Saving Aeneas

If Walt Disney had been Vietnamese, he may very well have come up with Dai Nam Park. DNP is a huge complex, comprising a shopping center, hotel, movie theater, theme park, campground, water park, zoo, and numerous temples.

The park is so large that people get around it by bus and electric train. To give you an idea; here's the entrance:


Luckily I had a lovely and talented Vietnamese guide so I was able to make sense of most of it.

For me, the oddest party was the 'hells', temples which were basically haunted houses. They were scary enough at first, but after a little while you get used to them.

Trouble was, I had to be back in HCMC by a certain time and this cut my enjoyment short. I'll be back there one day...

Today was Teacher's Day, the national holiday in honor of educators across Vietnam. In return for my faithful service, I received:

- a day off from school
- a new notebook
- a card
- a rather ugly striped blue shirt
- A donut with the date and 'teacher's day' written in frosting
-Best of all, a conversation with a pack of Argentines in a pizzeria on Thai Van Lung St. Excellent pizza and I got to hear 'mira vos!' for the first time in over a year.

I was sitting in a hot toc (barbershop) getting my tri-monthly haircut when a red-faced woman came rushing in brandishing a pair of scissors and attempting to stab one of the hairdressers. The rest of the staff quickly restrained, disarmed, and expelled the offender, then everything went back to normal.

When in Saigon...

Among other things, what to do when you get this text message, as I did about an hour ago:

Hello teacher im your student I have a truth that i want to tell u Do you have any girlfriend? Hope no coz i love you really Let me know your feelings

I don't even know who the student is. I only gave out my cell number in the first place in case the students had any questions on the upcoming exam.

In any case, it's a dangerous situation on a number of levels. I'll have to defuse it carefully.

While KFC and Lotteria are quite common (Pizza Hut just moved in), they only make up a tiny percentage of restaurants in Vietnam.

Vietnam's two major contributions to the world of chain restaurants have yet to spread to other countries as yet. They are:

Highlands Coffee


Essentially a slightly-expanded version of Starbucks, offering meals and fruit juice in addition to the usual coffees, mochas, etc. A pleasant and elegant place to while away the afternoon, though the prices are (by local standards) sky-high. What you're really paying for is the ambiance.

Pho 24


The guidebooks invariably refer to Pho 24 as 'clean', and that it certainly is, making it ideal for squeamish tourists who can't stomach the idea of eating pho on the street. The bowls and utensils are clean of course, but so are the herbs, onions, scallions, and lemons that come with it, and the sauces are exactly the same proportions every time. A little creepy, if you ask me. Why '24'? because Vietnamese people usually eat pho for breakfast - this tried to make it an all-day thing.

Goodness, there's a surprise: almost everything went according to the Democrats' plan.

Whether you like it or not, this is going to be a pivotal moment in American politics. Essentially an Obama landslide with comparatively small Democratic gains in the House and Senate.

I do wish I were there now, so I could see things up close. I tried to talk about the election with my class this morning, but wasn't sure that such thorny issues as democratic elections would go over well with my Vietnamese minders. Luckily they already seemed familiar with the American political system, and other than one 6th-grader yelling 'Obama Banana!' when I mentioned BHO's name.

At least some of the time, anyway.

Payday! There's something rather dangerous about getting a month's pay in cash...in an envelope to boot.

This Saturday I had my usual Cleverlearn class (I cheated a little bit and showed them the Halloween episode of 'The Simpsons') and then back to Sax'n Art, the jazz club. i'm beggining to notice a certain repetition in the music there; it seem slike they've had the same musicians playing the same songs for the last two months at least.

Halloween day, which doesn't mean a whole lot to most Vietnamese, though goodness knows we expats try. My own efforts were rather tame compared to the teacher who showed up in a witch's hat and giant plush spider.

Afterwards I had intended to go to Sheridan's Irish House for their Halloween party, but it was so jammed packed I couldn't get in the door. Instead we went around the corner to Alibi, a French bar of excellent repute and reasonably priced cocktails. Too reasonable, actually: they were very strong and after only two I decided it was time to head home and eat my leftover pasta.

This morning I had a new class: another public school, fairly early in the morning, thought not insanely so like the other one.

I was pleasantly surprised; the school wasn't too far away, the grounds were nice, and the students were actually at a higher level than any other students I currently teach. On my first day they got into an argument on the merits of rap music and demanded I teach them Spanish instead of English.

The only problem is the lack of resources. So far all the public schools I've seen have been clean and air-conditioned, but other than a blackboard and chalk I have nothing to work with. In the lower levels it's ok, but when things get more advanced and listening/speaking becomes a big part, half the textbook is unusable because I don't have a stereo.

Then Vietnamese class and to Cleverlearn to teach the kids about Halloween. I brought them some candy but they rejected it as being too cheap. Snobs!