26/08/2011 by Russell.

Here I am sat cogitating and watching the rain outside.  I should really be throwing things away, but I guess I will leave til the final hours, I have tidied up so much lately that I am so conscious of how much baggage we all have.  No mater how much you throw, donate or ask for people to look after things, there is always more!

I have no bed,  or freezer or Washing maching, so the sofa a telly and Internet is my last set of possessions. Thye will be disappearing soon.

For a final fling, I am off to visit my dearest friend Barry in Cheshire, it is he I have had many adventures since we were teenagers, we have drank/drunk together, concerts, from Led Zep at Knebworth to small gigs seeing Steve Hacket (who?).  We had snooker to play, subbuteo and many card games together.  we would go to have a game of footy in the ‘top field’ and play 3 card brag whilst walking.  we have played golf, although Barry has stuck with it and is now a fine player, I just ran out of time and money to keep it up.  Barry and I shared many things, probably everything bar girlfriends!

Barry is my main man, a brother I never had, he is my harshest critic, and knowing I have his backing for this adventure I am about to set forth, means a lot.  He knows me like no other on this planet, even though we see each other so infrequently, he is still a rock in my life. When I die, he will be there, if I was in hospital, he would visit me, he is that sort of friend I am lucky to have.

Above all he knows my foibles for women, he knows my passion for football, he knows my love of sport and he knows of my triumphs and disappointments.  He knows of my emotions and can read me like a dictionary, uncanny.

If you think I had a turn of phrase, a moment to make you smile, then Barry can do it in triplicate.   So it is a farewell, albiet brief, because he is off camping on Sunday, so time is of the essence.

I have hired a car to get up there with Greg and see Barry, Ify, Ady and Jo, not seen since I returned from my travels, and they have now got a dog! looks like a ‘Marley and Me’ family situ.

So whats gone has gone, what’s to come is unknown, I travel to Vietnam, i work in Haiphong initially, was originally going to be Hanoi, but that’s another story.  I will be met at Da Nang, with Tam and we will drive 12 hours or so to Hanoi for my induction on 3rd and then start teaching on 5th in haiphong - 72miles east.  Haiphong is Vietnam’s 3rd largest city.

Emily;

Well she got into her first choice University - Brighton, to do a 4 yr BEd teacher training course for PE.  She was rewarded for her 2 year graft on her A levels with B B C, and now is setting sail towards adulthood very quickly.  She will be in Eastbourne.  God Bless her and good luck, when will we meet again? I do not have a timetable in mind.

Gregory

He too has received his GCSE results this wek, and is off to College for a computing medi type of course.  He attained 11 GCSE’s, with an A in English Lit, and ICT, grade B’s in Geog History and English Language, but a Grade C in Maths and double science and RE. I am so delighted for him, he also put in many hours shifts for 5 years twice a week to get up to scratch for maths, just reward and we thought he may get a grade b if fortunate.

Russell

Off to teach, with his MSc, Cert Ed, diploma in Marketing, HND, A level and 6 O levels some 6,000 miles away, in Vietnam.  Will I miss this country - I think now I have been back a while, then yes, it is after all my country, the one which like it or not has done so much for the world, I just hope it can rise from this desperate recession to be as ecomically strong, but I have my doubts.  Europe, like us is suffering, the growth in the far east is moving upwards and onwards. Thus, I have no worries about my destination, my only concerns are Emily and Greg, they are the only reason I kept going for 5 years of misery- children are the lifeblood of the world.  I saw it in South Africa, Cambodia, Vietnam, places with poor households, but what bonds these people and communities is their children, their families…I am told I have a family here, my view is that I want family life everyday, not a saturday and a sunday, and that is why I think I can now move forward, I see the values of family life, children and I want a slice of the action.  Emily is now off to University, I would see her all too infrequently, Greg can come to live with me for 3 months out in VN, rather than 24hrs here and there.  Hope that makes some sense.

Til the next time…I will be in Vietnam

Posted in Tam, Ha Noi, Vietnam, cambodia, Barry, South Africa, Greg | Print | No Comments »

12/08/2011 by Russell.

Off to Ha Noi to start another little tour of South East Asia.

Principally, Hanoi beckoned to find somewhere to live, before my contract commences in September to teach English to children and local businessmen.

I am due to be in Ha noi, for what will prove to be quite challenging, to teach my own language, to people of varying degrees of competence, and I suspect apathy towards learning, the same the world over.

Generally I will be teaching for 20 hours a week, split 10 hrs school children and 10 hours for businesses.

Ha Noi, is the capital, but not as modern and vibrant in the same way as Bangkok or Hong Kong, Saigon is very much like Ha Noi.  It seems much smaller in size and the road network is nothing compared to the wide boulevards of Bangkok.

I signed my contract with Shelton and have to get back to HA Noi for the 3^rd September. Typically it will be a new syllabus, so have full lesson prep to negotiate for the first time in many years.  Hope I remember David Opperman’s advice for lesson plans!

Needless to say, no accommodation was successfully accomplished, but there is a place in an area 30 mins from where I will teach. Tam wants to be much nearer to the school and business.

However, Thursday arrived and we left for Bangkok for some R&R, hotel by the river where I had once dined for breakfast-  Whose address had been duly noted for future reference.  Failed to meet up with Natasha Khilji – we were in and out to get to the Viet Embassy

Managed to go to MBK and find some bits for Emily’s Blackberry and over the road admire the extravagances of the Siam Paragon shopping mall.  This all fitting in with acquiring yet another Viet visa.

Friday – and it was a full day – to the Royal Palace and grounds, very cultural with colours and manicured gardens.  I had been before with Barbora, where is instantly reminds me of Shakespeare “all the glisters is not gold”. Funny how something learnt in childhood still applies from something written many hundreds of years ago from the Merchant of Venice.  Thanks to John Hollman my English tutor, sadly I let him down on my O level literature, but what he did instill in me was the desire to read, perhaps not a failing after all.

Saturday was an all day affair at the Chatuchuk market – 8,000 stalls from small things to crocodiles and that’s not the handbags.  Tam ‘not like’ - I do not understand when there is so much choice, but it was more expensive than Vietnam

However for lunch they did try to serve uncooked crab – wow – get it on the bbq and quick please.  

It was very hot, very sweaty, especially trying on clothes.  Was in dire need of a massage after that exhertion….

Sunday to the zoo and Wat Pho, and bed for an early rise at 3.30am.

Bounced into Hanoi and then a flight to Da Nang within the hour, why can’t we do that in England?  Yet I guess we have more prestige to lose if we suffer a failure in security.

Dentist in Da Nang? Well we tried to get a crown done for a few hundred dollars, and to be honest, would have done it, but was completely knacked from being up at 3 am and wanted a different crown to the one offered at the third dentist we visited.

Stayed overnight before a quick visit to BA Na

Ba Na is a hill top resort, connected by the longest cable car ‘in the  world’ (say it like Jeremy Carkson).  It is in the Guiness Book of Records.  Imagine going from Fort William to the top of Ben Nevis by cable car and you get the idea, in terms of height and distance, the journey takes about 30 minutes - and you are not at the top then!

What do you see? a fantastic view looking East towards DA NAng and the sea. You are able to visit Fantasy Land, a bit like a better mans Matlock Bath but not quiite the Pleasure Beach of Blackpool.  All the rides are indoors because of the weather? and it will be completed in 2013.  There is a 3D experience and a vertical drop of 20m obligatory dodgems and more besides.  The hotels are expensive - but the view and the cooler weather made for a delightful change.

…then back to Chu Lai…

Posted in Ba Na, Ha Noi, Tam, Vietnam, thailand, bangkok | Print | 1 Comment »