Morning by morning ... night after night

Each morning my alarm wakes me at 5:30am and I go for a walk. Most mornings, Tuyền walks with me and lately we have been joined by several others...   sisters - Ngọc and Thương, Chinh and Sen... 

and this is Minh, Trang, Anh, Ngọc and Tuyền 

The weather is gradually getting cooler and the first signs of autumn are appearing. Even though it feels like I'm up really early, the majority of people who walk in the morning have done their exercise, been to the market and are on their way home before we even get to the bridge! 

Ủy does the night shift at the hotel, so he is already up and about every morning as I return. He is studying hard to learn volumes of ship related vocabulary - safety regulations and details of ship equipment and procedures... so much to learn in your own language, let alone your second language! It's pretty much the luck of the draw whether he gets much sleep each night, for it depends on the movements of the guests how often he gets interrupted.  Sometimes I wonder how he manages to fit everything in, for he leaves here and goes straight to classes...

So mornings begin bright and early and I never know who will be walking from one day to the next... the other day there were 7 of us, and this morning only Tuyền and I, but I am so glad that it is now a habit I enjoy, for it would be so easy to roll over and go back to sleep when I have gone to bed late... which is the case most nights!!

Like the night Tuyền brought his friends Trường and Tinh over for a game of Tenzi after I had finished teaching. We had so much fun we made a lot of noise... just as well there are no other guests near my room at the moment! Eventually, Trường said he had to go home because he was so tired from laughing... 

Trường, Tinh and Tuyền

The other day Trang, Trung and Mi came over with their friend Linh to talk about doing a demonstration class at Sunrise Kindergarten on Friday morning. It was, of course, inevitable that the cameras came out...

Trang, me, Linh and Mi

Wednesday turned out to be a busy one.  The Wednesday ladies met at our old haunt - Texas BarBQ, and there were four new ladies from Japan. all of them speak English so well it puts me to shame because I cannot speak anything but English!  Anyway, Will had planned to come to Hải Phòng in time for lunch, but he was delayed so he invited me to join him and the old Level 6 class for Bia Hoi at their favourite water hole for dinner. I had already made plans so I joined them later....  after I had a very pleasant time with Hai Anh and his friend Trang, who is planning on opening a language centre in her home town. She was keen to discuss the ins and outs of such a venture.

Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the next two parties I joined that night... The first was Will and his buddies. They were well into it by the time I joined them at 9:15, and I was warmly welcomed. I taught that class too - the first two years I was here - as they progressed through the ranks. They struck up particularly close ties with Will and usually had a small party after their classes. So whenever Will is in town, they gather for a class reunion and a good time is had by all. They moved on to Julie's Bar at about 10pm, so I said goodbye and started to walk home, only to come across another very happy group at the chicken Bia Hoi just down the street. This time it was Josie, John and Melissa, Andy and Roland who were in full swing. So I sat down and joined them and laughed and laughed at Andy and Roland's antics. They are so very entertaining as they rib one another. Andy is British and Roland is French so there is a constant (hysterical) rivalry as to which country is superior.... 

On Thursday night Tiên invited me to MDEC (Maritime Department English Club) at VIMARU, so he picked me up after I finished teaching at 7:30pm. Many familiar faces in the group as well as new friends...

Thành, Linh, Huy, Minh, Bạn, ..., ..., Huế Anh, ..., Trang. ..., Lực, ..., Dũng
Oh it's so frustrating when I don't remember everyone's name!!!

A bunch of us went out for an iced tea after the club meeting - always fun, and a great way to get to know people...

Huy and Linh - he wasn't looking for the first photo, so I had to take another of him!  LOL 

It was a lovely surprise to see Thảo, if only briefly. Tiên's cousin had a motorbike accident earlier in the evening, so he'd had to rush off. Thảo went with him to the hospital to help her get home. Fortunately, she wasn't badly hurt.  Huy gave me a ride home.

On Friday morning, Trang, Trung and Mi picked me up to go to Sunrise Kindergarten in the city centre to do a demo class for some three year olds. They were just gorgeous ad we had a lot of fun doing action songs and games. I also read the story "Whose Nose and Toes?"  and they enjoyed it. After the class Mi took some photos...

Gorgeous kids

That evening, Hùng and two of his friends picked me up for dinner...

Du and Hương 

We had Bò Nướng. You cook the meat (beef and pork) and vegetables on a little parafin barbq at the table. It's such a sociable way to enjoy a meal, for you cannot rush the process. Neither Du nor Hương spoke much English though so my participation in the conversation was very limited!

I had to leave at 7:15pm in time to make it to the late class. That rounded off the week, with a stop-off at the chicken Bia Hoi for a catch up with the regular crew there and I walked home with Graham and Lee... late!     A typical, great week.....