Rose and Sam's Excellent Adventure

Posted By Sam on March 2, 2010

Pa arrives on Thursday and I’ve just heard word that Keels is booked in from April 20th – May 10th.

Bring the noise.

Category: Hanoi, Vietnam, keely update | 2 Comments »
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Posted By Sam on February 18, 2010

A quick update on what Keely’s doing.

After a quick jaunt across the nullabor on a postie bike, he’s residing in Tasmania (that was the highly abridged version). He’s booking tickets to visit us in Vietnam for Mid April till March.

Shits n giggles will be posted.

In the meantime. Here’s a fail…

Category: Hanoi, Vietnam, keely update, video | No Comments »
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Posted By Sam on February 8, 2010

I would like to publicly address something. A rumour which has manifested from the vapour of the cosmos.

I am 100%, completely rash free. I haven’t had a rash since I arrived in Vietnam (contrary to Redgum) and I don’t foresee getting a rash any time soon.

I have cut down my sugar intake substantially and cook a lot of food myself. Most of the food I order is primarily made from chickpeas, lentils and rice – with the occasional naan bread thrown in for good measure.

So, to summarise I;
A) Do not have a rash
B) Do not consume too much sugar
C) No longer need any emails or general sympathy/brainstorming regarding my mystery rash

I now see this issue as closed, and to all whom have no idea to what I am referring to, go about your day with perfect nonchalance.

Category: Vietnam | 3 Comments »
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Posted By Sam on February 2, 2010

Hey kids,
Been a long time without posts, not without good reason. I figure you can only take so many stories about kids doing cute and stupid stuff so I kept them to a fair minimum.

We just paid $230USD each, for 3 month SINGLE ENTRY visas which has made us feel mildly raped to say the least. Vietnam is cracking down hardcore on visas and making it simultaneously a real pain in the ass to get them, and making them very expensive.

I had this post on ‘draft’ as I had to head out midway, but since then, I believe I have to bore you with another lunatic child behaviour story.

The Story of Mr Bump, and his One Over Par.

Once upon a time… I was in class, reading the “Mr Small” book from the Mr Men series, a fantastic, patriarchal digest, when I saw Anh Đuc, the boy I’ve named “Mr Bump” – as he continually, and quite deliberately runs into things head-first, including me, padded walls, other kids and doors – start to pick his nose…

Now, in the land of Viet Nam, there’s no social stigma (among men) about picking one’s nose, and as a child, practically anywhere in the world, this is acceptable behaviour, so when a Vietnamese child does this it’s socially encouraged, up to a point…. here’s where Anh Đuc comes in, beautifully illustrating how to take it too far.

He was simultaneously enjoying the tale of the poor unemployed soul, measuring the height of a pin and some nasal debauchery when he encountered a problem. He was front row, centre, with a booger on his finger. Ối Giời Ơi, as they say.

He glanced right and saw Thanh Long, the shining beacon of intelligence in the class, my “go-to” guy for demonstrating games and dialogues, and also the biggest boy in the class. (I mention he’s the biggest “boy” only because a girl in the class, Chau Giang is by far the toughest. She often kicks kids asses if they rush at me when I get into class. My own 2.5 ft bodguard… But I digress.) He reaches his hand across and goes to wipe his booger on Long’s sleeve. I continue reading Mr Small.

His finger touches Long’s sleeve, but for some reason, reconsiders, retracts his hand and redirects his attention to his left. Long’s off the hook, but now it’s Nam Anh’s turn for some one-over-par loving, so to speak. Anh Đuc reaches out for Nam Anh’s woollen jumper, obviously knitted for him by a loving grandmother, but the heavens shine on Nam Anh and Anh Đuc decides against that too.

Aah-hah! A penny drops and Anh Đuc’s Gestalt moment jolts him to remember poor Sỹ Cường, sitting behind him, with his big brain digesting the story as his bung eye twitches with intrigue as I tell of Mr Small’s short lived career as a mustard pot filler. He’s so engrossed in the story, he doesn’t see Mr Bump turn around, carefully pick his target, and smear the booger down the front of his jumper.

Anh Đuc, comfortable in the knowledge he’s done nothing wrong, turns around and resumes listening to the OH&S nightmare that is Mr Small. Yet, the story has stopped, as what just happened, with the cold and calculated reasoning that just unfolded before me, has me doubled over in my chair. Through gasps I explain to Loan (loo-ahn… Call her Loan and she kicks you… HARD as it sounds very much like the word for C*nt in Vietnamese.. Learnt that the hard way!) what just happened and she cracks it as well.

Khoi, aka “Mr Happy” loves to sit, looking at me with this evil, clenched teeth smile with his bug eyes peeled open and his hands out like a zombie, while I read. He picked this up while reading Mr Happy and has learnt that it amuses me equally to how much it freaks me out. He just sits there doing it, and when I scan across the faces, I get a shock when I see this psychotic child heckling me with the crazy-face.

Between Mr Happy, Mr Bump and the rest of the ridiculous characters that makes up the White Rabbits 2 class at Just Kids, it’s damn difficult to keep a straight face through a storybook.

---

Anyway, long story short, depending on a fairly uncertain, yet promising job for Rose, we might be back around the start of May.

I’ll be starting my training for a fairly juicy job that I can really get my teeth into at FastHit.net as a Windows Server Admin, a job that’ll send me into a spin with many a Windows hosting scenario and right clicking more times than a SS Paratrooper.

Will post when I know more about Roses position. Don’t want to jinx anything by posting it online, as the internet as we all know, is evil.

See ya soon!

Category: Hanoi, TESOL, Travel Plans, Vietnam | 2 Comments »
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Posted By Rose on December 18, 2009

Hello, hello, helloooooooooooooooooooooooo!

We are on our way home. We left cold smog filled Hanoi this morning at 7am. Said an early bird goodbye to the lovely Nic who is heading off to Sapa and enjoyed the budgetness of Jetstar. (Was actually excellent as we were next to the emergency doors so had loads, and I mean LOADS of leg room.)

In my typical Rose style I slept for 1 hour and 45 minutes of the just over 2 hour flight, and thus didn’t miss the food they didn’t bring or the movies that weren’t available.  Great to be back in HCMC – sunny and people are so friendly. Some lady bumped into me and actually said sorry!

Sam had a killer headache this afternoon which was a total bummer. We are staying in a nice hotel – living it up a bit.

Well my lovelies I am off to bed as we have to get up at 6am tomorrow (this morning it was 4.30am. )

Kisses and see you soon. (most of you anyway!)

Love Rose

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Posted By Rose on December 17, 2009

Hiya All.

Well things have been a bit crazy here we have had chock-a-block visitors. Jeani, then Tom and Nick (with some over lapping).

Was great to have Jeani Beanie come visit, haven’t seen her in a year or two (or seven actually) and we had a fantastic time she flew out 6th Dec.

Nic is still with us, Tom just dropped in for a week or so. The boys missed their flight from India and Nic ended up spending  24 hours in Mumbai airport.

We have had 2 Christmas parties already to get us in the holiday spirit. One on Friday night with the Kindy kids which was very cute and adorable we went out for dinner to Sen restaurant (a very popular Vietnamese restaurant) and had a concert and food and games it was a good night and a chance to speak to the kids parents (fielding the why isn’t my 2 year old fluent in English questions. I still have to come up with a better response than…because their 2!).

On Sunday we took the bus to Bao Son Fun park with 60 kids we were there all day and that’s all I want to say about that traumatic experience thank you.

In other news (like the Vietnamese news) I am a TV star! Actually if you wish to be technical about it more like program filler but still cool.  A film crew came into my class last week and they filmed the class, then they showed about 5 minutes of footage about Vietnamese kids learning English. The program was in Vietnamese so they could have said any manner of things about me but the report is that it was positive, the kids are so cute!

Don’t worry I won’t forget you little people in my glorious stardom.

I seem to have a little cold and Sam is calling me the diesesed and avoiding me, fingers crossed I will be better by Friday . Today was last day of work, !!!!

LOVE YOU ALL. SEE YOU SOON!

XXXRose

Category: Hanoi, Vietnam | No Comments »
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Posted By Rose on December 16, 2009

So, the plan was to write at least one entry about November but looks like we failed again!
So here is the low down on the 11th month.

Can’t really remember, so in no particular order:

We went on a wicked ride on the bike out of Hanoi for a few hours into the countryside which was heaps of fun, and we have some good photos that we (I mean Sam) will post later. It was nice to get out of the City and we have been trying to get out there again ever since. Some funny things happened but it was so long ago I can’t recall them.

Vietnam has this awesome day called Teachers Day on the 20th Nov. Great day, Sam and I got showered with presents, ties, scarves, and flowers, and all the parents thank you for teaching their offspring. It was fun. Sam got a card saying ‘from your people’ which he will take to the grave no doubt.

Then all the Just Kids Teachers went out for dinner at the Sen restaurants. Riding at night through Hanoi with 12-15 Vietnamese girls on motorbikes was one of the most fun things we have done here – probably the closest I will ever feel to being in a motorcycle gang, (though, you never know what the future holds).

In more motorbike news I have been learning to ride the bike – I am learning in front of Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum of all places! Very cool. Sam is a great teacher and I can now turn the bike which is a generally useful skill unless you only want to ride the Eyre highway in Australia. Still not out on the roads …yet. I am adverse to other traffic.

We have had more visitors – the Jeani-Beanie from the UK, she is sailing in Thailand and popped over for 2 weeks for a visit, which was lovely. We did the usual and she spent a lot of time walking around where we live getting to know the area.

I also started a new course Teaching English through Drama, which we have had 2 classes for.I wrote the curriculum and so far it is going well, the kids really dig it, and we are having lots of fun – all those Drama classes are coming in handy and yet I still haven’t needed trigonometry since high school…. Drama the practical choice.

The kindy kids are going well, growing very attached to them all. Phong is who in my little Ducks class (1 1/2 – 2 years old) said his first English words before speaking Vietnamese: Yellow, Green, and teacher, which was fun, we are currently expanding this to red and blue.

The Dolphins (3 years old) are fantastic and so much fin, I never thought I would like teaching such young kids but they are a hoot.

Sam sold the Honda 67 which was bitter-sweet, he sold it to his friend Hung so he was able to part with the bike, but was still a little heart broken. So we are a one bike house-hold.

Think that’s about it….Will post one for Dec soon.

Love youse all,

Rose

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Posted By Sam on December 7, 2009

See you all soon. Looking forward to coming home for 2 weeks over Christmas.

Category: Photos, Vietnam, gag | 3 Comments »
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Posted By Rose on November 23, 2009

Hello Guys and Gals!

Well some people have been commenting, saying things like: “Why aren’t you posting?” and “Rose it’s been so long where are the updates?” And I’m all like “Whatcha talkin’ bout People? I post all the time – much more than that Samboy lazy bum.” And then I checked the blog and I was like woah man! there were NO posts in October. None. Nada. Zilch. The awful truth is that on the Rose and Sam’s excellent adventure it’s like October didn’t exist! In fact, if a month goes by and you don’t blog it did it really happen?  While you mull that over,  something happened between September and November, so sit back and I’ll tell y’all about it.

The months’ highlight was a de-fucking-lightful visit from Nerissa, who spread her wings and left Perth for the first time  (well she insists she has travelled over seas before – but no Nerissa,  once again, Rottnest does not count!) She was a natural on the bike and on the roads, which take some time getting used to, mainly because you have to throw every previously learnt instinct about walking in front of moving vehicles out the window.

What a bloody difference $30 makes, I hunted out a reputable tour company for our trip to Halong Bay and unfortunately for you the comedy of horror and errors from the previous experience was missing entirely. How boring! On the trip down to Halong  we were hardly sitting on what you would call plush seating- they were small fold out chairs but bolted firmly to the floor and there were at least 4 or 5 people that would have gone through the window and windscreen before us, so I was quite happy. We suffered through having a guide that spoke excellent English – it does take the fun out of it when you can understand what is being said.And I was quite disappointed as he didn’t blow a whistle at us once. We were unfortunate enough to be able to only wait for 5 minutes in the sun for our boat as opposed to previous experiences of 40 mins, but somehow, someway we coped.

It was of course further disappointment when we got on the boat and were greeted by smiling staff with warm towelettes, and mango juice. I also nearly insisted of getting off the boat when instead of facing threats of repercussions of losing keys, remotes and canoes and refusel of entries to room before 4.30pm they gave us our keys and asked if we wanted to relax before lunch.

I mean, who did they think they were fooling?! And then it got worse.The rooms were spotlessly clean, with lovely bathrooms, complementary soaps, shampoos, conditioners, razors, shower caps and toothbrushes. Then I saw it. There were rose petals on the beds in the shape of a heart – disgusting – I nearly demanded my money back on the spot.

Nerissa and I then went exploring to see what else could be wrong with this boat. And I found it – upstairs on the top deck – 16 lounge chairs, with,  wait for it – ALL WITH MATTRESSES AND PILLOWS! And that it when I knew we had made a deal with a devil ship.

I wish I could tell you that lunch was better, that we were herded onto too few tables and ordered to not move, but alas, I can’t lie. We were allowed to sit where and with whom we wanted. I don’t even want to tell you the rest, how the delightfully friendly staff brought serving after serving (a veg dish to match every meat one) 7 in total until I was too full to move, how the food was the best I have eaten in Vietnam, how the guide was friendly and helpful without being overbearing.

If lunch was bad dinner was horrendous. The staff were still friendly and helpful and after another 7 disgustingly delicious courses they had the audacity to give us cake and champagne, as a couple on the cruise were on their honeymoon. The guide then sang them a song to “wish them love” – I mean who wants to go on a trip with people who try to make it memorable?

After a comfortable sleep I woke up rested and bite free – and they took us Kayaking around the lime stone caves, just our group, no people selling their wares, no big boats nealy killing you as they went past, just limestone cliffs, crystal water and the morning. Don’t they know that they’re meant to cram it into the first day when you are too tired, can barely walk, and it’s nearly dark? Not a leisurely morning meander around.Amateurs.

We then went for a cruise in the boat and barely saw anyone else all day, another spectacular lunch (when will it end?) and it was time to go home. The crew waved us off – like they actually liked us being on the boat, and went about awaiting the next lot of guests – poor people little did they know what wonderful, efficient friendly service they were about to receive.

Then it was home and take out. Nerissa got quite used to our lifestyle (it is an acquired taste – getting delivery every day is difficult. Do you want Indian, or maybe Thai, or do you feel like Italian today?) and I think she was a bit sad to leave – we were definitely sad to see her go.

Anyway – in all seriousness the Halong Bay trip was fantastic – so I am going to plug them a bit: Columbia cruises $99-$120 USD for a 2 Day one Night trip. Best deal, if you want to head to Halong go with these guys.

We also had Sam’s Birthday so he is all old and in the last year of his 20’s. We decorated the house with balloons and had cake and hung out with friends. The teachers at school made a big fuss of him, and he got a pretty good horde of presents, one of his favourites was from Nerissa – 6 seasons of the Macgver TV series, so a BIG THANKYOU to Nerissa for that. I mean, I don’t know if I can express in words they level of gratitude that I have that there are 6 season of MacGyver in my house to be watched and enjoyed and watched and watched and watched. (You know Riss – there are 22 eps a season- that is 132 episodes in total.)

Anybody want 6 seasons of MacGyver?? Anyone??

Well some other things happened in October but I can’t remember them, so I will update you on November soon. Love to you all!

A kiss and a Hug. (This is just for people I know)

Rose

Category: Vietnam | 5 Comments »
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Posted By Rose on September 18, 2009

Hello munchkins!

Well things here are super busy at the mo. Mum came to visit, she left Monday but we had a fab dab time while she was here. We visited Ho Chi Minh Museum – which is the craziest most surreal museum I have ever been to. Sam took her for a couple of jaunts around town on the bike, and we went to the usual places; old quarter, botanical gardens etc.

Mum enjoyed our suburb ordering-in skills (necessary survival here) and we also visited Papa Joes and Luna for some lovely meals out.

Mum also visited my classes as well as some of Sams and was a great hit with the kids!

Mum and I had also decided to go to Halong bay overnight for a relaxing peaceful time where we could chat, nap and read. Well that was the grand plan.

We were meant to be picked up at 8am. We got a call at 7.50 saying they would be there in 20 mins. 8.10 came and went without the bus arriving, not surprised we waited, 8.20 and 8.30 rocked around and I was starting to get a little nervous, we gave them a call and the tour guide said he would be there in 5 minutes. 8.45am, 9am drifted by with no sign of a bus, finally at 9.10am the bus materialised.

We were the last to be picked up. Mum was in the front seat otherwise known as the I-can-see-my-death-coming-by-way-of-oncoming-traffic seat. I was in the if we crash I’m first through the windscreen feet first seat. Usual Asian bus travelling arrangement. So there went our idea of sitting and chatting away the three hour trip.

Sitting next to me was a lively 7 year old who had a loose tooth, the dad was cajoling him into letting him pull it out, the boy was unconvinced. Finally he let him, the mother was most unimpressed, she took a look at the boys mouth which was bleeding and gave the dad a look like; “really? On the bus? You had to take the tooth out now?” The boy spent the rest of the trip trying to show various people his tooth.

The bus finally arrived at the beautiful Halong bay, the guide got us off the bus – all 16 of us – and then decided that he needed to control us with a whistle, – so glad Sam wasn’t with us, he definitely would have quit the tour then and there,- After waiting “5″ mins (or to the conventional way of telling time 40 mins) we were on the boat.

The little boat we got on was a transit boat taking us to our overnight one. It crashed into an other boat about 15 meters from shore. Not reassuring.

Once we were on our boat (number 3318 I think) we had lunch and were off and away. we met some absolutely lovely people, there were 16 people on board. We had lots of fun but there were some very weird moments and I am feeling lazy so I am just going to list them .

• we weren’t allowed into our cabins until 4.30pm. I’m not kidding, one of the girls asked at 4.28pm and they said: “no, not until 4.30.”
• We had to be out of our cabins by 7am even though we weren’t off the boat till 12.
• when we were given our key the tour guide said: “If you lose, you pay $10.”
• When we were given our air-conditioning remote control (at 8pm) we were told again if we lost it we would pay lots of money. (you’re on a boat for christ sake, where is it going to go??)
• When Mum and I declined the offer of kayaking  (or Kaking as it was called) I had to sign a note saying we wouldn’t ask for a refund!
• Those that did take the kyaking option were told that it would be $200 per oar and $500 per kyak that were lost.
• I got bitten head to toe by some mysterious insect, which, when I woke up in the middle of the night I thought were dreaded bed bugs and I quickly jumped out of my bed and into Mums.
• 1 hour before we got back into shore (it was very hot) they turned all the fans off, when asked if they could turn them back on again we were told the motor was broken, slightly odd as we were still powering in to shore..

Despite all this, there were actually some spectacular moments, watching the sunset from the top deck over the bay and Islands was beautiful, we had a wonderful time chatting to the people we met, and even though there was no water pressure the rooms were actually very nice.

We were glad to be home at the end of the two day journey (which felt like a week!).

Overall Mum had a very eventful trip. And we are trying to convince her to return next year. Though I think I’ve had enough of Halong Bay for a while…

Hope to see more of you soon!

xoxoxo Rose

Category: Vietnam | 4 Comments »
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