I put on sunscreen

I'm sure all will be surprised by this next sentence. This morning I woke up at 7:30am on my own, and I stayed awake and actually got things accomplished. For example, I found the Disney Channel on the television and then watched it for a bit with Vietnamese subtitles. I also people watched for about half an hour from my 3rd story window, taking pictures of the old ladies in their pointy hats selling clementines on the street. There was also one street vendor that appeared to be selling raw slabs of meet in the baking sun. I can only hope my eyesight was marred by the air made hazy by humidity and pollution. Ok so I got two things accomplished, but that's alot more than I usually get accomplished between the hours of 7:30 and 9:30am. Oh and I also put on sunscreen before leaving the hotel, so mission "don't get skin cancer in Vietnam" is underway and on course. 

I left the hotel around ten and took a taxi to the ferry. Upon reaching the ferry, Vietnamese men materialized out of thin air and carried my bags on board. This was quite nice of them considering I would never have been able to manage on my own, however they then wanted a tip, which is completely understandable, and I would have given them something but for the fact that I had absolutely no money on me. It was a tense few minutes as one guy just stood there with his hand out, palm up, waiting for me to give him money. People stared, I blushed and made gestures of helplessness. The guy didn't budge. I showed him how I only had a five dollar bill and his eyes lit up. Turns out, US dollars are basically a second currency here and really valued so I gave him the wadded up bill and he gave me 2 dollars and 10,000 dong back. First I felt rich! Then I felt swindled when I realized 10,000 dong is about 60 cents.

When I reached Vung Tau 1.5 hours later, there were four teachers waiting to pick me up. Three of them I already knew from emailing back and forth. The other one is from NY and as it turns out, we actually took our CELTA course at the same center and taught some of the same students. What a small world. We dropped my luggage off at the hotel I'll be staying in for the next week and then headed off to lunch. However, not wanting another incident like the one on the boat I decided it would be a good idea to stop at an ATM and get money. Well my good idea turned bad when the ATM decided to eat my card. I mean it literally stole my card. It is no longer in my possession. I started to flip out, but apparently this is a common thing for the ATMs to malfunction and steal cards. "That's Vietnam for you," seems to be a pretty popular answer to many things that happen. No one seemed too bothered by it, and I'm going to the bank tomorrow to see if someone retrieved my card from the machine. Let's hope it's there because I already owe 500,000 dong in loans from the other teachers.

On a good note, lunch was de-lish and my hotel is pretty decent. The weather is also lovely and tonight there is this really nice breeze that's cold enough to be refreshing but warm enough to be comfortable without a jacket.

My future plans are as follows: get a motorbike, get a cell phone, stay out of trouble, don't be late for orientation tomorrow at 2pm. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to accomplish 3 out of the 4.

I'll write again soon. Miss you all.