Yet another weekend

Hey guys.
So if you havnt already noticed, everything happens on a weekend arund here. I teach during the week, speaking of which i havnt really told you about teaching have i? Ok so i teach in a few places. So their is Viet Duc College - which is the place im staying at and should really be doing more classes at. Then their is private Tuition and then thier is teaching at a place in Song Cong town about 15 mins by motorbike away. I enjoy teaching in the school becuase even though they are really boring and basically straight from the book, i feel more structured and less like a fish out of water. I dont really have to plan a class or really pay that much attention to what i am doing really, becuase alot of the students i teach are almost identical to brick walls. Honestly you put my students agains the wall and they dissapear! let me explain a little. Their english is gewnerally very basic. And becuase they are not used to hearing "real" english, they cant pick up what i am saying. I end up saying one thing 5 times and then they catch on after the teacher realises the misscommunication and utters one word under thier breath and then we are all fine and dandy. "Repeat" seems to be a word that they dont understand, even though i might say it 7 or 8 times in one lesson, but hey, what did i understand of my Italian teacher when she spoke in Italian to the class? ... ... .... absolutly NOTHIN! in that respect these kids are doing pretty well to just repeat thewords listed in thier books after me. This kinda teaching isnt too bad. Its a bit tiring and i now have new found respect for my mother who has been teaching for years, but this is not as tiring as private tutering. So Ms Yen - remember her - i tute 10 kinds at her house once a week. 10 kids around the age of 12 and below. I am generally on my own and they just eat me alive. I just cant handle them at all! they blatently talk while im talking, but its always in VN so i dont know what they are saying. They could be helping another kid with simple translation of what im saying! In that case, i dont want to tell them off. But at the same time they could be talking about a possible game im going to play with them if they keep anoying me untill i fold and play the game they want to play. i just cant seem t win a trick with them...
The teaching in Song Cong is better though. It is still teaching kids, but they are in a class room and they are paying - well actually every lesson even private i get paid for - but i feel like they actually want to learn and not just play games. I do alot of talking, which i have been told of for actually. Appaently im "greedy teacher". Thank you Ms Yen. Hear i am trying to get them used to the language and what it sounds like, but hey, i do understand that the kids also have to talk to get their own pronounciation right... so ill let that slide. so iguess that is teaching. Alot of walls, but alot of listeners too. Oh i almost forgot the best teaching of all. So our VN friend got us ajob at her school teaching obviously, but it pays $15 USD a lesson, which is damn good. The more classes we do, the more the pay increases too. SCORE! it is a little school like the Shane centre we learned how to teach in in HCMC, so it reminds me of that time alot. It is once again 5 stories and small, but the students are great. They all want to be there. like really want to be there. Their english ranges from good to really good and not so good, but i had the best class the other day. They had a "No VNs rule" which ment that they couldnt speak a word of VN without paying me - the teacher - money. like a swear jar. i myself said some VN and so did they so they kinda cancelled themselves out a little... unfortuantly. And now that is all the teaching i am doing.

Oh no, this is going to be a long post, becuase i still have to tell you about my weekend...

i'll make it brief. Friday night i was teachin in Thai Nguyen - where i had the best class to date - and i set off the next morning direct to Hanoi. 2 1/2 hours later - when it should only really take 1 1/2 even factoring the exra distances from TN to Viet Duc - i arrived in Hanoi by myself - B was already there - and i went for a wander. Hanoi is amazing. I know feel really at home there and it is fanastic. i basically orientate my way from this lake called Hoan Kiem lake - good luck with the prounciation i cant even say it! - and then i work my way to the DVD store, the best Atm in the middle of nowhere, Silk Street, sunglasses street and bag street. I picked myself up some sunnies, a zippo lighter for when the power goes out and some really cool wall hangings with Tin Tin on them. Beleive it or not, Tin Tin is the bee's knees around here. Call me stupid, but i dont really know why he is so big. Wasnt the writer German or something??? anyway picked me up some of those and bargend like a fiend. I think i even got complimented on my barganing skills! "you bargan hard! you will do really well after 5 month" anyway after my money spending i met up with others gappers for lunch and p-roceeded to Laura's - let me introduce you. She is from the UK, she is at a placement on her own and she is 21, just out of uni and looking for a fresh start. Love her, she is so much fun. - dummped my stuff off at her house for the night and headed out for happy hour fishbowls at an awsome hostel. After fishbolws came dinner. Then came Le Pub, a fantastic Aussie run Western Favourite and then another place and then Solice. Fantasic dance club. Really finding some awsome places if anybody is interested...
Must dash to hand in my passport to police... its the thing they do... anyway happy times

Peace Out!