Blackouts

The only thing worse than it being 90+ degrees outside and so humid the rats are swimming down the streets, is when it's the same inside.

The blackouts have started and they suck. During the summer, apparently it's quite common for the power to be out as often as every other day.

The weather's bearable when you can escape to a nice air-conditioned room, but I'm not sure how I will surive the summer without power. And it's still getting hotter.

Since you can't see a power outtage in the daytime, here's a picture of one at night

And the same shot with power:


The wiring here's really something else. So as you can see it's not just one block that goes out it's nearly the entire city. It's great.

Our House

I've been meaning to blog about our house pretty much since we got here, but for whatever reason I hadn't gotten around to actually doing it yet. The school has decided to move the teachers' house, though, so it's now or never.

We'll be sad to go. The house is pretty cool. It's huge - 5 bedrooms plus an alter room at the top where the landlady prays every month to keep the evil spirits away, and there's an awesome roof deck where, since our house is the tallest on the block, you get a great view of pretty much the whole city.

Just like with everything else, pictures hardly do it justice. But here's some anyway.

Our front door and gate. There's another gate to get into the courtyard area, and yes, you have to lock them both everytime you leave.

The view from roof. Houses and rooftops as far as the eye can see.

A random painting of deer that hangs in a hallway. Notice the fake grass/flowers beneath it. Not really sure what's with that.

The hotel across the street. It's amusing that the sign reads "HOE" instead of hotel, as this has been described to me as the type of hotel that charges by the hour.

The landlady and her family, and our former roommate John. No, that wooden pipe is not what you think it is. It's used for tobacco. Seriously.

You Never Know What You'll See at the Bia Hoi

Supposedly there is a legal drinking age here, but...

Conviently located right next door to the English school is a bia hoi, which is kind of like a lemonade stand except that they sell locally brewed beer. After class we usually enjoy an almost-cold beverage while waiting for our xe om driver ("say ohm" - motorbike taxi). Tonight we were doing exactly that when grandma and her little granddaughter arrived. They both sit down and grandma orders up a beer, which she proceeds to share with this kid who couldn't have been older than 3. They sat there for a while, drinking beer and eating peanuts, then the kid finished the beer and away they went.


(This isn't the actual kid. I was dying to get a picture of it but honestly, grandma kind of scared me.)

Delicious and Nutritious

The number of different junkfoods they have over here is mind boggling. So I've decided to post about them. First one up: Yan Yan.

Yan Yan, according to the label, is a "creamy strawberry dip biscuit snack". And it has fun words. Look.

Fun words like "Whale, biggesy mammal":

And: Really? My lucky color is brown? Gross.

And my personal favorite:

And now for a picture of me enjoying both the delicious Yan Yan and the fun words.

(Sorry it's blurry...I was so excited. The goat biscuit stick said I'm lucky today.)

Street Food of the Week - Phở Bò

Phở bò (said like "fa bah") is a quintessential Vietnamese dish. Phở is a type of noodle and bò means beef, and the 2 come together in this soup quite deliciously. This dish started in Hanoi (in Vietnam there are many dishes that are local specialties) but has spread all throughout the country. The locals like to eat it for breakfast. Squeeze in some lime juice and add as many red chiles as you dare and you got yourself a damn good meal, for less than a buck.