Have not written for so long because I haven't traveled as I intended and then I realised that this blog is about the whole experience of living and working overseas not just about the good times.

After my wonderful time in Hoi An I returned to work and teach for a 2 week period before we had another holiday for Tet (Vietnamese New Year). I was so excited as I was supposed to be heading to Myanmar - a country I have longed to visit. However it was not to be.....I got to the airport only to find out that the visa-on-arrival I was told I could get only worked for business visa not for tourists!!! I was stranded at Saigon airport with no way of getting to join my booked tour. To say I was devastated and totally shattered would be an understatement. No holiday to be had and left thousands of dollars out of pocket. Have to give a big thumbs up to Vietnam Airlines who were fantastic - organised a refund of my airfare even though there was no way they could sell the seat before the flight departed. Pity the same cannot be said for Intrepid Tour Company who provided me with the incorrect information about the visa and then said it was my fault - why the hell would one use a tour company if they cannot give you accurate information!!! Anyway I am a great believer in KARMA and know that there is a reason I could not do the tour and will find out sometime in my future why that was.........I also have no doubt that the tour company will also get its own karma.

Ended up spending my 3 weeks of holidays stuck in my apartment in the middle of nowhere. Everyone had headed off for their holiday so it was even quieter than usual. I was able to walk down to the pool each day but otherwise had nothing to do but rest. Thank goodness for technology so I could download movies and watch them as well as lots of reading. Renewed my interest in taekwondo and have plenty of room to practice movements and patterns in my apartment. So while I didn't get what I was expecting I managed to keep myself occupied.

Back to work and now there is no more holidays :( This quarter has been so disjointed for teaching - 2 weeks work, 2 week holiday, 2 weeks work, 3 weeks holiday and now only 6 weeks till final exams- both teachers and students have found it difficult. To complicate matters I returned to find that I was being moved off my classes and had to get to know another 2 classes of students, try to build some rapport with them and get them through to the end of the quarter successfully. Have to admit that this is not at all what I was expecting when I came to Vietnam. I don't feel any sense of satisfaction with what I am doing but am trying to do the best I can and remain positive. Figure I will just write off this quarter and look to the future.

Thinking nothing else could go wrong I then ended up getting sick and had to go to hospital. 4 days experiencing the Vietnamese health system first hand......never to be repeated I hope. Went to the nearest hospital and fortunately the staff did speak some basic English. This hospital is brand new, only been open for about 15 months, so has all the latest equipment but they have a lot to learn about contemporary nursing practice. Did not take a proper medical history, did not ask for details of next-of-kin (I hate to think what would have happened if anything had gone seriously wrong) and the worst......they RE_USED a single use needle for my IV. That totally horrified me and the staff did not even seem to realise the significance of what they had done. I know my nursing colleagues and friends will understand how I feel. I can see there is so much that needs to be done with the health system in this country but am not sure if they actually want the help they need to enter the 21st century.

Am now better but not 100% yet. Back at work and trying hard to prepare my students for their final exams in 3 weeks. The new city is growing slowly and we had the new government building grand opening last week. Everyone was terribly excited as the Prime Minister and many high level Party members attended. Unfortunately there was a power outage just as the Prime Minister spoke about the development of technology......oops guess some poor sod lost his job......only in Vietnam!!! Of course there were the obligatory fireworks. I think in about 5-10 years this place might be alright to live but we do get some beautiful sunsets with such clear skies.

Looking forward to getting away next weekend - heading into Saigon with some colleagues for some fun times so hopefully a more interesting post next time.

Bye for now. xxx