Archive for the ‘Only in Vietnam’ Category
Food poisoning and turtles
By Stephen McGrath | Blog, Only in VietnamImage via Wikipedia All of Saigon gets food poisoning once a year Well, my heading is a little misleading. The article says around 8 million Vietnamese suffer food poisoning every year from the result of poor choices and bad hygiene. That number just happens to be approximately the population of HCMC. I’ve had a few little stomach
Cupping – Vietnamese style
By Stephen McGrath | Blog, Only in Vietnam(1262 KB) Watch on posterous Image via Wikipedia Today I went to my favourite District 5 lunch venue. It’s a tiny cafe hidden amongst a bunch of other eateries, fruit stalls and three floors of clothing and accessory stalls in a very large market walking distance from my campus. The food here is very cheap and delicious.
Everyone is sick except me and my monkey
By Stephen McGrath | Blog, Only in VietnamImage by Rock Portrait Photography via Flickr Two crazy weeks are over and I’m still here. I’m quite proud of myself. After the last two weeks of 3-4 hours sleep per night and around 10-14 hours a day in school, being exposed to sick kids and teachers left, right and centre, and riding through significant motorbike fumes
Innocent honesty behind a public face
By Stephen McGrath | Blog, Only in VietnamImage via Wikipedia Three elderly American ladies in summer dresses were upstairs at Lotteria when I arrived this afternoon. They were engaging in polite and playful, simple English with two young Vietnamese children. “Hello, how are you? What’s your name?” That sort of thing. As the ladies left and made their way down the stairs, they shared
Massive downpour
By Stephen McGrath | Blog, Only in VietnamImage by Rock Portrait Photography via Flickr I just missed a really powerful thunderstorm that dumped it’s load right on top of my school. It created a new tributary of the Mekong where Ba Thang Hai Street was, and made it almost impossible to teach my students. They weren’t at all perturbed by the action, but the
The useless bank account
By Stephen McGrath | Blog, Only in VietnamImage by midorisyu via Flickr I have 100,000 dong left in my wallet. That’s enough for lunch, but only if this restaurant I’m sitting in doesn’t charge me for the face towel. I’d like to use one of the 10 different ATM’s within a square kilometre of the school, but for some reason a Vietcombank ATM card
Take a deep breath
By Stephen McGrath | Blog, Only in VietnamImage by Rock Portrait Photography via Flickr I used to see the week days as my relaxation time, with the weekends as being where work went crazy. Whilst the workload hasn’t changed on the weekends, I come to the end of this one needing to take a deep breath to get ready for one more week of
