Living

I thought I'd take a couple pictures of the outside of the building, as well as the construction site that kept me up for 6 weeks straight! There are no regulations for what time they begin work on construction sites in Vietnam so you can imagine what that means. However, my place was a beautiful building and I was very lucky for that :).

 

I know you have all been at least a little curious as to what my place looks like. I haven't taken all the pictures yet, so I will post more soon. Here are a couple to hold you over ;)

This is the view I have when I step out of the door of my apartment.

My apartment is on Vo This Sau Street in Ward 6, District 3 of the city. It is pretty centrally located and is walking distance from a lot, though walking is hard with the heat and most of the locals just ride their motorbikes everywhere. My apartment is clean, has a laundry service and a cleaning service. There is a communal kitchen and a security guard 24/7. There is a really nice television, though it only speaks Vietnamese. It has one English speaking station, the Australian Network. So if I haven't learned everything there is to know about it already (thanks Danny) :) ), I now get to know its history, how its economy is doing (good actually, the AUD is stronger than the USD right now), all about its navy and the hot political topics right now (is climate change real? what should be done about it?). I digress...long story short, I bought some pirated DVDs off the street and I got lucky - one worked! I guess I'll be watching The Town for the next three weeks...

For the first week I was at my apartment I did not see a single person there. I was beginning to think I was all alone in this converted villa, and it was not exactly a settling feeling. So one afternoon I waited by my window and whenever the bell rang to get into the main gate, I waited to see if people would come in. Good news, other people live there and I am not creepily staying there alone! Bad news, the guard thinks I am a Peeping Tom and our generally good relationship has now become kind of awkward.

I really do love my place and am grateful for how clean and convenient it is. Taxi drivers are now understanding when I say where I live and I even learned how to say the numbers in Vietnamese! Things are really looking up!