Week 1: Survived....barely

Wow.....what a week! I will say this: if you ever move to Vietnam and need an apartment you better bring several thousand dollars in US cash. I did NOT do this so I have had an extremely difficult time getting my apartment! I could only withdraw VND (Vietnamese cash) from the ATM and you can only withdraw so much cash per day....so it took me nearly all week to pay my deposit and first months rent. Luckily my realtor and landlord were understanding about the situation so they accepted it. Once I get a bank account here and get paid I can withdraw US cash from my bank to pay my rent but I couldn't get it out of my US bank account. Talk about stressful.....Then I made the mistake of telling the HR department that I found an apartment and would be checking out of the hotel either the next day or the day after (they had to arrange to come pay for my room) but then the money situation kept me from being able to buy bedding (they take cash only too) so I had nowhere to sleep in my apartment. I emailed HR back to say I needed the hotel room for a few more days. The next day (Tuesday) I went to work and saw an email saying the hotel had already booked my room and my things had to be out by 1pm that afternoon....so I had to leave school during my lunch break, pack up my things, leave it behind the desk and go back to work. I hardly ate anything in 3 days and only had a few hours of sleep each night. That night I was able to buy my bedding and get into my apartment. So, long story short: I made it into my apartment....

Work has been absolutely insane. I teach Kindergarten (which is like our preschool) through Year 9......that's 11 different age levels. We were just kind of thrown to the wolves and had to learn things the hard way. I don't feel like going into too much detail but the good news is I've survived the first week. Last night I was FINALLY able to catch up on some sleep....I slept for 10 hours straight. I woke up and felt like I could keep sleeping but I knew I should get up lol. I have a lot of work to do this weekend (joy) so between sleeping and working I'm pretty busy. Last night I went to a co-worker's birthday dinner at a restaurant near the school. It was pretty fun and I tried fried squid and wild boar. They were both quite rubbery and the texture of the squid just freaked me out. I could feel all of the tentacles in my mouth.....eww! Not sure if I'll have it again but I said I would try almost anything so I had to. IT was good to socialize with some of the other teachers. They think I'm crazy for taking my first teaching job overseas by myself lol. One girl said I was extremely brave.....I said I was just naive haha. She said that's probably for the better....if I had known what I was getting into I probably wouldn't have done it. I just keep telling myself that if I can make it through this experience I will be able to get through ANYTHING. I have said many times this week that I should just pack up and go home with my tail between my legs but I just can't do that. I could never forgive myself for giving up. I will get through this and be a better, stronger person for it.

Tonight I went to the Lotte Mart to try and find an HDMI cable and it is one of the biggest department stores I've ever seen. You can get almost anything there. Attached are some pictures from the seafood section.....eek!

That's about all I have the energy to write about tonight...btw, my phone is hooked up in my apartment so you can call 727-644-3852 and reach me! Please just keep the time difference in mind and don't call me in the middle of the night lol. Night all!