A month in Vietnam

Steven and I have been in Vietnam for almost four weeks. Even as I write that my brain tries to wrap around the number. Has it really been four weeks? Has it only been four weeks? What day is it anyway? It has been difficult for me to keep track of the time here where day is night and night is day on the other side of the world. I plan to put a calendar up in the kitchen at home this afternoon.

When we arrived in Vietnam, our priority, besides sleep, was to get our bearings and, for Steven, learn more about his new school and his new job and, for me, to find a place to live. Once we found a place to live, we immediately began our respective teaching positions, Steven at his new job as a middle school math teacher and me, as a substitute for a new third grade class until a qualified teacher could be found.

Now, four weeks in, Steven is working on putting systems in place, learning how to teach things he knows, but hasn't taught before; trying to juggle teaching, the administrative work that comes with teaching, with some down time for balance. I am thankfully, now freed from my temporary position, with the arrival of the new third grade teacher this morning and looking forward to having some free time to seek out local Non-Governmental Organizations, register us to vote, figure out the bus system and find the closest spring roll cart to 147 Nguyen Tri Phuong.

In this time we have accomplished quite a bit; we've found an apartment, developed a relationship with our landlords, found a local market, found some good vegetarian restaurants, made some friends, located the schedule for HBO Asia and ESPN Asia (and managed to catch some of the Rugters game last week - no UF or LOU so far in VN), settled into our new apartment, and found our way back and forth to each school. But we still have a lot to do. We are hoping to begin twice-weekly Vietnamese classes this week or next, we need to register to vote (yes, I've said that already, but it is now top priority!), pick up a bus schedule (the buses are 3,000d to go anywere, about 20 cents), figure out how to receive calls on our cell phones, find a bike pump to pump up our tires, take our bikes for their maiden voyage on the streets of Siagon without getting killed or run over, get a moto-license, get away to the beach for a weekend and so much more.

So far the only detriment to being so far away from home is being so far from our friends and our families. We are hoping to figure out the phones and set up our web camera soon, so we can keep in touch on a more regular basis.