The ladies on the bus get hot, hot hot ...

This is me today - red and dripping with perspiration; it was running down my front and back making sitting down, standing up, generally moving or not moving rather uncomfortable. All it takes to end up in this state is walking for 20 minutes in 34 degrees, trying to find the number 3 bus to get home. When it didn't come to the first bus stop we were waiting at the kids were all in favour of just catching a taxi but I didn't think I had enough dong in my purse so we were committed to a bit more walking, eventually getting aboard at the main central bus stop across the way from Ben Thanh market. But it is so satisfying to eventually get where you want to get using the cheapest means available. And ice-creams are cheap too!

Something cold to keep us going as there was a little walk from where we got off the number 3 back to the apartment.

Our first formal lesson in Vietnamese today was awesome! We have a lovely teacher who told us she has never taught teens before, only over 30s and when Isaac asked how we compared she said the adults were more patient and didn't ask as many questions.

Our friendly teacher, Miss Thao (rhymes with cow and you say it like a question)

Class is in session - once we had walked from the bus stop (via Gloria Jeans) then climbed 4 flights of stairs to the classroom.

Vietnamese is really hard! Some of the sounds we have to make have no english equivalent (imagine saying oo with your mouth set in a half smile as if you were saying ee) but Thao was lovely and patient and repetitive which is what beginners like us need. After this first class we went out and ordered 4 coconuts from a street-seller in Vietnamese, Isaac even asked the price and understood the answer - so cool!