An outbreak of Tetness

Apologies for not writing in a while. I have a habit or writing a stack when things are going well and not writing at all during more troubled times.

Nothing insurmountable has been going wrong. Work hit a rocky patch - KOTO wasn't rocking, it was me. Just one of those workplace issues that crop up from time to time but it's all feeling good again. Against this backdrop there was something of a personal incident which left me more than a little flat...but hey they say you can't keep a good man down. And sometimes even us plain average ones can bounce back too.

So, anyway, tomorrow I head off to Hoi An. It's the Vietnamese new year (Tet) break and schools out. So I've scheduled a trip South taking in Hoi An, Nha Trang and Mui Ne. Sunshine and beaches here we come.

Heading south for Tet is something of an ex-pat tradition. Specifically the aim is to escape the damp cold Hanoi weather. Except it isn't like that right now. Sure it's sweater weather but it's fresh, clear and blue-skied. In fact, to my English bones it feels very close to perfect. Like a late autumn day when there's a nip in the air but the sun still feels warm on your face.

To add to this lovely weather the full on Tet fiesta is upon us. Every second motorbike carries the beautiful and traditional kumquat trees, whole streets are decked out in red and gold and each shop has a hundred Tet hampers outside to sell. I love Hanoi hampers...none of this tinned luncheon meat and cheese and biscuits malarky. Nope they get down to the real essentials - cartons of cigarettes, rice wine and the rough, but very nearly drinkable, Russian Champagne. Marvelous.

The KOTO kids are up a height as they prepare to visit their countryside homes. Every time I venture away from my desk I am the eye of their particular Tet storm. They hang off me, ask for piggy bank rides, or try to lift my generous bulk. Frequently we get into the usual argument over whether or not I am sanh dieu (stylish). For the record I am, but 64 KOTO trainees disagree.

I'll be back on the 6th and then it's serious down-to-work time. There is class six's graduation at the end of March and hopefully some progress in our much delayed move to a new restaurant.

So as I said, it hasn't been the best couple of weeks. But it wasn't serious. All it took to break the bad mood was a trip around Hanoi on the back of a bike. Between the fresh, sharp weather, the sunshine, the kumquat trees and the general madness...well, all is well with the world.

Still living the dream. Still the luckiest man in the world.

Life is good again.

* The aforementioned smiley bike ride was taken in order to provide some location shots of Miss Thu - a class five graduate soon to feature on the BBC website and news channel. The best of the Thu & Tet shots taken that day can be seen here.

A very very worthy blog

It's nice to discover a new blog here in Hanoi. Especially one that's a little different. Even better one supporting a very good cause.

Anyway, there is an NGO locally called Blue Dragon. It is a wonderful organisation, very much at the sharp end of helping street kids in Vietnam. They do an incredible job. And in the past, one or two of the Blue Dragon kids have found their way onto the KOTO training course, and long may that continue.

I won't even start to explain the range of support that Blue Dragon offers but let's just say, broadly speaking, for kids living on the streets the kindness demonstrated by BD makes their lives a little more bearable.

The picture above is some of the Blue Dragon kids receiving gifts donated by people in Australia. KOTO distributed these so-called "Shoeboxes of Love" and it was quite experience to join the kids there for their weekly Sunday morning football match. As they cooled down afterwards we gave out the gifts.

Anyway, visit the new blog and offer any support you can. First off...the very least you can do is link it. It's still quite new and their visitors are numbers are low. I am sure that between us we can change that.

Oh and it's a very good read too.

Spot the difference

You spotted it right? My friend in Class Seven with his bright new pearly white nashers.

He's swanning around front of house at the KOTO restaurant all big beaming smiles. It's all I can do not go to get choked up at how proud he is of his newly found good looks.

KOTO paid for him to get his teeth sorted. Your teeth take a bit of a hammering in Vietnam. Few dairy products mean very little calcium. Then there's a diet of too much sugar washed down with a gallon of tea or coffee....well mine are also looking less than glowing and a volunteer worker friend had to get her teeth whitened on a trip home. There's no fluoride in the bottled water I drink either.

But our friend here can grin away. One of the many little things KOTO does for its trainees. Can you imagine having that grin after living for years with them stained and more than a little rotten?

He aint heavy. He's my luggage

This picture is included simply because I like it.

To explain, today at KOTO there was a whole stack of metal boxes to be given out. It transpired that they were for the trainees to put their clothes in during the winter months. Clothes, as I found out last year, have a tendancy to go moudly in the damp cold.

For the record,there are enough for bikes for one each but trainees still prefer to share. At least this way there is someone to carry the luggage.

Pics from a cold January day in Hanoi

Shots uploaded and blogged while I danced in my swivel chair to Jah Wobble and Sinead O'Connor's "Visions of You" - a rediscovered (by me anyway) classic.

Okay okay...then I took a cigarette break in the kitchen and actually danced silently to it on my own while I listened on the new headphones my sister bought me for Christmas. Buy it, borrow it, burn it. An absolute masterpiece. You'll thank me. Trust me.

And as I've said before, when you're in love all songs sound like they're about the object of your affections. "Visions of You " is about taking pictures on a cold January day in Hanoi (probably).

I'm not numbed out anymore
No longer feel the heat and the pain
No longer trenched in shame
I'm not numbed out anymore
Now I own the key to the door

The kingdom of heaven lies inside
Makes a circle with the turning tide
Now the circle is complete
And this heart of mine they need
The kingdom of heaven lies inside

I love visions of you endlessly
I love visions of you endlessly.

* Mosaic idea shamelessly nicked from Noodlepie.

Larger versions of the pics stored here.

Break Dancing in Lenin Park

So, I got back to my house on Quang Trung yesterday afternoon and came in and sat in front of the telly.

That lasted all of five minutes before I realised it was too damn cold to sit still so went for a walk. Literally five minutes away is Lenin Park. So I grabbed my camera and decided to go for a wander.

Anyway, that’s where these snaps came from. In the middle of the park was a big group of kids, some as young as six or seven, break dancing to hip hop.

Break dancing and hip hop in Lenin Park? I’ll let you draw your own cultural conclusions. But it’s a neat slice of modern Hanoi.

As regards the cold. It’s about 10 degrees centigrade. I can hear the Brits scoffing as I write this. But that’s 10 degrees with stone floors, no central heating, windows that don’t shut properly and a level of humidity that produces a dampness that really gets into your bones.

Strangely though, despite winter being well over due it was actually warm until 10.30 am Thursday morning when somebody seemingly flicked the switch. In the space of one day I went from t-shirts to thermals, woolly hats and scarves. Honestly.

But I like the seasons in Hanoi, albeit that for 95% of the year they are extremes. But that 5% of autumn and spring is just beautiful.

Mr Quy - Legend

When I returned from the UK after Christmas, KOTO was one an employee lighter.

The legendary Mr Guy had gone.

Mr Guy was the KOTO training centre security guard and, as such, sat at the front of the building with his duties involving everything to parking motorbikes to taking in deliveries.

Everyone morning, while he was here, I would arrive and he would "xin ciao em" me and I would "xin ciao anh" him back. Later on he would occasionally say, in his little high pitched voice "good morning", then giggle at his use of English. He had learned the words just to say to me.

When I worked late he would suddenly appear and put his head around my door and smile I would do my best to explain that just half an hour and I'd be gone and he could lock up.

But Quy was more than just a security guard. He took part in KOTO events. He was an uncle, in the Vietnamese sense, to the kids here. When I had a fundraiser he would discreetly ask, via a colleague if he could come along and help. I was always knocked out by his desire to be a part of the team and his willingness to help.

We also had another link that somehow further bonded our relationship - we shared the same birthday.

Anyway, he has now quit work to offer his full-time assistance to an elderly sick relative. We will miss him.

I'm not sure I have ever had a friend before who, one or two words aside, we didn't speak each others' language.

Despite this barrier Quy was someone I admired a lot. I have a feeling that if we could have understood each other he would have had many stories to tell. I know too that, like many others, he won't be able to stay away and he'll pop by from time to time and we can shout our good mornings to each other again.

The new guy is young, efficient and even speaks a smattering of English. But it'll take time to get used to the fact that Mr Quy has gone.