Decisions, decisions . . . (or, actually, only one decision, but it's big enough to deserve two plurals)

So my life could have gone down basically two different paths:

Path 1: Stay in District 1 but move to a slightly cheaper hotel (a hotel owned by the English Club people actually), start a private English tutoring business in the lobby of the hotel (the idea was proposed by the English Club people), and travel to AIS each day by bus.

Path 2: Move to a similarly priced hotel within walking distance of AIS, look for a job at the 10 or more English schools in the immediate area (it’s sort of a language school hub), and walk everywhere.

I decided a few days ago to go down Path 2. The decision has its pros and cons, but I think the pros outweigh the cons, or at least Path 2 has more pros and fewer cons than Path 1. Both options are better than “stay where I am and run out of money.”

The price of the living space wasn’t much of a factor in my decision. The two hotel options were roughly the same price—about $30 cheaper than what I’m paying now, either way I’m only saving about $100 in the long run. Much more important was the location of the living space.

Living in District 1 is nice, because there is tons of easily available cheap food, tons of easily available more expensive food, and I know lots of people who live in the area. I know the area itself, too; I’ve walked all around and basically know how to get everywhere. There are, however, a few problems with living in District 1, and most of them have to do with transportation. Getting to AIS by bus is cheap, but it takes about an hour, which is a hassle. Finding a job is also difficult, because while there are many language schools in District 1, they are all on the edges of the district, which means none are within walking distance; the closest school is probably more than a mile away, and believe it or not, I don’t particularly feel like walking a mile in tropical weather through nightmarish traffic two times every day. Especially if I’m only going to be working a few hours. Which leaves the bus option, but frankly I’m not a huge fan of getting places by bus. It’s extremely cheap and there are slower methods of travel in the city, but trying to figure out how to get anywhere is more or less impossible. I have a “bus map,” which from its name you might infer is a map of the city’s bus routes, but alas—it appears to be some sort of modern art piece. There are lots of colorful lines everywhere, and looking at it makes my head hurt. When I told the people who run the English Club about my job hunting difficulties, they suggested that I use the hotel lobby to house private tutoring sessions. They told me I could advertise through pamphlets handed out to local students at the end of the school day. I considered this idea pretty seriously, but eventually decided it was a bit too much for me at this point. I would essentially be teaching and running a business at the same time, and frankly, I’m not sure I can even teach. I certainly can’t run a business. I told them it was something I would consider in the future, but that in my current financial state I wanted to find something less risky.

Living in District 10 has a different set of benefits and problems, but in the long run I think it’s the wisest choice. The hotel where I will be living is, as I said, just a short walk from AIS—probably no more than five minutes—which eliminates the need for bus travel. The hotel is also in the middle of a language school area of concentration; there are usually a couple schools on each block. This environment is much more conducive to actually finding a job. I can set aside a day to travel from school to school until I find one that will hire me, without having to set aside an additional day to decipher the bus routes and map a long expedition from one to the next. I’m pretty confident that I can find something.

The downsides are that I don’t know the area, and I don’t know anyone who lives there—aside from AIS teachers of course, who are in general a pretty great bunch. But they aren’t local, and I was really enjoying getting to know the local people. I can still go to English Club every week, but I’ll have to take a bus. I’ll have to search for cheap food, for an ATM that works with my card, for new friends.

Anyway, I made my decision on September 14th. I asked a Vietnamese friend of mine that very day to ask the hotel staff (of the hotel where I am currently living) what date I had paid up to, so I could know when to move out. He asked, and they responded that I had paid up to the 25th of December. This seemed a little fishy to me, since I’d arrived on the 14th and only paid a month, but I figured if they wanted to give me ten extra days, who was I to deny them? Still, just to make sure, I inquired again today. It turns out the lady had read the wrong piece of paper, and that in fact I had only paid to the 14th—when I’d first asked. Thanks for that, hotel people.

So now I need to move out quite a bit earlier than I’d planned. Tomorrow, actually. I discussed this with the owners of both hotels and they seem fine with it. So tonight it'll be lots of packing.

Hmm. Anything else?

Weather's been very nice lately, up until today. Today reminded me that Vietnam is hot. I'd nearly forgotten. It's been raining a lot (more than usual during rainy season), which cooled things off for a while; we had 70 degree weather for about a week, and occasionally it might have even dipped into the 60s. I can't tell, of course, because everything's in Celsius. The locals didn't seem to mind the cooler weather. In fact, I think they enjoyed it even more than me. This makes perfect sense—when you live in a place that's hot all the time, you like a little cool weather now and then—but for some reason I found it surprising. In the classroom, the kids always want the air conditioning on full blast, so I guess I have no reason to be surprised.

I had one memorable rainy season adventure: trying to walk down a flooded street. In nice shoes I didn't want to ruin. Now, when I say flooded, I mean there was about a foot of water covering the entire thing. It was a river. Fortunately, all of the sidewalks are raised about a foot above the street, so there was walking space. Unfortunately, this space was not easily traversed. Remember what I said about sidewalks a few weeks ago? They aren't for walking. But it wasn't until trying to walk all the way down a sidewalk that I learned their true purpose: they are sadistic obstacle courses designed specifically to make a mockery of silly foreigners who wear shoes that aren't suitable for walking through a foot of water.

Yeah, it was bad.