Saigon

Saigon is a great city. We arrived really late/early the first day of our vacation, due to the delay in Shanghai. By the time we got down to the backpackers district, it was nearly 4 am, and our pre-booked hotel had closed! Luckily, we were able to find a hotel that was open, but had to wake the receptionist.

We explored Saigon one day on foot, and were able to see most of the tourist sites that way. Here's some of my favorite pictures of Saigon during the beginning and last few days in Vietnam.

The motorists would stop along the sidewalk to grab a quick bite of something:


Colorful tropical fruits at the Ben Than Market:


The beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral:


The best Pho we had in all of Vietnam:


We saw a few motorbikes...


And finally, the great Ho Chi Minh:

Vietnam Recap

I plan on posting more about my Vietnam trip in detail soon. Until then, these are my links to the Facebook albums. Be forewarned, there are a lot of pictures! They should be visible to everyone, even if you don't have Facebook. If there are problems, please let me know!

First/Finally~Sài Gòn
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2288981&id=59501140

Second/Third- Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289003&id=59501140

Fourth, Mũi Né
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289016&id=59501140

Fifth, Đà Lạt
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289024&id=59501140

Fifth, Đà Lạt Part 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289034&id=59501140

Sixth, Nha Trang
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289037&id=59501140

Outback Steakhouse

Last Saturday, two of my coteachers and I went to Outback Steakhouse here in Gwangju. It was almost exactly like home!



We were given a free blueberry drink when we first walked in the door, and were promptly seated. We decided to get the lunch specials: Crispy chicken salad, cream pasta, and a garlic steak:



The steak was prepared as well as it could have been, but the cut wasn't that good to begin with. Everyone enjoyed the pasta, salad, and sides of fried rice and bread. With our lunch set, we also got fruit drinks, soda, and coffee. By the end of the meal, we were stuffed!

I figured the meal would have been more expensive, but Youngran had a discount card with her, so we got 12,000 won off. In the end, it ended up being only about $12 a person! For those prices, I'll definitely be back.

Suwan-dong

My neighborhood, Suwan, has really changed since I first moved to Gwangju 1 year and 7 months ago. At first, Suwan didn't have much to offer, other than space, but now, I've got my pick of restaurants, coffee shops, and ice cream cafes. If you're looking for a great place to eat, choose Suwan!

Currently, we have two Vietnamese restaurants, Hoa Binh and Pho Bay. The prices at Pho Bay are about 1,000 won more, but I think the quality is better. Kenny and I also got a free sampler platter of dumplings on our visit.

There are also two new Japanese noodle restaurants open. I went to one last night, and had a bowl of creamy, homemade Ramen noodles for 4,900. Kenny's noodles were different (separate noodles and broth), but just as delicious, and cost 5,900.

If you're looking for Western food, we've got Lemon Table, Tao, Red Piano, Kraze Burger, Gio's, Starbucks (opening soon), Pizza School, Dunkin Doughnuts, Coldstone, and various other pasta and steak houses. The Lemon Table is the same as all the others, and I plan to try Tao in a couple of weeks. The interior of Tao looks welcoming, and there are tables that overlook the Lotte Mart park on their 4th floor balcony.

Naturally, there are many Korean foods available- "slow food," kimbap, Chigae, Samgypsal, and Shabu Shabu. I'd have to say the Shabu Shabu restaurant is my favorite.

For drinking, there aren't many original options, but we do have WA, Millertime, and Fish and Grill, not including the small Hof's. As far a coffee goes, there's the usuals: Kenya, Angel In Us, Coffee Bean, and Ludens.

If you're hungry and looking for a different part of town to check out, I'd definitely recommend Suwan!

Dance Classes

I'm currently taking dance class once a week at the Hyundai Department Store. The 10th floor is a Culture Complex, and they often offer classes of all sorts. A friend of a friend works there, and told my friend about it. I wasn't sure what to expect the first night, but it wasn't what I'd expected!

The name of the class is Club Dance and Night Dance. I'm taking 3 months of classes, every Wednesday evening for 60,000 won. There's only a few people in the class, 8 total, and that's nice. I'm not embarrassed to be learning these sexy dances in front of them!

We're starting off learning basic moves, some steps, some arm movements, and of course, body rolls. A lot of the moves are difficult to do at a slow tempo, but once we speed it up and add music, it comes easily. It really reminds me of cheerleading!

At the end of our third class, we were starting to learn a choreographed dance. It's almost a week since we learned it now, and I've remembered a fair amount. I'm sure we'll be practicing it a lot this coming week.

Here's Okailey goofing around in the studio:

New School Year Begins

Today is the first day of classes! It's hard to believe this is my 4th and final semester at Suwan Middle School! By now, I've learned all sorts of tips, techniques, and tricks, so this semester should be the best.

I've got a new schedule, of course. I teach 11 9th grade classes per week, and 8 7th grade classes. I won't be teaching any 8th graders, because I taught them last year. The school has also switched the time schedule as well- we're beginning 10 minutes earlier this year, and eliminating 6th period on Wednesdays. We'll make up for this by having 7 periods on both Tuesdays and Thursdays.

We've got so many new teachers this year! Including myself, there are 52 teacher. I'm teaching with 6 different English teachers: Hyeon-hwi (my new handler/co-teacher: 6 classes), Han-su (4 classes), Ms. Jeong (6 classes), Mi-hey (1 class), Young-ran (1 class), and Chi-won (1 class). It will be difficult to stay on the same page with all the teachers and grades, so I'm going to have to work at being very organized.

There's a ton of kids now. We've got 33 homeroom classes for 3 grades, about 30-32 per class. We also had to extend the lunch period by 30 minutes to make sure everyone's got enough time to eat! If I'm lucky, I'll learn 10 new names by the end of the semester.

My new 4th floor office is pretty nice. It's got heat, so that's an improvement from last year. I share with 10 other teachers, though I'm not exactly sure what they teach.

The focus this year for the 9th graders has switched from speaking to writing. Now, the students will have some short answer and/or essay questions on their tests. We're considering buying a new book for them with a variety of writing activities, but it will depend on cost. I don't know too much about this yet, but will probably find out more in the next few weeks.

Spring is always the best semester- there's so many things happening! Field trips, sports day, Children's Day, Buddha's Birthday, and the many "democratic" days in May and June. There's a lot going on and I know I'm going to be so busy!