I had a great opportunity to visit a Habitat for Humanity Vietnam (HfHV) site at the start of this week.  An eager and delightful group of 14 volunteers from USA, Mexico, England and Canada arrived for two weeks to build two houses.

Two recipients had been selected to get help with their houses by the community and HfHV.  I drove down with the group on Monday morning from HCMC and then we had an orientation and met the local government officials and visited the housing sites where we would be building.  On Tuesday the group started building.

HfHV provides the tools and the construction supervisors to guide the building.  Everything is done by hand, mixing cement, transporting bricks, breaking bricks and making reinforcement wire.  The house owners also help with the build and we normally get a few spectators from the road.  It was a hard and hot day out there and I was glad to make it home.  I will catch up with the team when they arrive back in HCMC in 2 weeks.

I take my hat off to these people, they donate them time and energy and travel half way around the world to help people less fortunate than themselves.  We had a couple of Vietnam Veterans who hadn’t been back for 40 years so it was very emotional for them.   Enjoy the photos.

I have been in Vietnam now for exactly one month, time certainly passes quickly.  In that time I have found a place to live, bought a motor bike (110cc of pure speed) named Oscar, began Vietnamese lessons, been to the doctor four times, eaten food that I have no idea what it is and got lost on too many occasions to count.

The people at work are great and have been very welcoming.  We all go out for lunch together every day and then we come back and have a 30min nap.  I get my washing done for me and food is pretty cheap so I eat out every day and I get a massage every couple of weeks.  Some would probably say that I have a tough life:).

Now that I am settled in I have my first guests arriving tomorrow, my brother and his girl friend from Malaysia.  Can’t wait to take them around and show off Ho Chi Minh City.

Remember, my door is always open to anyone who wants to come over for a visit.

I was invited to celebrate the achievement of Disability Research and Capacity Development (DRD) 10 year anniversary.  It was a fantastic event with singing, dancing, comedy skits and presentations.

I was lucky enough to be seated in the VIP area with a translator so I was in a prime position to see the passion and dedication that DRD brought to the community. One of the singers was on Vietnam Got’s Talent

DRD is working to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities in Vietnam in a non-discriminatory environment through capacity building and advocacy.  More information can be found at http://www.drdvietnam.org

I am on the road to recovery.  Thank you for all the messages on Facebook.  I have a parasite so they gave me a drip and some antibiotics.  Hopefully this fixes me.  The medical centre here is excellent, they are very professional and they test the blood samples while you wait.

The best way to explore the city of Ho Chi Minh is on foot.  However, you have to be warned that there isn’t much room on the footpaths for pedestrians, sometimes no room at all.

The shop decided to clean, so all the furniture went out on the street.

I am not sure what food this is that is being dried on the street, but I have probably eaten it!

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.