Yesterday I got up early (for a Saturday!) to go meet Tuan and help him with his marketing job (tho I think really all I did was talk a lot and keep him entertained - is that helping?) which was actually rather nice! We went for some noodles first at a place where the customers got to start their day with a good long stare at the white girl, then we took his bike and drove here there and everywhere to pick up and drop off things. Started in the Old Quarter on calendar street to get some calendars, then loaded them onto the bike and drove out to some industrial estate to get stickers. As weird as this might sound, the industrial park was quite a nice place to read my book for a bit while waiting for him to get things done! Not much traffic and no horns! I could actually hear birds, and there were trees and flowers around at the side of the roads, and I guess as it was so far out on the outskirts of Hanoi it was pretty peaceful. Next up we went through some winding lanes to a printing place that was again rather peaceful before finally heading many many kilometres out of Hanoi. The main highway of doom wasn't exactly fun, but then we turned off onto the smaller roads past rice fields and stuff and that was cool. Once the stuff had been delivered we went to some chicken place that sells really fresh, good quality chicken (I guess as they get to grow up eating real chicken-friendly foods they're tastier and less scrawny than the ones roaming the streets of Hanoi!) and had quite a feast of rice, vegetables and assorted chicken bits. There was boiled chicken, fried chicken and a selection of dodgy parts:
Neither of us went for the fried chicken head, and I didn't really fancy chicken feet, especially after all the crunching that happened when Tuan ate one. The regular chicken meat was very tasty though! After that we headed back into Hanoi and he took me to a decent currency shop to get some dollars for my trip to Laos (yeah, another holiday! Just for a week at Tet to get some peace and quiet) then I spent ages trying to decide which fancy quilt to buy in teh quilt shop. It gets kinda chilly at night right now so I decided it was time to invest in a quilt so I don't have to shiver myself to sleep any more. It's been a little cold recently (apparently due to a Siberian breeze?!?) and I've taken to wearing real shoes rather than flip flops when riding around. Even had to get some gloves out the other day it was so cold on the bike! When you get some speed up your fingers get pretty chilly from the breeze. Thankfully yesterday wasn't such a cold day though as several hours on a motorbike wouldn't be nearly as tolerable in the cold!
Once back home one housemate was leaving and another was moving in so I had a brief chat with them, then got in touch with Alison to find out about our plans for dinner. Was told that after heading to a wedding party at 11am and drinking all day (at this point it was 4) dinner probably wouldn't be happening. Went to join her and Calder, Emma and Russell and the new boy at ACET, Mark, for some drinks at a new bar. About 6.30 people decided it was time to eat so we went back to Emma and Russell's just down the road for pizza, and of course more booze. They have a dog that was shut in the bathroom while the pizza was being eaten but somehow Emma accidentally locked him in. This being Vietnam, of course the screws are all on the inside of the locked bathroom door and there appeared to be no way to get in so it took quite an effort to get the door open again. My hair grips were sacrificed for the cause, though I don't know if they opened the door in the end as by the time the dog was freed I'd got bored standing round listening to drunks discussing the problem so was sitting in the lounge having a chat!
Today just seemed to be a day of errands, and then I ended up at the gym as the step class was starting. Got talked into joining and it was hell!!! Probably good for me though.
I don't even get my relaxing start to the week, working just 2 hours each evening for the first 3 days as I've agreed to cover for another teacher so will be at work every day for an afternoon and evening shift. It is the last week of this term though so it's not too hard, particularly at the end of the week when it's just exams and a movie!
