Turkish delight.

Yum.

Cake Monster

Here's a picture of me eating cake in Vietnam. It was a big cake and someone had to make an effort.

This weekend I did heaps of things. It was the first essay-free weekend I've had for a while so I decided to stack it full of things I hadn't done in a while. Didn't quite get to the markets, but did catch up with a friend on Saturday lunch, went out for dinner on Saturday night, went to touch training and took some photos for the flyer, then headed up to see my family. Yay for MM, he lent me his scooter so I didn't have to take the bus (bicylce still being repaired). Saturday morning I went to the Vocational Language Learning Centre to enquire about learning Spanish there. They charge about as much as 2 return tickets to Spain just for a 100 hour course. Think I'll just look for something else. Their language teaching methods are not exactly inspired either, if I wanted to learn a language by sitting in front of a computer I would just buy an online package for 100th the price. I had a free tour of the place and if I already wasn't put off, the demo where I had to sit at a computer with a headset on and listen to someone say 'esta es una casa' 5 times with 2 second intervals between each word really turn me away. No one speaks as slowly as that so what is the point of teaching me that slowly? Certainly no one speaks Spanish that slowly!!

So the search for Spanish classes continues. The problem is they are all either way too short - only 10 weeks, or they cost too much, or they don't start until next year. Boo.

A Scandal

One of my co-workers was fired for misappropriating business documents. Ohno. We've had a problem with internet usage being depleted very quickly in the last month. We thought it was one of the students, turns out it was one of the staff! She had been getting course materials off the server and emailing them to herself. She also emailed herself copies of Diploma certificates from the archives. I assume she intends to replace their names with her own and get a job based on her 'Diploma of Business Management' or whatever else she took. Dodgy. We can't really do anything about it unless a future employer calls us asking to verify the details - which they wouldn't unless they already suspected something.

Bit creepy to think that someone you work with has just been sneaking around stealing things the whole time. People are crap.

Other people's travels

I have been reading the blog of a friend of mine who is travelling in South Ameria. I am not sure when I was last so jealous. Perhaps never. Money is ever so boring, but I sure wish I had some now so I could go travelling! She has been all over the place, sleeping in mud huts with no electricity, no running water, no toilets! She has been learning Spanish in a variety of countries and climbing gorgeous mountain peaks while battling altitude sickness. It all sounds so challenging but divine. I'm glad to be hearing all about it now though, it is motivating me to put those extra dollars away for next year...

Almost gone baby gone

Today I handed up my final uni assignment. Ah, relief. But I know that this time next week I will be bored, so I am looking for something else to do instead. The end of assignments means the end of leaving my bike out the front of the Napier building at the uni too - a good thing because apparently it's a high crime area. Well, everyone who rides a bike expects it to be coveted by some low life at some stage, I am just glad that they didn't manage to walk away with my bike. They had a good attempt though, used bolt cutters or something to try and get through the bike chain. Luckily for me, even cheap bike locks are surprisingly resistant and they were not able to take my lovely Orbea. I thought something was amiss when I came downstairs and my bike was facing a different direction to what I had tied it up in. When I tried to unlock it I saw all the marks on the plastic coated chain. They had mangled the lock so much that I couldn't turn it. I was off to the uni campus security office to get help when I spotted a security dude walking down the stairs towards Napier. When I told him that "someone had attempted to steal my bike." He was all, "Who, where? Let's get em!!" And looked extremely excited indeed and equally disappointed when I told him that this had happened possibly hours ago. He helped me unlock the bike and even offered to escort me off the campus! I said I was fine since it seemed they were more after the bike than me... I thanked him and he replied, "Oh no, it's a pleasure to be of service." I got the feeling that this was the most exciting thing that had happened to him at work for a long long time.

My torch-bearing saviour left and I sorted my panniers out on the racks, went to take off and then realised that the back tyre was locked up. Upon closer inspection it seemed that some damage had been inflicted upon my bike, the gear shifter railing thingo had been twisted against the back tyre thus preventing movement. :( I couldn't budge it back at all so I had to call my bro to pick me and the bike up in his car. The bike just squeezed in, but I had no chance of fitting in there too so I caught the tram home. BONUS, I did get a free tram ride though! The ticket dude never gets down to my end of the tram before my stop. So now I have a broken bike, therefore no transport. A very annoying situation. Without my bike I am very much housebound. My very lovely friend has pulled a bike out of his shed for me to use in the meantime, but for now that is still at his place and I have places to be!

To the shitstabbers who broke my bike I say this; if you can't even steal a bicycle successfully then you truly are talentless and lazy and perhaps it's time to consider suicide, although given your attempt at thievery even this may prove too difficult for you.

Today I bought two pairs of gloves and a beanie. That should keep me warm!

Aluminium Adventures

Last weekend I spent 14 hours bouncing around in a beat up Series 3 longwheel base Landrover. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. Having never really experience the luxury of travelling long distances in new cars, the rattling and engine noise that prevents speaking wasn't such a problem. Plenty of landscape to look at, didn't see much wildlife though - aside from the flat variety. Picking up the Landy in the first place was quite an adventure. We hired a car at Melbourne airport and headed out to Bayswater, 25km or so out of the city. It was quite a hectic affair finding our way out there with some dodgy map reading going on from the passenger seat I had a chance to practice my ueys. On the way back into the city following the Landy was even worse. I had no idea where I was going and kept losing the Landy (as if that were possible) due to cars cutting in between us and the constant merging and diverging of traffic between one and two lanes on Toorak Rd. Then he got some lights that I missed and it was all over. Driving: do not miss it.

Once we were on the open road it was a steady 80kmph for us, any faster and the thing would have rattled apart. It was all sweet until some wanker decided that we were driving so slowly purely to piss him off and tailgated us for the entire 4 minutes he was stuck behind us before taking the time while he was overtaking us to raise his middle finger and yell obscenities. And people wonder how a straight stretch of road can pose so many risks. With idiots like this on the road you have to wonder why more people don't die. We can only hope that a speed trap got him at some point. Seriously, did he not just take one look at the car and understand?

So, next weekend, I think a bit of peace and quiet is in order. Too many travels and too much money flying out of my purse. This saturday and sunday I will be at uni all weekend writing my essay. My very last essay ever. Until next time.

Hammock Jo

Images of Vietnam

The colourful displays of fruit at the market.

Here we are!

Roola, AKA The Negotiator bargains hard for some new thongs.

Latchy wearing his Hooray for Carrots T-shirt. He did bring carrots to Vietnam.

Wearing some kind of national get-up. No idea who I am supposed to be.

Interviewed out

Yesterday I had a four hour long ordeal at the hands of graduate recruitment interviewers. First I had to spend 45 minutes figuring out how to set up a week long management course based on some random memos they gave me and a collection of train and taxi fare information. Then I had to complete another set of online verbal and numerical tests. The kind where you get given a chart that talks about share prices and boring things like that and you get asked to determine which year had the greatest share price/profit ratio or some such inane thing. Having not encountered such things as ratios since year 10 maths a long time ago, it was all a bit of a struggle. The calculator sure got a work out! Then there was the panel interview. Three of them sat there and read the questions off a piece of paper and then diligently wrote down every word I said. The questions were so boring, and not all that different from the ones I had to respond to in the initial online application. I left feeling pretty drained and about as confident of receiving a place as I am about winning the lottery next week - given that I don't buy tickets.

After that was over I rode across town for another interview, this one much less confronting. It's at a premedical specialist school, run by a Korean bloke who clearly is quite desperate because he is willing to put me on despite the fact that I have no experience teaching ESL writing. It's good for me because it's experience, but frankly, as one of his students I would be concerned. I was a bit excited because it is extra cash, but in the end it's not that much money so now I am just doing it for 'the experience' - and also because now that uni is over I have nothing to do with myself in the evenings.

This weekend I am going to Melbourne to pick up a car and drive it back to Adelaide. The car in question is a 1983 Landrover. At least, I think it is. The point is, it's really big and tough, it's a real four wheel drive, it has a canopy and random seats in the back since it is ex-military. Less convenience than novelty factor really. MM and I hit upon the idea of getting one a few months ago and have been searching Ebay ever since for a goodie. I like the idea that I can just hose it out every now and then and it's way too impractical to actually use on a regular basis, it's just for those rainy night trips in the middle of winter when cycling really isn't that safe. And given that MM lives so freaking far away, having a car is becoming a convenience that feels like a necessity. BUT, I still maintain my cycling status, not least of which beacuse the Landy is not technically mine since I am way too poor to pay for it and the petrol to power it.

Too bad it's not a long weekend because it would have been nice to stay longer in Melbourne than just one morning. As it is, breakfast in Brunswick St then on the road back home to Adelaide. Well, I can think of worse ways to spend the weekend!

Goodbye essay!

Feeling pretty good. Just finished my first major essay off and sent it to my lecturer. It is by no means a fantastic effort, but it will be plenty to pass me. Now I have 2 weeks to write the next one :) By the way, just got back from Sydney town last night! Spent three days hanging there with MM's bro in Newtown. I've never been to that area of Sydney before, it's pretty funky. I fit right in there with my toe sock and Birkenstocks. It's a good combo, I think I started a trend. I just really didn't want to have to take more than one pair of shoes on holiday with me. Too bad I'm not still in Vietnam :( No photos yet, gotta grab them off my travel companions. There are plenty though, way too many really. When you have a 2GB memory card you tend to go a bit mental. I brought home way too many souvenirs; a hat, a T-shirt (actually 2 Tshirts, one that I didn't want but got harassed into buying), a traditional Vietnamese pants/dress thingo and a dress I had made in Hoi An. It's hard getting things made, not only do you have to pick a pattern you think will suit you, but the fabric that you think will suit that pattern too. Very involved. Not sure if I am wild about the result, but I will wear it nonetheless.

Bit annoyed that I got trumped in the packing light department. I left with my little grey suitcase on wheels which is small enough to take aboard the plane. I hate checking in luggage. MM turns up with 2 huge bags that weigh an absolute ton each. The Negotiator rocked up with the Mother Ship as it became known, a vast thing about the size of the suitcase I took to Japan when I moved there. Unfortunately for me I was outdone at the last by Carrotman with his single backpack contaning nought more than 2 Bonds singlets, a pair of thongs, undies (I assume), a pair of pants, pair of shorts, a toothbrush, a camel coloured waffle pattern robe and a touch football. Now that is light travel.

Modest as I am, even I feel the need for more than 2 changes of shirt for a week long trip. Most hilarious was that throughout the trip he felt it necessary to shed the pants because they were weighing him down and left them in a hotel room! Clearly the footy and robe were just an attempt to fill up the backpack which would have looked suspiciously empty if not for those 2 voluminous items. Our light-travelling companion amused us further by purchasing and consuming during the flight to Ho Chi Minh a flask of whisky from duty-free. I wonder if he didn't have the right idea after all since he did spend the majority of his flight being pleasantly floppy headed while I was most uncomfortable despite the many distractions my Inflight Entertainment Unit attempted to give me. Why do they still insist on showing films where people mostly loiter in dark places and communicate in whispers? We're on an AEROPLANE, we can hardly hear ourselves think, let alone some bloke whispering in a dark alley on a tiny fingerprint smuged screen!

Anyway, aside from that, Jetstar was great. I love aeroplane food. Even if I'm asleep,which is tough to do on a plane, I will wake up to eat whatever they send me. All the little compartments with food in em are just way too tempting. It's like a little bento box.

Saigon Jo

It's the last day of my holiday in Vietnam and I am very sad to be going home. the week has gone way too quickly and there have been countless antics along the way. We started out this time last week searching for the hotel we had made a booking for over the internet. We found it, only to discover they had no rooms left, but they quickly sorted us out with a neighbouring hotel for the same price. Same same but different. Kinda the way things are around here. You certainly can't be in any kind of hurry. The second day we spent a good portion of our time sitting in travel agencies sorting out flights to Danang. After lunch I hit the sack for a long siesta but apparently our travel companion carried on bargaining and attemtping to drive the air ticket prices down and at one point had three different places booking tickets for us. Not surprisingly he was eventually told that there were no seats left. At one point there were possibly three Jos flying to Danang. In the end he got a very good deal for $2 more expensive than the original quote. But he enjoyed himself tremendously.

In Danang more trouble when we couldn't get on a train - all full apprently. So we spent a good 10 minutes nagging a taxi driver to get us to Hue on the cheap. He eventually relented, but only after the boys had hassled him for long enough to earn a punch from any driver in Oz. Yes, there are way too many details to go into here, but basically the trip has consisted of the three of us laughing at The Negotiators attempts to drive down prices everywhere we go. OK, i admit that sometimes it was getting on my nerves, especially when it was just a can of drink that was already only costing us 40 cents! But I have to say, overall, we all got along very well. Even though I was surrounded by 3 boys, I don't regret coming along! But one week is not long enough. I still haven't tried the breakfast staple, Pho or been in a ride on a cyclo. I did have a dress made in Hoi An though, and it remains to be seen whether that was worth while... I went diving in absolutely perfect conditions and saw some crazy fish, and got down to 30 metres.

But now it's home time :( I will definitely be back next year!