Allow me to introduce myself :)

Hello all, I'm Kiwi Will (KiWill!).  I'm from NZ and my name's Will.  I have been in Saigon just under 2 weeks now.  I am here on the English teaching band wagon :)  I hope to be here long term, a couple years at least.

This is my 3rd time in Vietnam, so coming here to teach was a reasonably easy choice for me to make.  There's a lot to love and hate about Vietnam, but the love far outweighs the hate!  Which is why I came here to teach English.  New lifestyle, new adventure, new career.

I just moved into a new share house yesterday.  In the long run it was the cheaper option than living in a hotel until I landed a job here.  Even though it's cosy, and satisfies my immediate needs, I will definitely be looking to upgrade after I sort out a job.

I'm a graduate from the University of Otago - so if there any expats on here who'd like to catch up over a beer who studied in Dunedin, let's reminisce about couch burnings!  Also I recently graduated with my TESOL from the Kangan Institute in Melbourne.  So if there are any Melbourneans here, let's catch up for a beer also!

Hope to get to utilise this platform a bit.  Get to know a few of you also. 

Thanks for your attention!

Will

KiWill wrote:

There's a lot to love and hate about Vietnam


Interesting. I've been thinking for 10 minutes what I hate about Vietnam, and there is nothing.
Possibly because hate is a strong word. It has gotten weightier in the last 5 years: hate crimes, hate speech.

There are Vietnamese things that I "don't like" (some foods, traffic, summer heat), annoyances (karaoke, burning paper), hazards (dangerous drivers, sidewalk anarchy). I assume that you also mean "don't like" and not "hate", otherwise it would take a whole lot of "things I love" to counterbalance a couple "hated" items.

One thing for sure I would hate is if I was assaulted or hurt by someone, luckily nothing like that has happened to me. Speaking of dentists, my one dentist appointment in Vietnam in July (I procrastinated the cleaning for so long) was surprisingly "not bad". I would actually go so far as to place the pointer between "not bad" and "pleasant". Then last month I had a second "not bad" showing involving a chipped tooth in Bangkok. Totally professional, modern and hygienic, so impressed that now I feel I am in even better hands in SE Asia vs California regarding dental care. But I know, in 6 months, when time is looming for my next teeth cleaning, I will be "strongly disliking" the idea.

"Interesting. I've been thinking for 10 minutes what I hate about Vietnam, and there is nothing"
                      Fortunately..?   I don't have to think.

It seems the (Christian?) God dumps it directly into what some tell me my brain.

So?   Hate, dislike and other negatives don't cut the custard for me.
But maybe I don't love Viet Nam either..?    Is it the total bliss of (my) ignorance,
or a subjective scheme I invented to enjoy my Utopia?   Whom would know..?

Not me.   I gave up response-ability yonks ago.   Never to return.

Until reality bites, anyway    :o

"II've been thinking for 10 minutes what I hate about Vietnam, and there is nothing. "

I hate it when someone threatens my life.
And unfortunately this happens nearly daily through traffic here in HCMC.

I hate it when they put too much ice in my nuoc mia sinh to xoai.

If I HATE any country, I would never live there voluntarily.  And I do believe that living in any particular country is the act of volunteer or semi-volunteer, unless you're a prisoner of some sort.

What if you're sent by your job?  Unless your employer puts a gun on your temple while ordering you to go, you can turn down the assignment, negotiate for another post, or better yet, once you're here, open your mind wide.  As Gobot said, hate is such a strong word that shouldn't be used willy nilly.

Chaotic traffic threatens your life?  You don't have to expose your body to it.  Use other kinds of transportation  Taxi is not financially feasible?  I don't believe that.  I could use Grab car (since Uber will be gone next week) twice a day from one end of the city to another for about $5.  Build that into your budget.  Unless you earn the local salary, you can afford it.

It is choice, not chance that decides our destiny

Attitude being my angle

But that's me

Bazza139 wrote:

It is choice, not chance that decides our destiny

Attitude being my angle


It's Bazza's signature on every post, but it has never been so appropriate and so accurate as it is right now.

Cheap over the counter diazepam counters the strong feelings.  Another plus.

If I hated anything it wold be the foreign teachers here with British, Australian and New Zealand accents trying to teach English to Vietnamese.......kids walk around saying 'aaaw rie' 'gud onya' 'buncha nobby knocka's".  and/or listening to the sexpat's talking to the bar girls in baby talk.

So you think the Americans are doing better?

Yep, Sho Nuff........

Then again, America is the best at everything.........not.

This sums it up nicely.....https://www.google.com.vn/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DVMqcLUqYqrs&ved=0ahUKEwiCrL2az5_aAhXFjJQKHUKQBqUQyCkIGzAA&usg=AOvVaw1eBx3yAtoXt1YcN9Vga1wL

re: post #10 Tunnelrat,

If you do not approve of Vietnamese learning British, Australian, or New Zealand accents, which particular accent would you prefer they learn? Perhaps US mid-west, Boston, Texas, Californian, North Carolina, Tennessee, New York Italian? Canadian maybe? Please, do let us know you approved accent.

I'm from Uranus. 

..it all happens there...     :blink:

Bazza, what part of Uranus are you from. Lol.

Bazza139 wrote:

I'm from Uranus.


No, only your posts :D

Sorry, couldn't resist.

In relation to Uranus,I remember this song from when I was a young fella.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avrqo0rC7cw

Fred (yet) again misses the inference...   ..an inferred fence..?

"No, only your posts"   :D     ( Shhh..!   ..it happens..!)

U (as in y/our) us, but sticks well to wooly ones...    :proud

Col's quote;

"Bazza, what part of Uranus are you from? Lol."

Just how low can you go, Col..?    :shy

:D........... :dumbom: