Day 11 - teaching, Heritage House and no water

It was not hot today after all, actually quite pleasantly cool. I picked up William as arranged and we headed into school.  Teaching was ok today, the alphabet song and Pin the tail on the Buffalo (thanks Mum) both went down well and they do like "Five little ducks" and "I'm a teapot" surprisingly.  the teaching assistant wants me to teach them the past tense of the verb to be. I actually think that is a little advanced!  William and I agreed that teaching was an endless rolling series of highs and lows, success and failure. So, quite like everything else in fact. William, aged 21 had much enjoyed being a volunteer for demonstrating Pin the Tail...

I'm starting to distinguish which class is which. I think I have five different groups, with some kids overlapping. Some of the children are much more advanced than others and some are very stubborn!  Also discovered that apparently August, teaching next door, is much stricter than me and that the kids actually prefer coming to my class as a result!  Not sure how accurate this is as I think August teaches older year groups...however it's nice to hear.

So, Tuesday pm, I needed to head into the Old Quarter to make contact with Buffalo Tours, for my Halong Bay trip. Still on but it will probably rain. oh well, I will just be amazed to get there! two other people apparently on my trip. However felt a headache coming on by the time I left. 

I did make a small detour to 87 Ma May street to visit the Heritage House, which I had been wanting to do since spotting it on my second day here. This is the oldest family dwelling in Hanoi, built for one family, it eventually housed five families. It is classic french colonial style, all wooden, with much emphasis on light and courtyards. The hostess followed me all the way round as I looked about. A calligraphy artist, Wim, was at work there, wearing clogs. He painted Lucas' name on his work for me. There were a number of the caged birds. I took photos until i noticed one had a broken leg. Decided a cool drink and some air con might help with the ever increasing headache, so popped into the Tourist Information office for a passion fruit smoothie. Delicious. Emailed Mum and headed home.  Was then unfortunately ill all night. The water was also shut off that evening as they were repairing water pipes somewhere. It was a long night!  Very typical of Vietnam though I'm beginning to think - everything successful has just a slight hint of disappointment!