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…

I have found accommodation thanks to the people at Habitat for Humanity (HfHV).  We went looking on Friday for apartments and looked at about 8 in total.  A volunteer from HfHV is leaving on Monday so I will take her place.  This is the entry to my street

The big find of the day was bubble tea.  My addiction is safe here in HCM City.

I suppose the other thing note worthy is I have a place to live!!!!  I am taking it over from another volunteer who leaves on Monday.  Location is perfect, close to work and close to the city.

This morning was laundry day, and Grace had helped me scout out the place yesterday.  It cost me 30,000 Dong for 2kg, which is about $1.90 AUD, pretty good and takes two days.  I could get use to this. 

This is my daily commute to work and I cross these streets.  The trick is to start walking and keep going looking ahead.

Today’s main task is to look for an apartment. It is about 38 C, very hot and humid and we are walking around looking for apartments.  On my travels today I learnt that while you are getting your hair cut, you can also get your ears cleaned. 

Second day in the office and I had a meeting with my manager and the people I will be working with.  It went well and now I have a slightly better idea of what I will be doing.  Myself and Thao (HR person) then took a taxi to the New Zealand Consulate to get my degree certified.  It is a complicated process with lots of paperwork to fulfil the obligations for my work visa.  Anyway, I found out that John Keys, our Prime Minister is coming to Vietnam this weekend, probably because he knew I had just arrived.  Anyway, our schedules don’t match so he will miss seeing me.  So because of this visit, it takes two days to have my degree verified now:(

Last night I went out for a lovely dinner with two people from work, Grace, my fellow volunteer who I am taking over from and Loan.  We had a hot pot and in that we had finely chopped banana flowers.  My favourite was the fish balls, delicious!

First full day here, and I managed to order 3 things on the menu that weren’t available and I still don’t know what I ended up with but it tasted good. I will miss Boutique Hotel in Cambodia

Flight was good, again on a propellor plane.

Wondered around this morning and went to the Habitat for Humanity Office and met the team.  We went our for lunch and I had a beef rice dish, soup and an ice tea for $1.58 AUD.  I worked out what I had last night, a pork chop. 

I have my first teleconference today so that should be interesting.

Main observations on the differences between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh is that it is a lot cleaner here in HCM, more orderly and food is cheaper but a lot busier.

I am lucky enough to be here on the Cambodian Independence Day, and this was established to celebrate the anniversary of Cambodia’s independence from France on 9 November 1953.  So I went to the Independence Monument to see what goes on.

Lots of balloons were let off along with white doves.  A few seemed to be on strike and I ended up with one as a friend for a while:).

From there I walked towards the royal palace and I saw the King.

I then spent some down time at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club, an expat hang out.