It was a very eventful weekend.  I bought a motorbike and I have named him Oscar.  He is a Honda Blade, 110cc, semi manual 4 speed beast!  Oscar is very light and apparently is one of the most reliable motorbikes around.  Costs me $3 AUD to fill the petrol tank.

I did about 60 kms on Saturday after I bought Oscar, part of that was because I got lost and ended up in the countryside.  Not sure how I did that when there are 12 million people living in Ho Chi Minh City.

The traffic is pretty hectic however it is only going about 20 to 30 km/hr.  The trick is to just worry about what is happening in front of you.  You can even drive on the other side of the road.  I haven’t tried that yet.

I have riding gloves and a face mask, so I am fitting right in.  You will have to wait for a future installment to see them.

I can officially drive in Viet Nam now, so watch out people!  Now get this, the Transport Office opened at 8am so I thought I would get there a little earlier and it was already open at 7:45am and people were there. Would this happen in Australia?   The great thing about the licence is that you can smile in the photo.

As most of you are aware, New Zealand is thinking of changing it’s flag so I have the first referendum to complete.  So I thought I would do a survey here in the office to see what they thought from an unbiased audience.  So here are the results:

The one they liked the most is number 3:

Interestingly, there were 3 votes for the current flag.

Tomorrow is a big day.  I am getting my motorbike, can’t wait!  I have been doing mental imagery to prepare myself to drive on the other side of the road.  From what I have seen here, there aren’t many road rules, so as I like to say, ‘what could possible go wrong’.

The food over here is terrific, however sometimes I have no idea what I have eaten.  One night I needed sugar so I went to the local shop where there are two old ladies who speak no English and the only Vietnamese I know are the numbers 1-10.  I found some sort of cake so I decided to try it.

It tastes really good and is a coconut roll.  The only thing that I can’t work out is the use by date.  Was it made on the 15^th of November or does it need to be eaten by the 15^th of November?  I think I know which one it is…

I bought this meal for $3.70 AUD and they are what you call sticky noodles, really good.

On my way to work I see many weird and wonderful things.  I saw a taxi driver talking on his phone, texting on another phone and signaling to me if I wanted a ride!  Also, see if you can spot what is wrong with the house in green.

After several requests I have bowed to the pressure and I am releasing the exclusive photos of where I live.  It consists on one room and a bathroom.  I have A/C and can get Fox channels in English so all is good, oh and free WiFi.

Here is my bathroom

I live on the second floor and have a small balcony.  I also have guard dogs. The neighbour next door has two dogs that bark every-time someone comes.

This is the outside of my house.  The landlady, Mrs Thao is really nice and her son practices his English with me.

I thought I would give you a sneak peak at the inner workings of Habitat for Humanity Vietnam (HfHV).  Here is my desk and where the real work gets done:).

My title is Housing Support Services Development Facilitator.

Here is the outside of the office.  We take up levels, 2,3 and 4 and I am based on level 2.

Here is the office I work in

I have been in Ho Chi Minh City now for almost two weeks and the three questions that I get asked the most are:

1. Have you been to Vietnam before?
2. Can you use chop sticks?
3. How many countries have you visited?

Now I have interpreted these as the following:

1. Do you know what you have got yourself into?
2. Are you going to survive and how much of a foreigner are you?
3. How rich are you?

I have a couple of people, young adults and children each day say ‘hello’ to me and on a number of occasions they do the peace sign as well.  I may be a hang-over from the war?

Food is really cheap here along with things that you get in local shops, however, if you go to the mall, it is very expensive, probably the same or if not worse than Australia.

I have completed my first week of work in over a year!  It has been quite a week:

• Moved into my apartment
• First Vietnamese language lesson.
• Eating off the street and survived
• Taking a Xe Om, motorbike taxi
• Attending a networking function for women working in Ho Chi Minh City
• Watch the new James Bond movie
• Applied for my Vietnamese drivers license
• Bought a toaster
• Ate lots of things that I didn’t know what they were

Overall, my second week here has gone well.  This weekend I am looking to purchase a motorbike.

Some people buy a Jeep, I bought a toaster.  It must be an unusual buy here as I got a lot more looks than I usually do when paying for it at the counter.  Shopping at the supermarket is a bit different.  The bag that you take in has to be wrapped in plastic and sealed and they drive the trolleys like they drive their scooters on the road, no rules so there are a lot of trolley jams.

School pick ups seem to be a bit different here, no cars, only motor bikes.

I love the work that they do on the footpath.  They eat, sleep, fix motorbikes, ride motorbikes and so much more.

I had my final Rabies shot yesterday, so now I can get bitten by a dog.  However, I learnt that even if I get bitten by a dog, I still have to go to hospital to have further rabies injections.

I moved into my apartment yesterday.

However, getting to the apartment yesterday in the taxi we caused a traffic jam and then a couple of scooters fell over.  We just drove away fast.  No one was injured as they had stopped.  Once we got to the apartment, they had decided to do some conduit installation so there were mounds of gravel everywhere.  The construction workers helped carry my bags over it.

After that excitement and unpacking I went out for dinner with Grace.  We had a BBQ.  You choose what you would like and they cook it on a BBQ.

From there we had to have dessert:).  I had chocolate shaved ice

I had a free weekend, so I went out for breakfast with my fellow volunteer, Grace.  I then had an awesome massage, Shiatsu, a form of Japanese massage followed by a wonder around enjoying the sites.

On Sunday I went to the James Bond Movie.  The locals seem to be quite noise in the movies, talking, answering phones and having rattling food wrappers.  From there I walked home and saw these little cuties.

I would like your thoughts on what you think this represents.  I think it is a lotus flower.

I had my first vietnamese language lesson and we learnt about pronunciation.  Apparently I have to focus on this for 1 month.

The weekend is over and now I have my first full week of work in over a year.  Will I survive…