New Toni

We have a new housemate - Toni, from Wollongong, Australia.  She flew in from HCM City yesterday morning, ready for a six month stint at VAIE. She chose the top room... we're hoping the worst of summer is over because it gets incredibly hot up there... But it's big and airy and quite lovely with the doors and windows open - and there's a bathroom as well.  She spent the best part of the day cleaning out the broken old furniture and re-arranging  and cleaning it and it should be quite pleasant. The hard bed was a bit of an eye-opener, though!

She came to work with me at 5 and sat in on my beginners' class, which is always a lot of fun... so it was a good introduction to language teaching. She is a qualified teacher, but this languge teaching is quite different from normal classroom teaching but I'm sure she'll have no trouble adapting. 

We stopped off for Bún Chả on the way home. And of course, she agreed that it is simply fabulous food!

This morning I took her with me to the church class. It was packed... we had at least 40 students, including one guy from China!  There was plenty of lively fun and discussion as usual and I was delighted to have Toni share the teaching.

After the class a bunch of us went again to Sunflower Cafe to chat. Time flies by as conversation doesn't stop. It's a beaut way to get to know newcomers.

Going around the table clockwise is Xuân, Trung, Diep, ? ,  Linh, Thai, Trung, Sáng, Trung,

Toni, Linh, Kien, Đạt, Thảo, and Nguyet

Thảo offered to help Toni buy a bicycle if she wants one and to go shopping with her... That's by far the best way to get around... go with a local!

The boys dropped us off at Big C where Toni bought pillows, doona, towels, ... even an ironing board!! and of course, bánh mì for lunch.

Yep, she's in the swing of things already... and it's only day 2!