Vietnamese teacher wanted

I really need help with my Vietnamese as my knowledge is zero. If anyone knows a teacher who speaks English and can teach me Vietnamese, either at my place or wherever, please leave a comment. (Comments need to be approved, so don't be eager). Thx in advance

Teacher in Vietnamese wanted

Office furniture in HCMC

I was looking for a desk and an office chair for my litte homeoffice aka second bedroom. I knew there are some arround Ngyuen Thi Minh Khai. We found a good one at the corner Nguyen Thi Minh Khai/CMT8, opposite to Phong Vu Computers. Its called XINH'S, the have a big selection of tables, even to equip a complete office. Very reasonable prices, and yes, they deliver to your place - and in time. They told us it would be arround 2 p.m. and it was exactly 2.p. when the desk arrived. It tok just 30 minutes for the guy to fix the desk. We were really happy with this company and can strongly recommend XINH's (262B Ngyuen Thi Minh Khai).

Barbecue

Barbecue
Originally uploaded by thomaswanhoff

at our terrace with our neighbors students

Expat Community Saigon - Events in HCMC

When I was browsing Expat-advisory.com (wich I know from Cambodia), I thought by myself why ist it still top-bottom instead of community driven? Some other expat communities seem to have also a lack of activity. So I decided to build up my own Saigon Expat Online Community. The tools are provided by Ning.com, a great service I noticed years before the first time, when they started.

So if you are a expat in Saigon, just join the new network. Its called:

http://expatsaigon.ning.com

You can sign up, start discussion, enter or read events, upload photos and videos, start groups and your onw blog and you will have your own expatsaigon-Homepage. And yes, it's free!

And yes, its beta (of course).

Dogfood and Treats for Dogs in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City

We just found some places selling dog food and treats in Saigon. First go to Saigon Center, 2nd floor, there is a small pet shop selling royal canin for reasonable prices. Unfortunatly they have not a large selection and no treats. Those you will find at Phuong Ha, a small grocery shop at 58 Ham Nghi in District 1. The have all the small skinbones and treats we know from Cambodia. And you can by nice muesili there, milka chocolate, cheese, a lot of food foreigners love.

Yesterday we also discoverd Petit Ange here in Phu My Hung: They are selling Royal Canin, some (expensive) Treats, its also a dogs beauty salon with grooming as well as a hotel (30$ per day).

Rain in Tan Thuan Tay

No girls wanted in Vietnam

Just read this story:

Vietnam is the latest country to report an alarming skew towards boy babies, one that may lead to vast societal upheaval. This week, the United Nations Population Fund said that some 25,000 expected baby girls went "missing" — were not carried to term — in Vietnam last year. The implication is that some expectant parents are aborting unwanted girls once they learn the sex of the fetus through ultrasound technology. Government statistics and a separate U.N. survey in 2006 put the ratio of newborns at 110 boys to every 100 girls — higher than the "natural" rate of 105 to 107 boys for every 100 girls.

Incredible, isn't it?

Motobike repair in Vietnam

Last Weekdend we rented a Motorbike from a shop in District 1 (Shop 165 in Pham Ngu Lao, we do not recommend this), and since we arrived at our home we had problems. The main problem was that it was very difficult to start it. The ignition button was useless and even the kick-starter went bad after some days. So today we made it to run the motorbike, went to the Highland Coffee, but when we tried to go back, the machine didn't start anymore.
But thats Vietnam (or South-East-Asia in general) and help is only some dollars away. After seconds a guy named Sam stopped and offered us to bring us to the next garage. That means Nataly sat on his motorbikes backseat and he pushed me with his right feed. The trip tokk about 10 minutes to the garage, Sa, explained the repairmen what to do. It turns out that the battery was quite old and had to be replaced, the same for the oil filter and the carburetor was full of dirt.
They cleaned and repaired the bike in 45 minutes and we paid just 40 Dollars (plus 30.000 Dong for Sam). Of course we will try to claim the money back from the rental shop.

Settling down in Vietnam

Its seems to be easier than we thought to settle down here in Vietnam. Not much paperwork, our landlord is doing all the cable tvm landline phone, registration and internet stuff, so we need to get a driver licence and thats it. Surprisingly the German Generalkonsulat (we had a lot of band experience in Cambodia and Bali) es very friendly and very helpful.

There is a government office, I think the locals authorities HQ, near our house. As we passing by every day I am sure they not only know us but know everything about us. What is helpful, kind of protection.

Phu My Hung is really like Singapur, clean nice streets, some nice shopping. Today we will go to Disctrict 1 the first time.. haveing dinner with a friend.

New Home in Saigon

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