September

We went to the movies with our friends from school Aine and Cillin. Afterwards we went for drinks. Can you guess who ordered the smoothies and who ordered the beers?

Which drinks belong to the boys and which ones belong to the girls? 

Yup... the girls were chugging the beer while the gents sipped on their smoothies.

Vietnam celebrated National Day on the second of September. We can see District 1 from our apartment (in the distance) so instead of joining the masses in town, we watched the fireworks from our bedroom window.

Mel won a voucher to an Irish pub through Facebook, and we figured who better to share it with than our Irish friends? We had some delicious pub grub (pies!!!) and watched the Gaelic Football final - which was rather interesting since we've never watched the sport. 

Cillin, Aine and Ross

The Dubliner chicken pie. 

With our new outdoor space we knew that we had to get a braai, so one Sunday Ross went out and found us one. He had some bungee cords and strapped it on the back of the bike and made the tricky (but luckily not far) ride back to our apartment.

The braai master.

Our first feast

Roald Dahl's birthday was celebrated in September and our school participated by having a dress up day, a drawing competition and some students read extracts to their class mates.

Some grade 4 and 5 students reading in the library

Saigon hosted a rugby 10s tournament and we went along to support, as a lot of the guys who play in the contact team play touch rugby with Ross. When we arrived they had a deal of 500,000k (around R300) for all we could eat and drink - all day! Of course the day came with its typical Vietnamese quirks, including an orange pushing a wheelbarrow filled with half time drinks and a nurse to support him. Each team also had its own set of cheerleaders from the university where the tournament was held and, of course, there were midgets wearing top hats and tailcoats.

Mel getting involved during the YMCA.

After the rugby, we went through to District 1 to watch a show at the Opera House. We had wanted to watch the AO Show since we arrived, but never quite got around to it. Mel is on the social committee at school, so she organised a discount for any staff members who signed up. It was a really great show - a mix of acrobatics with Vietnamese culture - certainly well worth it if you are in Vietnam.

August

When we arrived back from New Zealand we stayed with our friend's Tom and Stacey while we looked for a new apartment. We decided to move into a slightly quieter area, with wide streets and lots of trees, but unfortunately apartments in that area are quite expensive - or cheap and nasty. We were very lucky that we could take our time and look for a really nice apartment, instead of grabbing the first one we found. In order to make ourselves useful, we went about some errands for Tom and Stace while they were at work. One of these errands was getting keys cut. It's really interesting to see how they do it. 

We decided that paying someone else for a motorbike every month was a waste of money and instead, we decided to invest in one of our own. When we leave we should be able to sell it for almost the same amount that we paid for it - making it a good investment. We took the bike for a test drive and everything seemed fine, so we paid the money and went on our way. Unfortunately, things stopped working soon after and we had to basically strip the bike down and build it back up again. 

After a lot of searching, an apartment falling through, and loads of estate agents - we finally managed to find a great apartment. Mel asked if anybody knew of any apartments in a Facebook group and luckily a girl replied and that's how we found our apartment. It has a huge balcony which is ideal for braai's and it has an open plan living area downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. 

Our friends, Marius and Andrea are leaving Vietnam to go work in Chile. Luckily they didn't leave before we got back from New Zealand, so we were able to go to their farewell and One Plus Beer Club. It's a typical Vietnamese beer club with cheap(ish) towers of beer and deafeningly loud music, but the view makes it all worth while. It's located on the 32nd floor of a building in District 1 and has a balcony which wraps almost the whole way around the building, providing an almost 360 degree view of the city.

Our new school threw a welcome dinner for the entire staff (teachers, administrators, drivers, nannies...).

Aoife (Eefa, it's Irish) and Mel

Chris (South African from Hilton) and Ross

Ross and Alex (the other grade 5 teacher)

Alex, Ross, and Daniel trying to make the most of the free beer

Aoife, Amanda and Aine

When it rains it pours! Our balcony gets a little bit flooded when there's heavy rain.

Ankle deep in water

Our favourite breakfast place is definitely a restaurant called Eden. They make the best flat whites (our favourite since we got back from NZ) and they've recently introduced an avo and feta smash on sourdough bread with poached eggs and bacon - deeeelish!

Our new friend Amanda celebrated her birthday and chose a restaurant we've never been to. The decor was really cool and felt quite magical. Driving home in the rain afterwards - not so much.

We discovered a road along the river near our house which is super quiet, as only people who live in the estate that runs along it can drive on it. There were plenty of runners and cyclists, since quiet roads in Vietnam are rather hard to come by. The one house had loads of cars parked outside - which was quite a sight, as cars are really expensive in Vietnam and only the wealthy can buy them. This family must be loaded!

There is an organic fruit and veg shop at the mall near our house. It also sells amazing cold pressed juices. Our favorite is beetroot, orange and passion fruit. Unfortunately all of their produce runs out super quickly, as it's such a popular spot, and the vegetables are of such good quality.