So last week I decided to sign up for the gym, and today was my 4th consecutive day working out. I must be honest and point out that I have never really spent much time in a gym before, always opting for outdoor sports and much... But given my current predicament with my knee, I can't really do that... Working out has been great, and what's even better is the company that I have been keeping.... Met some really great guys that are starting in the same centre as me, one Brit, Ian, and another Yankee-doodle-dandy, Justin, and have been hanging out heaps. We all just clicked which is great, and it is really awesome to have some friends and established a support network so quickly.
Back to the gym though, I am sooooooooo lucky to be working out with the likes of Justin - who is an ex-football trainer / coach, and really really knows his stuff. And the fact that all three of us have joined up is really going to be an incentive to keep going. Have basically been doing a lot of cardo stuff on the bike - as my injured knee kind of limits me, but I have also started doing weights for the first time, and I hurt, but feel all the better for it. :) Hope we can all keep it up, health body, healthy mind. I will probably join a class or two in a month or so, but for now, my first priority is teaching and I continue to worry about the hectic schedule that I am about to enter.
I have been doing my orientations for the last few days, which has meant a few workshops and class observations, - again reiterating the professionalism of the company that I am so happily to become part of. The encouragement for teachers to improve themselves is fantastic, and a really healthy surprise, in fact, I have already put in for time off in August so I can do my CELTA YL, which is the Young Learners extension to the CELTA course, which will also mean an incremental pay rise, which is always welcome.
I got called in to cover a class on Sunday, which was bit of a surprise, as my contract doesn't officially start until the 1st of June. I must be honest and say that I was absolutely shitting myself! It wasn't so bad though, the class had to sit for an exam, which I basically monitored for the first half of the lesson, and played a few games, and gave out a puzzle for the remainder of the scheduled time. It also ment that I had to mark my first exam...fun times.
My schedule though is about to go MENTAL......teaching 16 hours over two days is intense...... and the remander of my hours are on Tuesday and Thursday, another 4 hours on each day....my weekend classes are all Junior classes, which is going to be interesting, especially as I have just been given another classes, in which pretty much all the students will have no English whatsoever.......
TRUTH: I AM SHITTING MYSELF ABOUT IT (in fact in others ways at present too, as I ate something disagreeable), but I AM up for the challenge, and I know that the next few weeks especially are going to be FUCKING DIFFICULT, but once I get into a routine and a rhythm things will get easier, and there are people here to help me through, but at the end of the day.... I am going to have to put in the hard yards in the months that lay ahead....and that is fine by me.....
One thing that I am concerned about is my organisational skills, or my complete lack there of......that is something that I am going to have to remedy and fast! I think a lot will come with practice, and routine, and repetition, yet another reason why I am loving my workouts so much......
Thats all from me for now......sleep is calling......and the my mind and body grow wearier, so I will sign off "dear reader", til we met again.........what dreams may come
Monday, May 30, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
finding my feet and ila Day 1
Hi all,
Well as my title probably suggests, I am now a few days into my new life abroad in Ho Chi Minh City. Tonight I spend my first night at my new place - I have paid for a month here, but am still not quite convinced if I will stick it out longer than that here, or look for somewhere else. The place is ok, it is a pretty big room, and relatively cheap 320US a month, but I have just moved in and I am having trouble with the wifi - which isn't a good sign - because, if you know me, I do like my internet - and I do like it to be reliable - that said, they do have an ethernet connect here, but that is really quite inconvenient, as I really want to be able to use internet from my bed. All in all though the place isn't that bad, and like most places around here, I get breakfast and my washing included....which is helpful. Truthfully though, I am thinking of moving around the corner, to a place with a balcony for 350US, but i will probably have a look at a place out in district 3 at some stage as well.....But I have a place, and I don't really want to think about moving again, as I know work is going to be a BIG learning curb to start out with!!!
But lets go back a few days....and soo much has happened, and so much is about to happen. In fact, once I actually start teaching, I have a feeling this blog is going to fall at the way side, I hope not though. Anyways, in the last few days - I have pretty much met everyone from the my centre, and I have been hanging with a few teachers who are started at the same time as me at the same centre, which has been really cool, and we all seem to get along really well, with the minor expect that we all support opposing football clubs - which is actually pretty fun. To be honest, so much has happen, I don't know where to begin, I have been on the back of a motorbike a few times now, and driving in the traffic doesn't seem as daunting as it did when I first got here, to the point where I just want to get a bike and get it over and done with, and start riding all around the place.
I went out to district 7 a few days back, which is a completely different experience from the backpacker part of district one, where I am staying.....very seren, but to be honest I don't know if it is for me..... it consisted of giant high risers, and wealthy Koreans, Taiwanese, and Westerners.... but it is a very different style of living - and a stark contrast to the rest of HCM - that said it it a bit of a way out as well.
Today though I went into my school for the first time......I must admit, that I find it really quite strange walking into the place, all suited up, especially considering 3 weeks ago I was driving tractors, planting and cutting lettuce back on a farm in Australia. I work in the Australian equivalent to a binged out David Jones type Mall. All of a sudden I am upper middle class, and it is a rather strange sensation. In fact, ila Vietnam seems to be part of the teaching elite here in this country, and it is very well respected and idealised. I have clout, in abundance, alas, even in excess, and I have know idea what to do with that!
Meeting the ppl and my co-ordinates was great, and especially after meeting Dominic my Academic Manager, I know I totally have made the right choice in waiting for the right job to come along.....and this is totally it.....I love how everyone is wanting to better themselves professionally, and that that is sooooo encouraged! In fact, I have pretty much decided I am going to do my YL CELTA extension asap.
After my induction, a few mates and I went up and check out the malls' gym, which I should add, is state of the art, and a place that, back home, there would have been NO WAY that I could have afforded a place like it.... maybe my brother DR. ADAM, but not me. It is still relatively expensive, in terms even for here, and I am sure I could find a place that is cheaper, but the convenience factor is a big one, and I think it works out about 27.70 a month paying 500US up front for an 18 month membership... and that includes everything....everything......so I think fuck it, I am going to sign up........I knew that getting myself established here was going to cost me a bit, and getting back into shape, is something that I believe is totally necessary, especially with my knee the way it is, and sport, not really being an option.
Anyways.....I probably should bail soon.....as during my induction, I didn't only get a mass of materials to read, but I also got my first weeks teaching schedule....I work Tuesdays, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sundays..... with the majority of my teaching hours on the weekends 70 or 80% in fact. I am packing myself about my first class, which is an Elite class - kids aged between 15-17, so I am going to have to be well prepared for that one.....or they are going to walk all over me, like nothing else. All my other classes are with Juniors - kids aged 6 1/2 to 10 1/2. I am not as daunted by them yet..... but am still shitting my self.... I need to get myself organised - and for those of you that know me well - you will also know that there is one thing that I am categorically not, and that is organised.....something that is going to have to change.....and fast!!! But I am up for the challenge, and the support network here is great....
All in all, as my little bro Cal keeps saying "livin the dream", and you know what I really think I am, I think, give me a few months, and I will totally find myself over here.
Its scary, as in its challenging, but I am eating that up, and am beginning to love my new home.
Well as my title probably suggests, I am now a few days into my new life abroad in Ho Chi Minh City. Tonight I spend my first night at my new place - I have paid for a month here, but am still not quite convinced if I will stick it out longer than that here, or look for somewhere else. The place is ok, it is a pretty big room, and relatively cheap 320US a month, but I have just moved in and I am having trouble with the wifi - which isn't a good sign - because, if you know me, I do like my internet - and I do like it to be reliable - that said, they do have an ethernet connect here, but that is really quite inconvenient, as I really want to be able to use internet from my bed. All in all though the place isn't that bad, and like most places around here, I get breakfast and my washing included....which is helpful. Truthfully though, I am thinking of moving around the corner, to a place with a balcony for 350US, but i will probably have a look at a place out in district 3 at some stage as well.....But I have a place, and I don't really want to think about moving again, as I know work is going to be a BIG learning curb to start out with!!!
But lets go back a few days....and soo much has happened, and so much is about to happen. In fact, once I actually start teaching, I have a feeling this blog is going to fall at the way side, I hope not though. Anyways, in the last few days - I have pretty much met everyone from the my centre, and I have been hanging with a few teachers who are started at the same time as me at the same centre, which has been really cool, and we all seem to get along really well, with the minor expect that we all support opposing football clubs - which is actually pretty fun. To be honest, so much has happen, I don't know where to begin, I have been on the back of a motorbike a few times now, and driving in the traffic doesn't seem as daunting as it did when I first got here, to the point where I just want to get a bike and get it over and done with, and start riding all around the place.
I went out to district 7 a few days back, which is a completely different experience from the backpacker part of district one, where I am staying.....very seren, but to be honest I don't know if it is for me..... it consisted of giant high risers, and wealthy Koreans, Taiwanese, and Westerners.... but it is a very different style of living - and a stark contrast to the rest of HCM - that said it it a bit of a way out as well.
Today though I went into my school for the first time......I must admit, that I find it really quite strange walking into the place, all suited up, especially considering 3 weeks ago I was driving tractors, planting and cutting lettuce back on a farm in Australia. I work in the Australian equivalent to a binged out David Jones type Mall. All of a sudden I am upper middle class, and it is a rather strange sensation. In fact, ila Vietnam seems to be part of the teaching elite here in this country, and it is very well respected and idealised. I have clout, in abundance, alas, even in excess, and I have know idea what to do with that!
Meeting the ppl and my co-ordinates was great, and especially after meeting Dominic my Academic Manager, I know I totally have made the right choice in waiting for the right job to come along.....and this is totally it.....I love how everyone is wanting to better themselves professionally, and that that is sooooo encouraged! In fact, I have pretty much decided I am going to do my YL CELTA extension asap.
After my induction, a few mates and I went up and check out the malls' gym, which I should add, is state of the art, and a place that, back home, there would have been NO WAY that I could have afforded a place like it.... maybe my brother DR. ADAM, but not me. It is still relatively expensive, in terms even for here, and I am sure I could find a place that is cheaper, but the convenience factor is a big one, and I think it works out about 27.70 a month paying 500US up front for an 18 month membership... and that includes everything....everything......so I think fuck it, I am going to sign up........I knew that getting myself established here was going to cost me a bit, and getting back into shape, is something that I believe is totally necessary, especially with my knee the way it is, and sport, not really being an option.
Anyways.....I probably should bail soon.....as during my induction, I didn't only get a mass of materials to read, but I also got my first weeks teaching schedule....I work Tuesdays, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sundays..... with the majority of my teaching hours on the weekends 70 or 80% in fact. I am packing myself about my first class, which is an Elite class - kids aged between 15-17, so I am going to have to be well prepared for that one.....or they are going to walk all over me, like nothing else. All my other classes are with Juniors - kids aged 6 1/2 to 10 1/2. I am not as daunted by them yet..... but am still shitting my self.... I need to get myself organised - and for those of you that know me well - you will also know that there is one thing that I am categorically not, and that is organised.....something that is going to have to change.....and fast!!! But I am up for the challenge, and the support network here is great....
All in all, as my little bro Cal keeps saying "livin the dream", and you know what I really think I am, I think, give me a few months, and I will totally find myself over here.
Its scary, as in its challenging, but I am eating that up, and am beginning to love my new home.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
My flight and first Impressions...
Hi everyone,
Before I begin, I should point out that I am a total newbie to the whole blogging phenomenon, but thought it was time to try something new. And I don't think there is anything that saids "new" like starting to live in a "new" country, especially moving from the westernised suburbia that a relatively quite Australian City - if one is bold enough to call Toowoomba a city, moving to Ho Chi Minh City, together with all of its hustle and bustle, its large community of expats and travels, and its almost endless tide of motorcycles and mopeds.....which, as I have been told, appears to be the preferred means of travel, even amongst the expat community - I idea, which for me I think is going to take sometime to get use too.
But lets start at the beginning "a very good place to start". I arrived in Saigon a few days ago, flying out of Brisbane, with a short 3 hour stop over in KL. Arriving, and acquiring my visa on arrival, was nowhere as daunting as I first presumed.... however, venturing down to the baggage claim, and waiting....waiting....waiting..... until I came to the eventual realisation that indeed my baggage was not coming was a little annoying, especially as a few days before, I had packed up my life into this so called backpack and was heading aboard....
So with no luggage, I headed into the city, getting a quite run down from a fellow teacher that picked me up from the airport, but left be as promptly as I arrived at my guest house. Altogether though, the loss of the luggage, in my new location, seemed pretty insignificant.... pure material and nothing more...thankfully though, it did arrival later that evening on a following flight - but personally, for me, I was a bit disappointed by this, and aside from the bag itself being a gift, I like the whole premise of a fresh start with, only the clothes on my back, a tie, and a spare pair of underwear (dirty), in fact, I found the whole prospect kind of liberating. Nevertheless, baggage intake I soldier on.
I have about a week before I start work, which I guess has both its pros and cons, time to settle in - find more permanent accommodation (the school has put me up for a week), find my way around the city, and simply take a breathe, relax and explore. To be honest - I think I will be doing more relaxing than exploring..... I came here on a year long contract, so at the moment, I am happy to take a breather from the hectic pace in which I moved over here.
In fact, a friend of a friend, is actually living and working over here, doing pretty much the same thing, living around the corner from my hotel, so I guess that has made the transition from my old farm life, to life in Saigon more palatable, or less challenging. I haven't really met anyone from my school yet, thus my plan in the next day or so, is to actually fine my place of employment, and get my bearings - oh and purchase some business type attire, as I have very little in the "white collar department".
Time to sign off for now, but hopefully I can make this blog a regular thing.
Before I begin, I should point out that I am a total newbie to the whole blogging phenomenon, but thought it was time to try something new. And I don't think there is anything that saids "new" like starting to live in a "new" country, especially moving from the westernised suburbia that a relatively quite Australian City - if one is bold enough to call Toowoomba a city, moving to Ho Chi Minh City, together with all of its hustle and bustle, its large community of expats and travels, and its almost endless tide of motorcycles and mopeds.....which, as I have been told, appears to be the preferred means of travel, even amongst the expat community - I idea, which for me I think is going to take sometime to get use too.
But lets start at the beginning "a very good place to start". I arrived in Saigon a few days ago, flying out of Brisbane, with a short 3 hour stop over in KL. Arriving, and acquiring my visa on arrival, was nowhere as daunting as I first presumed.... however, venturing down to the baggage claim, and waiting....waiting....waiting..... until I came to the eventual realisation that indeed my baggage was not coming was a little annoying, especially as a few days before, I had packed up my life into this so called backpack and was heading aboard....
So with no luggage, I headed into the city, getting a quite run down from a fellow teacher that picked me up from the airport, but left be as promptly as I arrived at my guest house. Altogether though, the loss of the luggage, in my new location, seemed pretty insignificant.... pure material and nothing more...thankfully though, it did arrival later that evening on a following flight - but personally, for me, I was a bit disappointed by this, and aside from the bag itself being a gift, I like the whole premise of a fresh start with, only the clothes on my back, a tie, and a spare pair of underwear (dirty), in fact, I found the whole prospect kind of liberating. Nevertheless, baggage intake I soldier on.
I have about a week before I start work, which I guess has both its pros and cons, time to settle in - find more permanent accommodation (the school has put me up for a week), find my way around the city, and simply take a breathe, relax and explore. To be honest - I think I will be doing more relaxing than exploring..... I came here on a year long contract, so at the moment, I am happy to take a breather from the hectic pace in which I moved over here.
In fact, a friend of a friend, is actually living and working over here, doing pretty much the same thing, living around the corner from my hotel, so I guess that has made the transition from my old farm life, to life in Saigon more palatable, or less challenging. I haven't really met anyone from my school yet, thus my plan in the next day or so, is to actually fine my place of employment, and get my bearings - oh and purchase some business type attire, as I have very little in the "white collar department".
Time to sign off for now, but hopefully I can make this blog a regular thing.
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