Monday, March 21, 2011

An eventful week!

First off, can I just say how amazing it is having a maid? Think about all of the problems you've ever had with various roommates, and you will realize most of them have to do with cleanliness or picking up after oneself. With a maid, all of those problems are alleviated, and if anything goes missing, you have a built in scapegoat. That said, I don't know if I will ever fit in enough with the rich expats to actually be a bitch to  my maid. Maybe if I stay here long enough.

This past week was one of firsts: I painted my first ceiling, took my first Vietnamese class and got my first 24-hour bug. Very exciting. In addition, I made my first household purchases, including a comforter (very thin, considering I live in the tropics), a pillow, hangers and a peeler. Also some candles, seeing as there are frequent power outages. Part of the whole developing-world package.

On Wednesday night I went to the monthly Future Shorts showing, the short film festival that is put on by Tracey's friend Sophie. It was held at this great cafe in District 2, which sounds close to the city center but is actually at the ass-end of nowhere. My xe om driver got lost, and the trip took a good 45 minutes. The cafe kind of looks like a hippie commune; there are furniture swaps in the front, and the back is a thatch-ish covered patio, complete with a sandy playground with a mini-hut and jungle gym. I was quite pleased sitting on the overstuffed couches and talking to new people from various places around the globe, each with their own history. All around a very nice night.

Thursday was a very busy day for me. It started out with my first Vietnamese lesson.  Apollo has hired a Vietnamese woman named Mai to teach whichever staff would like to learn some VN. Mai is a hardass teacher is all I have to say. We felt a bit bad for her to begin with, as teaching a group of teachers can't be an easy task. She ended up schooling us, and now I've signed up for a class that makes me stay late if I don't do my homework or don't remember the material from the last class. If we fail our test, she tells our boss on us. On the bright side, hopefully it will make me learn enough Vietnamese to haggle over prices. After class, I went with a few other teachers to paint the house of a family in need. Their living quarters were really awful, so we cleaned them up and painted the house. The family is a grandmother taking care of her 3 granddaughters whose parents have both died of AIDS. The girls were at school while I was there, but the grandmother was present, and it was really nice to see how happy we made her. I got to paint the ceiling, which was a difficult job involving attaching a roller to a long bamboo stick and trying not to hit anyone in the process. The room is about 6x10 feet, so it was a bit hard to maneuver. I did feel pretty cool, though. Later in the evening, I met with my little sister and we made friendship bracelets. None of the little sisters had ever made them, so it was a good time. To finish off my charity-filled day, I went to a fundraising concert with some teachers at a coffee house. The music kind of sucked (think early 2000s soft rock), but we got some cake and a light beer thrown into the mix, which ended up being my only alcoholic beverage on St. Patricks Day. Since there are only 2 Irish pubs in the city, I wasn't looking forward to standing crammed into a tiny bar with various people throwing up on my shoes and not being able to hear anyone. I was also tired, so decided to be lame and went to bed early.

Speaking of St. Patricks day, I had a blast trying to explain the holiday to a bunch of 9 year olds. Since I didn't want to highlight the copious drinking associated with it, I focused on the wearing-green-or-being-pinched aspect. They found that to be really strange. Then again, considering it's perfectly acceptable in this society to pick your nose in public, I don't take much of what they say too seriously.

On Saturday night I fell ill with the plague that has been going around work, and spent the next 16 or so hours in agony and missing my Sunday classes. It was very dramatic and I took the opportunity to make people lavish sympathy on me. Got some quality time in with the couch and my roommate Lauren, not to mention my new bathroom. I made myself get up and teach my afternoon class (you don't get paid unless you actually teach; surprising how that affects my attendance at work), and felt well enough to go to my friend Tibor's going away party for an hour or 2 in the evening. There were copious amounts of good food, but I kept myself on a tight leash so as not to upset the precarious state of my stomach.

There's a massage place around the corner from our apartment which charges 80,000 VND for an hour's massage (roughly 4 dollars). It's pretty great. Plan on spending a lot of time there. And no, it isn't gross or creepy.

At some point I will get around to taking some pictures of my apartment. It's pretty great. If only we can get our maid to tow the line.

4 comments:

  1. I love your writing style- I can totally hear your voice saying all of this. Do you have an address at your new place? How is VN mail? I will send you a postcard from Ghana if you answer my questions :) Keep in mind that Ghana postcards are pretty uninspiring (think slave castles).

    I am jealous of how cheap things are for you there and of the opportunities available to you! A 4$ massage?!? I feel as though Ghana is overrun with well-to-do foreigners and the country is sick of volunteering white people. Good for you doing all the volunteer work, though. And I'm glad your 24-hour flu bug was short lived :) Being sick abroad is just the worst.

    MISS YOU!!

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  2. HI Lizzie,
    I have so enjoyed reading about all your adventures, opinions, attitudes. Your descriptions are incredibly vivid. Look forward to more.
    Are any of your friends/family coming to visit? Feel good and enjoy each day.
    Patti Milgrom

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  3. LIZZIE!

    I cannot believe you have a maid! I'm sorry you got sick, but it sounds like you're apartment is pretty sweet and that you're having a great time. Don't piss off your VN teacher, she sounds a little intense.

    ALSO - Jake and I watched Gone with the Wind last night - his first time! You best believe I thought of you the whole time. Hope you're doing great!

    Love,
    Mary

    P.S. TOTALLY agree with Lizzy - your writing style is your voice and I feel like we're talking on the phone.

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  4. So good to hear from everyone!

    I may be no Lizzy Brouwer, but I do have friends!
    keep a-postin'.

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