Tan An and a change of plans

In this blog update I'm going to give a small update to add to what Claire has already said on her blog - which best describes the details and feelings of what we've been through this week so rather than repeat, I'll just add a few touches of my own.

Monday 17th March 2014

We were supposed to be picked up to go to Tan An at 8am, was only told at 7:55am that it would then be the afternoon (could've done with a lie in!). Eventually arrived at 4pm. New 'permanent' digs were seemingly nicer than the last but were lacking anything to cook with as well as many other basic amenities.... Wasn't happy! 

Went to the town (it's officially a city but I refuse to call it that) and saw there were plenty of cafés but nowhere to eat (here a cafe rarely does food, they just do coffee and juices - which are awesome, but you kinda want both). We thought then river view might cheer us up, but the stench of urine put us off.

Our favourite cafe in Tan An - the only highlight to speak of!

Tuesday 18th

Headed to the main district to see if this place we were meant to live in for the next few months had anything else to offer.... We found a post office and that was it. Later on we taught our first lessons on the payroll and were hoping that things would be better than the training last week.

The guy who came to pick us up to go to Ben Luc to teach was over 30 minutes late so by the time we arrived the class had been sat there waiting for half an hour. Just to make it worse the only lesson preparation we were given once again was shoved into our hands as we were quickly ushered into the classroom and then forgotten about.

Although already short on time, my first class went well with a few bright students making up for those that were shy. I started to feel really I'll during the class feeling dizzy - which was ironic given the topic was "health and wellbeing"!

The next class was completely different and possibly the worst 90 minutes of my life (and being a Southampton fan, I've experienced some painful 90 minute sequences in my time). The topic was " introducing yourself " which at first glance I thought might be quite good seeing as every class so far I've spent the first 5-15 minutes introducing myself, so I was well drilled and knew exactly what I would take them through topic wise. The big problem I had was the language we were supposed to be 'revising' had clearly not been taught - and this was stuff that for a class of their supposed level they should really know - and then when I tried to explain using even simpler terms they still didn't know. As well as all of this I had felt worse and worse so by the time I tediously dragged the class out I was a physical and emotional wreck.

As I walked out of the building I felt I'll, I felt like I'd failed and I felt furious with the school. As Claire saw me approach she took one look at me and said "there's a face of thunder!" And I threw the lesson folder on the desk and stormed out. With all of the stress that we'd faced recently, the poor preparation and lack of professionalism from the school, being constantly messed about with locations and timings, I was ready to not only quit the job, I wanted to jump on the first plane home.

On our way home in the car we were able to speak honestly as the driver spoke no English and I said "I just can't do this, I hate where we live, I hate the school and none of this is going to get any better no matter how long we stay".  Claire felt the same. We'd been fighting the urge to quit the job for a few days, each time holding on in the hope that it would get better when we start for real, but although we only taught one night we knew that there was just no way we could carry on here with so many factors out of whack.

We had no other native speakers to socialise with, our promised contract hours had been reduced by the school (not because of us, just because the school could no longer guarantee the same amount of hours) and the reduced hours meant we weren't earning enough to save towards our travels (which is the whole reason we are teaching). If any one of those factors was drastically different, we might've been able to stick it out but we finally took the decision that we can't carry on here.

I hate the feeling that I'm "giving up" as I've long prided myself on seeing things through, all of which made the decision to quit even harder. But we made up our minds and decided that enough was enough - it isn't the career, it's just THIS job.

Wednesday 19th & Thursday 20th

We've decided that in quitting we are going to travel the whole of Vietnam (as we are in the south), so we're heading all the way north to Hanoi. In doing so we're hopeful we can find more places we like and would be more willing to take a job, and if we don't find anything we're gonna carry on travelling anyway. Travelling was the whole part of this journey and all that's happened now is that the time to go has arrived earlier than expected!

We spoke to family about our decision on skype and they reinforced that if we weren't happy then leaving to travel was the right thing to do, after all we didn't give up our lives I'm England to travel half way around the world and be unhappy.

These two days have been spent sorting out our resignation and beginning the process of planning where to go next - so a lot of time researching! We hate that things haven't worked out here but these first two weeks of our "adventure" have so far sapped away at our enthusiasm and energy so for the first time since we arrived we are taking back control of our lives (much the way I prefer it) and we're going to do things our way.

Next up: back to Ho Chi Minh City for a couple of days before we head to the beach resort of Mui Ne for some much needed R&R.

So I'll catch you all after I've hit the road and soaked up some rays!