I ALSO like. He's a good driver.

Check out the video after the jump...

Ho Chi Mix City: July 2013 & Mix Tape Creation

July has been a great transition month for me as I get used to my new house/city/country/culture, new neighborhood, my lessons, and anticipate moving into my job teaching English in the public schools in the coming weeks. A lot of my time has spent walking, exploring, and thinking. In the US I'd be listening to my iPod almost constantly - here? Nope.

Surprisingly, there was not a lot of music in my life in June, and since I've gotten out of the habit of making these for myself (instead preferring to spend my time making them for friends in recent years) I thought I'd kill a few birds with one stone and musically document my months here, treating myself to some musical therapy and sharing them with YOU.

This week I've been working on a mix that describes my Transition-y, Explore-y July. It's a work in progress, but I'd like to share it with you today. I put it on youtube just for you: