The Ethical Decision

If you found a lost wallet, what would you do?  The ethical decision would be to track down the owner and give it back, right?

Last week I left my wallet in a cab after hitting up the Co-op Mart (grocery/superstore).  I have never done such a thing in my LIFE.  We were in a rush and carrying several bags of goods, and instead of putting my change from the cab fare in my wallet, I threw it in my purse.  Had I waited to take the extra few seconds to put the money directly in my wallet, I would have realized that I left my wallet on the seat of the cab!

While eating dinner with friends that night, my phone rang and the guy on the other line said "taxi, taxi!" and I thought it was a wrong number and hung up.  When it came time to pay for the meal, I opened my purse to take out my wallet and realized it was GONE.  Panic set in, and then I clued in that it was the taxi driver that called me, trying to tell me that he had my wallet.  He had gotten my number from my cell phone card which I left in my wallet (since I can't remember my own phone number which is 11 digits long)!  Luckily, our friend Andy speaks Vietnamese and called the taxi driver back from the restaurant to sort out the situation.  The waiter at the restaurant also helped out by taking my phone and telling the taxi driver exactly where the restaurant was located so he could meet us there to return the wallet.  The driver was all the way in District 1, so it was going to take him a while to come back to our area.  Feeling a sense of relief, I was so happy that the driver decided to do the honest thing and return the wallet.  Luckily, my passport was not in there, but my credit cards, some Canadian ID, and a bunch of money was.  I decided that I would give the taxi driver some money as a reward for returning my wallet.

When the driver finally arrived outside the restaurant, I ran up to his cab and he handed me the wallet.  I tried to give him some money as a reward, but he was brushing me off, and shook his head "no."  I must have told him thank you ten times before he drove off.  Such a nice guy, right???

Turns out... he had already helped himself to his own reward.  I realized that he had left most of the bills in the wallet, but had taken out a 500,000 VND bill!  That is equivalent to about $25.  I was just happy to get the wallet back, but kind of sad that the guy felt the need to take money from me.  I guess that explained the weird look on his face when he was refusing the money I was trying to give him as a reward.  For my carelessness, it was a small price to pay.  I'm just relieved that I got my ID back.  Lesson learned!!!

School Daze

The past week has been a blur ... so many things to do in such a short period of time!  Setting up the classroom proved to be a challenge since there were not a lot of resources left in my classroom from the previous teacher.  I've made due with what I have and survived the first week of teaching (only a 3-day week)!

I have a Vietnamese co-teacher, Ms. Hong, who is really nice and helpful.  Since there are a lot of students in the class, I'm pretty thankful that she is in the room with me.  The first couple days have been fun but challenging.  There is a lot of work to be done with establishing routines.  I have students from 7 countries in my class - Vietnam, Korea, Sweden, Venezuela, Taiwan, Switzerland, and Canada.  Most of the students are Vietnamese.  The English level ranges widely, as there are kids who are strong at speaking and then others who don't speak at all.

One thing I really love about the school is my co-workers.  People are really friendly and willing to help out in any way they can.  I'm glad I got to meet all these people... :)

Staff photo taken by the school photographer

After a day of teaching 19 grade one kids, I feel so exhausted.  Luckily next week is another short week!  Due to a holiday on Friday, we'll have a 3-day weekend.  There are plans in the works to go to Mui Ne, a beach town several hours away with massive desert-like sand dunes.

House Hunters International: Vietnam!

House hunting in Vietnam, or any foreign country, can be a daunting experience.  Unfortunately, the experience did not start well.  We were taken to some shady apartments by another rental agent.  Luckily, we were able to find a different agent named My (pronounced "me"), who helped us find an awesome apartment.  My was very organized in booking times to view 12 apartments.  She helped negotiate the rent, sent workers to the unit to repair some things, helped us go to the bank to get the deposits, called to set up our internet and cable TV, and offered to show us how to pay our bills. 

The best rental agent, My!

If you've ever seen the TV show "House Hunters International," then you will understand what the process was like.  Viewing so many apartments was a bit overwhelming.  I kept a list of each apartment, its pros and cons, and took photos of each one.  After a while, some of the apartments started looking the same, so taking notes and photos was a great way to remember each specific place.  Once a place was chosen, My helped to negotiate the rent price with the landlord, and gave us a bilingual contract.  Each unit in Sky Garden is owned by a different landlord, who is responsible for the upkeep and decoration of the unit.  I thought the

apartment had a lot of character... and I'm glad to call it my home for now!

As you can see, the apartment has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, an office, living room, kitchen, entrance hallway, and small balcony where the washing machine is.  There is a nice view out the living room window of Sky Garden 1 and 2.  The "bamboo garden" next to the front window (not real bamboo!) is an interesting touch!  Unfortunately, none of the plants in the apartment were real.  You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

 
With the apartment search out of the way, now it's time to focus on work!  Orientation began this week... more to come about the school in the next blog post!  :)

Hello Vietnam

I'm happy to say that we have arrived in Vietnam safely and are loving it!!  The flight from Toronto to Hong Kong was very long (15 hours or so), and after a layover for several hours there, we were able to fly to the final destination:  HO CHI MINH CITY, also known as Saigon.  If anyone is ever flying to Asia, I would highly recommend the airline Cathay Pacific.  We were given tons of food, and even got to order off a small menu in economy class!

At the airport in Hong Kong, waiting for the next flight

Along with John and I, there were 3 other teachers from the school on our flight - Greg, Mike, and Catharine.  When we arrived at the airport in HCMC, we were greeted by the head of the school and then taken to our hotels on the school's private bus.  It was kind of surreal driving through the streets with Vietnamese signs, street food stalls, and insane motorbike traffic.  Even though I've been to this city before on my travels, it was crazy to think that I would actually be living here.  I wasn't able to get a lot of sleep on the plane, and despite being in transit for so long I felt pretty good!  We arrived in HCMC before lunch time, so it was important for us to stay awake all day so we would be able to get on normal sleep patterns.

Just arrived in Vietnam!

The hotel we stayed at was located in the neighbourhood of Phu My Hung in District 7.  It is about 20 minutes away from the school, and is full of a variety of restaurants and tons of modern apartment buildings.  It is an up and coming "foreigner" area in the city.  I wouldn't describe it as a touristy place - this is where many expats from different countries are living and working.

The apartment search began several hours after we arrived.  We were taken to a variety of places by several housing agents.  Some places were dingy, other places were decent.  Ultimately, we were able to find an apartment the day after arrival with an amazing rental agent we found on our own, named My (pronounced like the word "me").  My took us to view 12 apartments!  I felt like I was on the TV show "House Hunters International."


The apartment we chose is in the Sky Garden complex, which consists of many buildings, shops, restaurants, a gym, pool, and tennis courts.  Sky Garden is about 50% Korean expats which is kind of strange but cool.  I feel like I've never left Korea sometimes!  Photos of Sky Garden to come in the next post...

Goodbye, Canada

Less than 24 hours and I will be leaving from Toronto Pearson International Airport to fly to Hong Kong, and then onward to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam!!!  Right now I'm feeling mixed emotions - excited, anxious, sad, and happy at the same time.

Currently I'm in Mississauga at Vanessa's place listening to the sounds of the big city from the 25th floor.  It's crazy to think that in a few days I'll be waking up to similar sounds, but on the other side of the world.  While my surroundings will be unfamiliar at first, I hope that I can settle into comfortable daily routines and enjoy life in Vietnam to the fullest extent.  No matter what happens though, Canada will always be on my mind... : )



Mississauga by night



Goodbye from Mississauga, ON and see you in Vietnam!