Greetings from Binh Duong New City
I have survived teaching my first quarter at EIU!!!!!!! We finished teaching on Thursday with exams on Friday and Saturday. We will spend this week marking the exams and then it will be time to see who has passed and can go up to the next level. It is hard to believe that 3 months have passed and the turmoils that have gone on. At times I did not think I would still be here....there were many times I was ready to pack my bags and go home....but I kept telling myself I had to give it a go, do my best and pray that it all worked out. It has been some of the most challenging moments of my life - many tears but also much laughter. We have no idea what we will be teaching next quarter yet....so there are probably many more challenges to be faced. Mind you, next quarter is going to be very disjointed. We teach for a week then have a 2 week break for Christmas, then we teach for another 2 weeks before heading off on more holidays for Tet (Vietnamese New Year) and then we come back again. It will be difficult to engage with the students with all the stopping and starting.

With the end of classes on Thursday my business students invited myself and Omar (my co-teacher) out for a picnic lunch at the local park. What a wonderful lunch they gave us - barbequed shrimp, meat, salad, fruit and drinks. It was really nice to just be able to sit and talk with our students away from the classroom. and it was a pity we had to head back to work. No rest for the wicked as the saying goes!!!

I am gradually settling into life at the apartment despite the isolation. I have managed to cook a few meals using a gas stove for the first time in my life without blowing myself up!!! One of the other teachers is in the same boat as me - neither of us have had to cook for years so we have taken it in turns to try and create a meal together......have to say Tanya is by far a better cook. My apartment is very comfortable.... I just wish there was more things around.

I have wandered around and found that there is a nice park with a lake nearby. It seems to be very popular with the locals with many people there having a meal and relaxing with their families. The only horrible thing was finding some monkeys and turkeys in these ghastly cages.....I have no idea why they are there but it is not a good look. I have also learnt that there is a pool about 5 minutes walk away which I am looking forward to using now we are getting some very hot days. Other than that everything else is a motorbike ride away.....and I don't have one of those!!!!

I find that I go into town once or twice a week after work as we can get a lift in with the new teachers who are now living in the hotels. Generally I do my shopping then head off for a well deserved massage and maybe a meal before getting a taxi back to the apartment - the taxi ride is about 20 minutes.

Because we worked this Saturday invigilating exams we are getting next Friday off as a day in lieu so I am heading to Mui Ne a beach-side town about 3-4 hours away. Cant wait to see a new part of Vietnam that I haven't visited before.

No more news for now but I look forward to sharing my adventure to Mui Ne with you when I return.

Bye for now. xxx