Seeing as this blog is meant to be about my life in Vietnam and the experience of being an Expat I thought perhaps a ‘day in the life of’ post was required. A year and a bit on this all just seems totally normal but I do occasionally get a reality check and think ‘o my god… why do I live in Vietnam’?
So… a typical day…
Starts by being woken up by my Maid who has been coming earlier and earlier lately. She has a particular talent for making as much noise as possible to ensure I know she has arrived. She’s sweet though, speaks less English than I do Vietnamese so sign language is our only way of communicating. It can be quite amusing/frustrating.
Once dressed I cruise downstairs to Gloria Jeans where I walk into a sing song of “Good Morning ms Cara”. I do not need to order – they know it off by heart and the only that ever changes is small vs regular. It took me a while to get my coffee situation sorted here. I was initially addicted to Caphe Sua Da (extra strong drip coffee with full fat condensed milk) but soon wised up to how bad it was for you. I still like it as a treat on a weekend. My iced skim latte at GJ’s is my substitute breakfast and although it costs a bomb because I get an extra espresso shot (87,000VND!!!). There is however a great added benefit in my morning Latte – the lovely GJ’s kid order me a Mai Linh taxi. They never seem to come down my end of Phu My hung leaving me with only dodgy taxi choices. Even if I call for one they never arrive… so GJ’s is a god send.
I use to ride my motorbike to work but since the traffic cops started cracking down on foreigners with no VN licence I now only ride on weekends. I’m in the process of getting my licence so hopefully in next few weeks I’ll have it (Yes… it takes that long!).
The ride to work is always entertaining, with lots to look at. I try and take advantage of the 30 mins by catching up on emails or calling the folks at home or reviewing my Vietnamese lessons. Other days I just stare out the window and watch the crazy HCMC world go by, from Cyclos carrying motorbikes to washing machines balance precariously on the seat of bikes. There is always something bizarre and most mornings I wish I had someone to point out something strange too. Instead I just tweet or facebook it. Not really the same.
At the agency most people don’t rock up until after 9. Suits me just fine as I am so not a morning person. By the time I get in… coffee still in hand.. the music is pumping and it’s buzzing. We built the agency on the roof of a sports centre so it’s quite unique. One side looks over a soccer oval that often has big tournaments and events. The other side has a lovely little balcony where we tend to hang out a lot. (especially the smokers…).
Lately the work day has consisted of at LEAST 4 hours of meetings which drives me mental. I can handle it if there is wifi because I can at least review emails and touch base with the team via Skype. However it’s hit and miss and often we can’t pick it up. By the time I get access to email I normally have on average 30 to 40 to review. It’s not fun. Thank god wifi is pretty prevalent everywhere so downloading emails on the go is easy….. even on my phone.
Lunch is normally ordered in as it’s a) too bloody hot to venture into the Saigon humidity and b) we are too busy to stop and need to just keep working through. I love the agency at lunch… it’s totally quiet. I get more work done at lunchtime than all morning some days. The local staff tend to go out most days or eat around the big table. When I first arrived they nearly all had ‘nap time’ but that seems to have been slowly stopped. I never really had an issue with it unless they did it in the open (or behind reception desk). It’s not something that’s encouraged however. Even ordering in can become a big drama, no one can ever agree on where to order from and we almost always default to the sandwich joint Juice because they are reasonably fast and it’s easy. They also know where we are located… which helps. Our building is So 1 (Number 1)… so are ALL the other shops on our street. So if lunch doesn’t arrive it probably because the sports store down the street got it instead. Taxi’s are another issue all together. Apparently it’s because we are behind “The Palace” which of course was… number 1… so they just never changed it. Gotta love Vietnamese logic. The street itself is beautiful… massive tall trees line it and as soon as you turn the corner the temperature drops and air seems cleaner. We are 3 minutes walk from Ben Thanh market so it’s very central… just… well… random.
Of course, working in Adland is always unpredictable and therefore there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ day. You can probably tell by my previous post that we have a great team and although I am completely overloaded I still enjoy my job and besides complete exhaustion it’s very rewarding. It’s not really that different to Adland in Sydney… just more interesting because you are dealing with a foreign culture (and Vietnamese culture is incredibly complex). You have to trust that the copy is correct and never presume that something will be completed just because you asked it to be (it never is).
It’s rainy season now, so the afternoons quite often bring a big tropical storm with big fat rain and some claps of lightning and thunder. I’ve never seen rain like here in Vietnam, it’s drenching. I love it because it washes everything and it’s normally over and done with quickly. Not like in oz where it spits and spats and rains for a full day. Unfortunately the roof in our agency leaks so with rain comes dripping on computers/printers etc… never fun.
Once the work day is done which is normally about 7 we head for dinner. It’s normally the expats in the office who grab food together. We try new restaurants and it can range from $50 steaks to $1 noodles. Our latest favourites are the street side ‘spicy noodle man’, BBQ Fish at Ben Thanh night markets and Sushi Bar. Right now we are on ‘operation vegetables’ as we’ve discovered we eat hardly any vegetables anymore. I swear.. for 3 days this week not a single vegetable passed my lips. It’s crazy. No wonder I have put on so much weight (which I am slowly losing again thanks to crack whore diet pills – that’s a whole post in itself… stay tuned).
Dinner nearly always turns to discussions about work and often moves on to drinks somewhere else so by the time I get home it’s closer to midnight so I’m pooped and crash and then do it all over again the next day. I come home to a nice clean apartment, all my bills paid (the occasional shirt ruined). I am starting to take it for granted now but it’s still lovely.
In between all of this I still find time to have crazy, unconventional romances with footballers and also keep in touch with my peeps in Australia. I never appreciated Facebook so much until I moved here and thanks to it I still feel connected to my world in Sydney and it hopefully will make it easier to return…. If I ever decide to do so. I’m in no hurry.
