Three Girls, One Cockroach

Hello All!

Holiday has arrived!! I have survived my first quarter as a real teacher and turned in my first report cards, and to celebrate I am on a week long vacation with two of my favorite teachers.

Late Friday night Michelle, Amber and I arrived in Hoi An after almost missing our flight out of the city. I am pretty sure we hopped into the worst cab in all of Saigon. Our driver was not only slow, but took the longest route, plus there was construction holding up the 800 million billion people in traffic. (Maybe a bit of an exaggeration....) However, all is well that ends well; we made it on to our flight, and less than an hour after taking off, landed in Da Nang. From there we took about a half hour cab ride and made it to our hotel the Phuoc An (recommended by another teacher and the Lonely Planet). Our hotel is great! We have one big bed, a single bed, a computer, two TV's, a small balcony, and a breakfast nook all for a whooping $30 a night! Plus to put the icing on the cake, when we arrived we had two towels made into swans and flowers on the big bed, it was quite romantic. Oh and we get free breakfast everyday. Not too shabby!

Friday night we took it easy. We were all starved after our hour and a half cab ride and hour flight so we went and got some food at the small restaurant in our hotel then we called it a night. Saturday morning we woke up to coffee in bed, compliments of Michelle, and hit the streets to explore a bit. Right away we were BOMBARDED with tailors. There are over 200 tailor made clothes and shoe shops in Hoi An and they all want your business. Right away we each got a pair of shoes. How much did they cost you wonder? $20. That's right, $20! Some how I managed to walk away with only one pair. Finding a tailor was a bit more tricky. There were SO many to choose from. We probably walked into 15 shops before settling on a couple to get clothes from. Some of the tailors had really great designs and samples in there shops while others didn't. Some of them also had great fabric with really cool prints, while others didn't have much to choose from.

So now it's confession time.... I went a little crazy. You see it's sooooo cheap to get clothes made here. And really I've been here for three months have only bought a few shirts. I shopped way more back home! Plus all this stuff is costume made.. no one else has it. (I'm making myself feel better about it already) In total, I had three dresses made (two for work, one for fun), two skirts (both for work AND fun), four tank tops (to match the skirts), and two pairs of shorts made. Oh yea, and the shoes. And a pearl necklace for $7. Want to know my grand total?? Less than $200! Looks like I won't need to go shopping for a while!

Besides the awesome clothes here, and they are awesome, Hoi An has a really great atmosphere. It's so quite which is a welcome change from the fast pace city. There are tons of yummy places to eat and it's right along a river filled with colorful boats. At night there is a gorgeous night market on the bridge across the river. Everyone selling things says "looking is free," or "open your hearts, open your wallets." It's pretty entertaining.

We have also found out the night life is pretty fun and filled with backpackers. (None from America so far, although there were a few Canadians last night) Michelle takes the cake for most entertaining last night. After a few cocktails she was feeling good.. and friendly. After talking to many of the backpackers and finding out they would be stopping in Saigon in the near future, she was giving out her business cards like it was no one's business! The bars were quite fun, but I think coming home was the most fun part! We learned that xe om's are expensive here.. like five times as much than at home, but they are also more entertaining. We also found out our hotel is locked at night and to get in, you have to wake up the sleeping security guard. And not that it's anything new, but Michelle and Amber found out just how much I love dogs. There is dog (I am assuming the hotel owner's dog) who is always sitting downstairs. He is a friendly little guy who always greets us and sometimes take naps on the motorbikes in the garage. Last night I made even better friends with him. Amber and I sat and 'talked' to him a while before letting him in our room. Yes, just this little random dog in our room. (Probably not one of my better decisions, but I miss my little Huey back home!) We thought it was hilarious, but for some reason Michelle did not. Maybe it's the fact that three weeks ago a dog bit her on the street and she had some awesome experiences getting shots at the doctors after. Either way Michelle was half passed out, then freaking out and the dog did not want to leave. I think he gets lonely downstairs all the time. But wait, it doesn't end there. Our night got even more entertaining when Michelle came home about an hour ahead of Amber and I (I think she was out of business cards...) and decided to eat the only snack in the room. The whole way home all Amber and I could think about were the oreos in our room and how hungry we were. Imagine our dismay when we got home to see that they were gone. We were none to pleased. How did we handle the situation? We thought it would be a good idea to draw on Michelle's face with eyeliner. That is usually what reasonable adults do. Unfortunately, she woke up right away. She wasn't to keen on being drawn on, so instead Amber drew on herself. Then on me. Finally, Michelle gave in... or we just finally overpowered her. By the end of the night we all looked like fools with eyeliner everywhere and our room was a mess. I think I have found my new favorite traveling buddies!

This morning we were all off to rough start. After breakfast we spent another hour in bed, then at ten we were back off to the tailors. Seeing our clothes made us all feel better. I loooove the clothes I got. So much in fact, I ordered more right away. Hoi An will definitely be a favorite spot of mine in Vietnam! Then we spent a nice long day on the beach. I slept almost the whole time and it felt amazing! After the beach we got showered up and went to dinner before hitting up the spa. Holy amazing. This spa was so cheap, but pretty nice and the owner was the sweetest lady. We each got an hour massage, an hour facial, and a free hour pedicure. It was by far the best pedicure I have gotten in Vietnam. The massage and facial were amazing as well. I think it was a well deserved gift after finishing the first quarter of school. Oh and all of that only cost $35 including tip. That's right $35 for three hours in a spa! Ahhhh, life is good here!

So by now you're probably wondering why is this blog called three girls, one cockroach? Well mostly it was because I didn't know what to call it, so Michelle told me to call it that. Also because Amber had just found a cockroach in our bathroom and had no idea what it was. Oh and all three of us are terrified of bugs. We pretty much left it up to Amber to get rid of the little guy because she found him and he was on her lotion. We were all screaming and freaking out and it was probably the most ridiculous sight anyone has ever seen, but that is what you get when traveling with three girls.

I feel like so much has happened and it's only the second day of vacation. We have two more days here before we head off to Na Trang. I am sure we will have plenty more crazy stories by the end of this week, but we will have a blast. I can't think of anyone more fun to be here with. We are having the time of a life right now! There will be plenty more to come, but for now that is all I have. Thank goodness for the computer in our room. I would have been sad to miss blogging over the weekend. Hope you're all well back home and staying warm. I'll send warm thoughts your way!

Until later,
Michelle

It's Not Always Rainbows and Butterflies!

Hello again,

It's Saturday and I am up blogging at 7:00am... oh how I wish I had the ability to sleep in more! Last week was both physically and mentally exhausting. Usually when I blog it's because I am in a happy mood and life is lovely with no complaints. However, we all know that is not always the case in anyone's life. So, here I am to fill you in on why last week there weren't so many rainbows or butterflies.

Last week started out pretty normal with the exception that I am sick yet again. (This would be a good time to point out for future reference, we have been without internet at home since September 18. Yes, nearly four weeks ago now. This of course has played a role in my not-so-fabulous week.) Rainy season has also reached a new level of terrible. It storms almost everyday and when it rains, it pours. I mean there might as well be someone dumping buckets of water out of the sky. And when I am teaching and it starts raining? Forget it. It is so loud I can't even hear myself talk, let alone my kids. And it floods. The streets become shallow rivers it seems like at least once a week. On Monday it had been raining so badly that I could not even go tutor because the family was worried I would not make it home at 5:30. So I came home and ordered some food and was pretty unproductive. Then over course, I stayed up too late because for some reason I can never go to bed at a decent time anymore.

Tuesday I was already tired when I woke up. Besides being tired, it was a normal day and I was in better spirits when I found out someone was coming to fix our internet. It was exciting because they said they would fix it on Sunday, but surprise, surprise, no one ever showed up. After school I made up my tutoring session from Monday. I was excited to get home and get online.. maybe even Skype with someone for the first time in three weeks, but no. No one showed up to fix it. Again.

Wednesday, I felt terrible half the day. When I got to school, I tired to call mom on viber. Having no internet and living in a high rise, cement box where 3G rarely works, it had been a while since we were able to talk. Of course viber wouldn't work at school either and I was getting MORE than frustrated and I was being unfair to mom and was extremely grumpy. I didn't/don't understand why on earth the internet has to suck so bad here sometimes?! So, we got about two minutes of a broken conversation in. Then, during school the kids had MAP testing and after walking around watching them take these tests for an hour, I felt even more exhausted (it was sooo boring, I much rather be teaching them). After school we had clubs. Then, Krystal and I were going to go to a travel agent to purchase our plane tickets for Christmas break (no luck) and pick up the clothes we had made last weekend (something to make me smile). Of course, before we left to run our errands, the internet people were suppose to come. YAY! (<-- that was sarcasm) Would you like to guess what happened? Don't strain yourself too much, I'll give you a clue. When I went to bed Wednesday, still no internet.

Thursday. The week was almost over, it was going to be a better day. I just knew it. When I got to school I called mom and.... WE COULD TALK! We had a nice long chat and viber didn't cut out even once! (Until it cut out at the end and then I couldn't call her back.... but we had still had a nice long convo before any of that.) But of course, not all days that start well, end well. After a stressful morning the bell rang and up came my kids. (Yes that's right, things turned around quickly.. I was ready to be done before the day started. No details as to why need to be shared.) By lunch time, my stress level was so high I was on the verge of tears and barely holding back. I had a nice long break in the middle of the day so I was able to relax a little by working on some report card comments. (<-- insert sarcasm, again.) After school we had a meeting with all of the teachers, (turns out, I'm not the only one stressing out around report card time.. what?!) and afterwards, I found out when I got home, we WOULD have internet. Krystal had talked to our realtor (who is still amazing and helps us with any translations we need) and she expressed to the internet company that we were not happy with them for now showing up THREE times and needed internet. So, as I left for tutoring, I left with lifted spirits because I am an optimist. Yes, they may have cancelled on us three times already, but my golly, they will come! Annnnnd, they did! YAY! (<-- not sarcasm) When I got home from tutoring I jumped online right away, I checked email and facebook and it worked! I text mom right away and we planned a skype date for two hours later. I went to eat and when I got home I turned on my computer five minutes before our date. I was online and just about to pull up Skype when.... everything. went. black. My whole computer just died. Turned off, didn't want to turn back on. WHY?????????

I Skyped mom from my phone which of course sucked because she couldn't hear me. I was frustrated and mad and sick of technology failing me. I had my first mental break down. To say I was tearing up is an understatement, so I'll let you use your imagination to picture me crying on Skype to my poor mother. (Thank you for putting up with my break down, mom!) After my phone stopped working, I got my computer and took the battery out for a while. Once I put it back in, it was working again. (Seems like a simple fix looking back...) However, my computer has been breaking down little by little, so I'm not sure how long it will last. It could die again now. In the middle of this blog. Or the keyboard could stop working again. Maybe the mouse. Anything is possible now. But, back to Thursday. I called mom again from my computer this time, and while everything should have been fine now, I was still upset and mad at the world. I didn't have anything to talk about anymore, but I didn't want to hang up. I just sat there like a lump on a log. Then dad came into the screen and I lost it. Again. Needless to say we couldn't talk. It turns out, I miss my family much more than I thought. (This makes it sound like I don't miss them, but trust me, I do. I just didn't think it was to the point where I would cry just by seeing one of them...) Shortly after my last break down, I hung up with mom and decided it was time for bed. Sleep was all I needed after this long day.

Whew, glad that is all off my chest! Friday was a good day. My kids were good and my internet was still working and so was my computer (for now.. I am in the process of finding a new computer). To end my quiet day and stressful week I stayed in all night. We ordered food (big American cheese burger and fries) and then Michelle and I watched a movie complete with snacks from the real movie theater downstairs. Then before going to bed, I called mom, and I am happy to say I was in a happy mood when we talked!

I can see next week being stressful still as report cards are due on Friday. However, after that things will be back to rainbows and butterflies as we have a whole week off school! So I am going to explore Vietnam with Michelle and Amber and be vegetable on the beach for a whole week. I love this city, but it time we took a break... Sorry Ho Chi Minh.

Thank you for letting me vent, hope you've had a better week then mine. If not, I feel your pain.. call me and we can complain together!

As always,
Michelle