I pass this sidewalk cafe on my way to work... and these guys are there every morning.
It reminds me of my dad's daily breakfast at The New Yorker in East Rochester, NY. He has breakfast every morning with the same group of guys... all grew up in ER together... I'd like to think the guys below have a similar sort of comradery. :)
The following post is gross (I think so, anyway!)... but it's a part of my life here... one that I've had to learn to get (a little) used to... but only read on if you really want to. :P
There are rats all over this city. I'm SO thankful one has not found its way into my apartment yet!!
It never gets any less disturbing... but it's not unusual to see a rat or two while in a restaurant or some other building around the city.
The restaurant that opened on the corner of my street leaves its trash on the corner (not to be picked up or anything... the corner is just where it stays)... and there are always rats there now. If I leave my place after dark I can hear them scurrying away, further into the holes and corners when I walk by.
UGGHHH [shudder].
As I drive, I can't help but notice all of the dead rats on the street that have been run over. I must pass about 10 or 15 each day on my way to work...
The WORST part is the tail! ...The smushed rat is mostly flattened guts... aaaand then there's a round tail still sticking up from the road round and strong. Gross.
Last Thursday we celebrated our school's 5th birthday. Each year the American International School celebrates its birthday with a HUGE cake at each of the 3 campuses!
...I came in to school Thursday morning to find this in the lobby:
Biggest cake I've ever seen!
Mid-morning, Ms. Tu (our principal's assistant) grabbed me from the library to pose for some pictures with the cake!
(Ms. Tu is on the far right... the other 3 girls all work in the Facilities office and are sweethearts.)
"Flying high at 2012"... well, let's hope so... :P
It took 4 people cutting the cake for ~30 minutes...
to serve over 200 people...
and we didn't come near to eating even half of it!
It seems that we're well-enough into the new year, as all the Tet holiday lights and decorations have been taken down around the city. I took the following pictures a couple weeks ago on Le Duan Street near the post office and Notre Dame Cathedral. It was pretty awesome to drive through this tunnel of lights!...
Last night I went to the Saigon Heat basketball game. This is a brand new basketball team... playing in the "Asean Basketball League".
I knew this would be an experience... but oh my. It was amazing (and hilarious!).
The Tan Binh Stadium is pretty far outside of the city... and I arrived to find myself amidst a huge crowd of motorbikes attempting to form two lanes to get into the parking area. After buying my ticket (150,000 dong... or about $7.50 for the lower level), we found ourselves in the stadium...
It all felt more like a college basketball game. There were no assigned seats, so we ended up sitting in the front row!
Most of Saigon Heat's players are Vietnamese... but there are two Americans on the team as well (in the red and black shirts below)!
Saigon Heat basketball, 2012.
Jonathan Jones and Julius Hodge are the two Americans on the HCMC professional basketball team. ...Julius Hodge (#24) even played for the Denver Nuggets during the 2005-2006 season!
(Hodge is in the black T.)
The cheerleaders for the team are called the Saigon Hot Girls... and their cheering/dancing was... well... uncomfortable at most. Below is part of the Hot Girls' halftime routine...
The night's MC was one cool dude..
I'm not sure what this group's job was... but it was apparently very important because it took 5 of them to do it...
The game was noisy! There was one woman who would announce (by yelling into the microphone in broken English) every substitution, "ONE SUBSTITUTION FOR THE WHITE TEAM." ...Each foul, "PERSONAL FOUL. NUMBER THREE. RED TEAM."... Each foul shot (which I thought she was counting, "two, three, four" the first few times, haha)... "TWO FREE THROWS."...Aaaand how long was left in each quarter, "TWO MINUTES REMAINING IN THE THIRD QUARTER."
On top of the announcer was the MC ...and the two DJs. There was no communication between any of them, so it was often all at once. The game felt as if we were in a rather hectic, odd world of a video game... the DJs played with the various sound effect buttons on their keyboards... a lot.
The DJs especially liked playing sound effects while the other team threw foul shots... breaking glass, whistling, or a boing... "BOIIIINNGGG."
