Day 3

Time for the synposis of the last two days and what day 3 will become. Day 1, Tuesday August 16th, I arrived in Saigon at 11:37am. 17 minutes late. But that was of no concern. I found a taxi and made it over to my hotel, Thien Hong. The owners there were incredibly accomodating and nice. Though my room was simply a bed and a bathroom, it at least had AC and their benign friendship made up for it. To give you an idea, my door could only open to about a 60 degree angle before the door hit either the tv or the bed. Never looked close enough to see which one it hit, but that tv shook often. After unpacking briefly I made my way to go make copies of my CV and cover letter. Along the way, multiple drivers tried to spark conversation, valiantly being a man on a mission, I ignored all attempts except for one. Who I asked where the internet cafe was. His name turns out to be "John" as well, though I'm still not certain of the truth behind that. I make my copies and I asked him of a good place to eat. We agree that he'll take me to go eat somewhere and we'll also have a few drinks. We drive quite a ways to a place over the Saigon river. I'll have to look for the name of it next time because I haven't been that observant. Upon arrival I am a little sketched out, I see Vietnamese women dressed fairly scantily, but this would pass for nearly modest back at home. Skirts reveal about 3/4 of the legs, some shirts reveal upper cleavage. Instantly, I'm thinking how do I get out of here, this is not where I want to be on my first day. I wanted a small red table with a few chairs and one cook who makes a few dishes. Despite my expectations, it turned out to be a fun night. Though I might add, an expensive one which I was ensured it would be a cheap place. Eventually John's friend showed up, Quy, and us three drank Tiger beer and ate some really good yellow noodles with seafood, cilantro, tomato, onion, and had a tangy brown sauce. Probably hoison sauce, with chili. I was impressed by the food, and I managed to learn a few more Vietnamese words and had my small notebook there with me. Also, one thing to note is throughout our dining experience, we moved our table about 4 times, moving closer and closer from the edge to the center. The monsoon rains were pooring rain and despite the restaurants attempts to block it with their awnings, the power of rain ruled.

Before the end of the night John and Quy agree that one of them will meet me at 9am to go visit schools. That night, I get home around 9pm and fall fast asleep. The next morning I awake, shower, and go find my first bowl of pho. Once again, a valiant mission, this time with no failures. I walk down the alleyway that has a width ranging from 8 feet to 5 feet and turn left onto Pham Ngu Lao street, a very touristy area. I walk along the sidewalk, it is early, the hawkers aren't approaching me with a purpose. I pass hotels, bus tours, banks, fancier hotels, and finally I get down to the corner and I find my bliss. There are 6 tables, all Vietnamese men eating breakfast before work. This is it. I falter with my Vietnamese "Chao Anh, Toi di....." Hello sir, I go..(couldn't think of 'here to eat'). They get my point and bring me to a table inside, hiding me from everyone else. But I get a view of the kitchen which for me, is even better than the street scene at this time of day. I order Pho with rare thin beef. The bowl was small in comparison to those back home, but the aromas, and steaming bean sprouts made up for it. I find hot sauce and hoison sauce, add them in, along with mint leaves and begin to chow down. I end up drinking most of the broth, a few times I got a gulp or two of hot sauce. Leading to the secretion of tears from my eyes, but they were divine tears of joy. Too eager to eat, I only took a picture after I ate.

I meet with John at 9am. We go to about 6 schools. We go to one I never saw online, but it was in the area of some other schools. The place looked rather sketchy and poor. The questions on the application ranged from my intentions of marriage, to where I am in the family line and the occupations of my parents, brothers, and sisters. Of course height and weight were thrown in. Feeling rather violated of my privacy I keep in mind the ESL business is one of show as well, of face, and that having young white males and females are key components to their businesses. After about an hour of filling out their multiple paged lengthy application, I speak with the recruitment lady. She decides she wants me to go speak with their principal of the elementary school (a different location). At 2pm, I have my first interview for a job. I meet Steve and Karen. Steve is a warm welcoming person from Orange County who worked there in school administration. He's been here for 3 months. He says there are other teachers from Southern California as well. I'm beginning to feel comfortable here. The classroom will have the teacher and two assistants. Talk about support! that's what we had at SDCCA (San Diego Center for Children Academy, my previous workplace). So basically I'm taking Mr. Mac's job, but in a different country with different students, and it will be a 1st grade class from 8:30-11:30am and a 5th grade class from 12:30-3:30pm. It's all sounding good, the interview goes fairly well. Steve asks for me to sit outside while he and Karen dicuss their opinions. Less than five minutes later, Steve grabs me and offers me the job. To make a longer story shot, I was skeptical because the pay rate is the minimum of what I was looking for. Should have high rolled first, but stupidly my salary negotiations are never as good as I wished they were. I eventually get them to give me another hundred a month. I'll be paid twice a month, in cash, Vietnamese Dong.

Right after the interview I meet up with John. (John is to the right of me and Quy on the left) We instantly begin looking for places I can rent. But this will have to be the next posting since this one is really long and I'd like to give a tour of my place with a video.