Living in Viet Nam

So I'm going to try and devlop this blog both to encourage my students to devlop theirs, and because now I've started it I am quite into the idea of having one!

Having lived in Ho Chi Minh City for almost 7 months, I'm sure I can give you a fairly good run down on it. Its hot. Everyday. Hot. Rainy season has just started (June to November). Before that we had the hot months of Febuary, March and especially April, which was suffocating. I think its the hottest place in Vietnam.

Everyone is up and about exercising on the city streets at sunrise - that is, 4.30 in the morning. After 11.00pm, the city sleeps. These times are true except for a small minority (that I am part of).

Commuting in the city is asking for hospitilization, but everyone does it anyway, you don't have a choice. There are thousands upon thousands of bikes jostling for space - combined with the exhaust fumes, the honking horns the beating sun and trying to stay alive, it can make quite an intense experience. During rush hour, it borders on ridiculous. Roads in HCMC define the saying - 'The only rule is : There are no rules'. Motorbikes are king, and a trip in a taxi is agonisingly slow, as the driver has to take ultimate care not to knock any bikes down - they don't stop, not even for red lights!

The Zoo

Hi eveyone! This is my first post on my blog. I am setting it up mainly to give my summer school students a project. Lets see how it goes, maybe it will turn into something else. The summer school has been running for 2 weeks now. Last Friday we went to the zoo, and it was a lot of fun, but also very hot and sweaty! Rain stayed away and the kids had a good time, it was difficult to tell them apart from the monkeys (as well as some of the teachers ahem: Gabriel). Its now sunday night and I'm planning another week of summer school. Maybe I will do the same as week, and take my class out onto the streets of Saigon armed with clipboards, and harass innocent tourists. We will see!

Update: Still messing around with my blog trying to get some pictures uploaded. Hopefully they will work. You can see us taking a stroll through the zoo on the right.