A trip to yet another pagoda last weekend - this time with the company and a boat trip through some tunnels. Apparently the TA's had suggested lots of better places to go but they had been ignored. After a 3 hour bus journey and yet more karaoke (me and Alex seem to be the weak links and favourites to pick on singing head, shoulders, knees and toes and ABC - the TAs are now requesting the shape song as well!!) we stopped to see another pagoda. They are beautiful but I think I'm all pagodad out now to be honest, they are all very similar and it doesn't take long to explore. We were all restless from the journey and beginning to get hungry after 15 minutes so after being in there an hour, boredom had really kicked in. Finally we moved on to lunch which was probably one of the worst meals I've had here, surprisingly the only good thing was the goat.

The rowing boat ride through the tunnels was the highlight of the day and we even managed to have a short conversation with our boat lady. Between her pigeon English and my pigeon Vietnamese (plus some sign language) we did names, ages, how many people in our families, how old they were, how long we had been in Vietnam and how long we were staying. However, then the tourist trap tricks kicked in again and we were expected to buy them drinks from another boat as well as give a tip at the end; one or the other would have been fine but they don't realise we are not 'rich Westerners' and are only being paid a minimal wage ourselves! I managed to start my xmas shopping from some of the nearby stalls before getting back on the coach home.

It was a good day with everyone but a lot of hanging around and I started to feel ill on the way home with stomach cramps and hot and cold flushes. Spent Saturday night and Sunday in bed only moving for walk to the shops for water and food. Managed to go into work but whenever I was at home I spent the time in bed feeling completely wiped out! Felt like a bit I was being a bit of a drama queen for making a fuss though as I hadn't been sick or anything and some others had similar symptoms but felt a lot worse than me. It was a weird feeling, I was hungry yet had no appetite and was really slow eating, I felt fine when lying down then dizzy and weak after any activity (even just standing for lessons) but I can't switch off to sleep.

I made it out to wish Kate goodbye Monday night after an after school rest as I thought I felt better, so pizza and chips sounded very appealing. That was a mistake I got home and was burning up thought I would never be able to sleep and wouldn't make it into work the next day. Although the company were very good about it and did arrange cover I felt better in the morning so in true 'I'm a teacher we never take a day off' style in I went. Plus no point taking a sick day when I only work half a day anyway! Checked out the new supermarket on the way home (yes that's how exciting my life is) and then went straight back to bed.

This week included 'National Teacher's Day' on the 20th where excellent teachers were recognised and rewarded and in true Vietnamese style all singing, all dancing performances took place. After going in early Monday and still feeling ill I didn't even start teaching until half 10 as they had a ceremony taking place for teacher's day. We were surprised to be invited down to watch seeing as none of the teachers there normally say a word to us. I am beginning to think this may be due to their lack of English vocabulary so they feel unable to talk to us rather than they do not want to. We were even more surprised to be offered fruit and cakes at the presentation with the teachers and important board members and be given a small monetary gift from the school.

Teacher's day at Be Van Dan (the school of dreams) was a different experience entirely. I was only invited to attend at 9pm the night before and was asked to sing an English song. Lots of other interns had been asked to sing Bui Phan a Vietnamese song normally sung by students to their teachers to thank them. It has some suspect lyrics depending on which translation you find but is basically about how the teacher has given them knowledge and changed their life. This song was taught to grade 3,4 and 5 and as I don't teach those grades and didn't know the song I thought I had got away with not singing. Although I have to say I felt secretly pleased when I was asked to sing and join in the school ceremony … might have been nice to have slightly more notice though! After speaking to my TA and receiving many unhelpful (but not unexpected) comments from home I settled on Westlife - You raise me up. They love a bit of Westlife here plus the song has quite meaningful lyrics and there is only one verse, then the chorus repeats 3 times so not many words to learn - bonus! I never noticed this fact before which can only mean that Westlife are musical geniuses (eh Dad) as they hid the fact they basically just sing the same thing over and over. The school found me a proper backing track and after Alex's rendition of Bui Phan (which mysteriously got deleted from my phone) I was up. They seemed to enjoy his performance a lot more, I'm going with the reason being it was in Vietnamese not necessarily better as it make me feel better. We took some flowers in for our TA's; recycled from the ones Alex got the day before. Funniest thing was Alex then got the same flowers back as a gift!

After singing, dancing and being pulled around to be in about 100 photos (everyone wanted a picture with the English teachers!) we headed to eat. I wore my second ao dai to the ceremony and everyone told me how beautiful I looked. I may have to start wearing them every day - I even got a thumbs up from a random woman strolling around the lake. The food was an amazing buffet with chicken (avoid the head), beef, chips, sweet potato chips, rice, noodles and squid rings. People kept refilling our plates whether we wanted more or not and urging us to eat. I repeat they want you to eat all the time then tell you that you are fat - what's with that? We took part in some traditional dance and the cha cha before our taxi turned up. I actually love Be Van Dan and am still on the task of getting me a school jacket.

After feeling OK Wednesday I felt ill again and completely exhausted Thursday and Friday so spent the evenings in bed trying to stay warm and fully recover. Think Fraser's dinner of mince and potatoes and veg helped (god I am so missing proper vegetables with food!). Oh and the waffle covered in chocolate and strawberry sauce - just when we thought Be Van Dan couldn't get any better they go and open a waffle stall at the top of the road! The school of dreams is now becoming the school of temptation … I have no willpower!