Hello again! I have heard from many people that they like to read this blog and find it interesting. Thank you all, it means a lot to me to know that you actually read this blog. :) From now on I don't write about every single day because many of my days are not so exciting - I might be a whole day in the company coding... So you will get only some highlights.
On Sunday a week ago I was at a gathering where were both Vietnamese and foreigners. I went there with Ms. N, who has been a great help and great company for me. The gathering was very nice, I talked with many new people, and one girl, H, I have seen also afterwards (more about that later). I drank a drink whick had some kind of jelly cubes in it - I haven't seen anything like that before.
A couple of days ago I heard that one person who was at the gathering had been robbed right after it and lost everything, including passport and money. It really makes to think that you really have to be careful here.
On Thursday I had my first session as a teaching assistant in a Linux course. It was quite an experience. I have done lots of teaching assisting in Finland in many different courses, so the work itself was familiar. My job was to be available for questions and help them to do the exercises. The problem here, however, is communication. Many (maybe most) of the students don't speak English very well, if at all. The other problem is that occasionally I have real difficulties to understand their accent. So basically the situation was that they did not understand me and I did not understand them. I also suspect that when I gave them some links to Stack Overflow and other helping sites they probably did not understand them... Well, let's see how the session goes this week. I will try to speak even more slowly, maybe at least they will understand me better.
After the assisting session I went to see U and her friend (I have to think about with what letter I should call him, his letter is already used in this blog.). They both speak very good English as it is their major. We had very good time. They took me around the NLU campus area. There was an area full of different food stalls and we ate delicious rolls (I don't remember their Vietnamese name any more). After that I went to a bookstore with Ms. N. I always like bookstores, though most of the books are written in a language I don't understand. Manga seems to be popular also here, especially Detective Conan.
On Saturday I went to explore a route to a gym whose homepage I had found. It took about half an hour to go there (I did not go inside just checked where it is). The route was unpleasant for a pedestrian, though, so I am not sure if I want to start to go there. (This city really is not for pedestrians, this is for motorbike riders.) Narrow pavements and scary street crossings were not tempting. Luckily I heard from H about another gym which would be in a better place, so maybe I will go there if I have time.
On Sunday I went to go round the town with H and her friend. We visited the famous Ben Thanh market, a shopping mall in District 7 (that was like any shopping mall in Europe) and Chinese quarters. In Chinese quarters we went to a bazaar which was nothing like anything I have seen before. (Even Ben Thanh market, though full of stuff and people, was nothing compared to this.) The amount of goods was unbelievable. Bags, shoes, accessories from floor to ceiling and very narrow corridors crowded with people. There was also a huge amout of different foods, most of which I did not recognize. (The smell was also something I have not experienced before.) After that we went to a very nice coffee shop which reminded me of Berlin. It was in an older house, you could not find there if you did not know where it is. I liked it very much.
Oops, I thought to write only a short post this time... :D Not so short, after all.
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