God has heard

So today’s Friday – 4th day in Vietnam. To all readers, i’m sorry i didn’t brog earlier.. We came and realised our hotel charges USD$2.50 per day for internet usage. SO. Nat and i decided that we’ll use only on weekends when we’ll be in the hotel for most of the day (provided we don’t go shopping or sight seeing.)
So, the first evening when we touched down in Vietnam, it was okay. I really really thank God that I wasn’t affected by the pressure, my ears didn’t pop. AMEN! So we got into a car, and the driver drove us to our hotel, turns out we aren’t in the same hotel as the guys, They’re in a province about an hour’s drive away from us.  So we dropped our luggages and headed out to get a Calling card and some groceries. We found a small small teeny tiny shop selling call cards JUST beside our hotel. AND O MY. Language has been proven to be one of the greatest barrier. COMMUNICATION WAS BROKEN, shredded, shrivelled, disjointed, crumbly, whatever. It took us forever to get the calling card and everything. And then when we finally got it done, We tried calling Singapore, and some recorded woman’s voice kept saying something – in Vietnamese, and then in English. But i.. couldn’t understand the English at all. -_-. So in the end, i decided to use the hotel phone to call Papa in case he was waiting up. By then, it was already almost 12.30am or so i think. And we touched down slightly before 8pm. O, Nat had diahorrea. Is that how you spell it.
Anyway, the hotel’s okay  We had to rearrange the furniture to get access to the power points. We imagined shocked faces from the hotel staff because we shifted the beds and all. The hotel staff are nice people, they gave us good recommendations! And they taught us a little bit o’ Vietnamese.. and there’s a piano downstairs where Nat and i can play.
So the first day at work, our supervisor was supposed to pick us up at 8am. But she only came at 9.15am. But she’s nice! Very motherly and she keeps assuring us that we can ask her anything. So she brought us to MyDuc Ceramics’ Showroom – ‘twas really classy, like an art museum of some sort. Their tiles aren’t like normal tiles, they’re more like art pieces. They use Swarovski crystals and melted glass to decorated their tiles. Wooo. So, pretty cool. We were introduced to the service team manager and most of the staff. Nice people – who smoke alot. Alot, if i may stress. But they’re nice 
Then we were brought to the warehouse – where we were stationed at. We had lunch with the staff there – almost all women. Food was good! Really simple and non-oily. I ate alot of Kangkong. :D
So we went back, and YAY! GUESS WHAT. The company’s providing transportation to and fro from work. AND WE GET ALLOWANCE!. DOUBLE YAY! Its not alot, but I’m still very happy about it. Well, we ended early on our first day since there was really nothing for us to do. We had KFC for dinner. I have not seen a single branch of MacDonalds in Vietnam. It appears KFC as monopolised the fastfood market here. O, there’s also Lotteria Fast food or something. KFC costs SO CHEAP here. Lets see.. Nat and i had 2 Zinger Meals with Ice Milo, totals up to SGD$7.50, Gek will love it here.
THIRD DAY.
Wooo. Third day – Yesterday. Was good. We had Breakfast, and went to work, didn’t really do much, our Supervisor wants us to get a overview of the entire picture. So we read the SOPs and we stalked some of the documents to see what actually goes on in the office. I shall not talk about what we’ve observed lest i bore some people out. But its all very logisticky, - Invoices, Picking, forklifts, Suppliers and everything else. We went out for lunch, and wehad to cross a road to get to the foods, IT WAS SO SCARY MY GOODNESS. I was so scared i just held onto one of the staff as she crossed the road, i didn’t even dare look left or right. Singaporeans will just die when faced with Vietnam’s traffic. Everyday i look out and my amazement with regards to their traffic conditions is renewed. AMAZING. I can’t even describe it.
Motorcycles, TONS of them. I MEAN TONSSSS. TONS. Bikers don’t wear helmets. It is Only common to find four people on a bike. Very very common. Its like a norm. Kay lemme try describing the traffic conditions. People do U-turns ANYWHERE. ANY-WHERE. And Horning – Is like background music, constantly playing, Nat and i tried counting how many times our taxi driver horned in one journey, we gave up halfway. They horn to say – Hey, i’m here. Or.. Hey i’m gonna do something (i.e. Stop or go left/right) Not like Singaporeans when horning is usually accompanied with a bit o’ Swearing. So the roads in Vietnam have no separators, like two-way roads in Singapore would have a fence sorta thing in the middle.. No, Vietnam roads have no such thing. The only thing showing that its two way is probably the almost-fading lines painted 2 million years ago on the roads. Dig this: Even if its a one-way street, its only common to find vehicles driving in opposite directions in the same road. If its a two-way road, bikes driving in opposite directions cut each other’s lanes like nobody’s business. O wait, there aren’t any lanes at all. Okay. So, Vietnam doesn’t exactly have big Cross-junctions like Singapore does. Their junctions are small, their Big ones are .. Roundabouts. Kinda like that of Serangoon Gardens, but maybe twice or thrice that size. Its big, and think – Drivers are driving in opposite directions. There’s no.. synchronised direction, Drivers just go whichever way is shorter. And trust me, Traffic is VERY heavy. Need i stess more.
I’m trying to get a good vid of the traffic situation 
So. I had my first experience riding on a bike yesterday. I was thinking, My goodness – I didn’t even ride a bike in Singapore where traffic is safe as Boiling water is hot. AND MY FIRST BIKE EXPERIENCE IN VIETNAM where traffic is...... refer to previous paragraph. The staff wanted to bring us to shop for shoes, and they insisted we take their bikes. So Nat got on one, and i got on another. When we alighted, think “Green faces and Jelly-Welly legs”. We were the only ones screaming in the traffic, the rest were.. honking.
AND TODAY, my hair’s still wet. BECAUSE after work, Nat and i wanted to go to Ben-Thanh Market to shop. So we got back to our hotel, dumped our Laptops and documents, and got out. It was raining, So we asked this hotel staff.. A man. Quite geeky. We got directions and we were worried that the market might not be sheltered. That man seemed to understand a bit of English, so here’s our conversation (With actions. You might wanna try it out.):
Me to Man: Is the place sheltered?
Man: *looks lost for a while* Yes.. yes.. (sounding unsure)
Nat: *Puts hands over head like a little roof* Got Shelter??
Man: O Yes yes (Now we’re unsure)
Me: *Uses hand to do raining action and said “Hua la Hua la Hua la...” and then did the same Roof Action as Nat did. * Shelter???
Man: YES! YES! YES! (sounds excited.)
SO, assured that our Vietnam –lives were gonna be enriched by a night of shopping, we got in a taxi and left for Ben Thanh Market.
And then.
THERE WAS NO SHELTER. We had no poncho, no umbrella, no whatever.
We shopped in the rain. People stared. They must think we’re weird. And we were laughing and all. It was hilarious.
We got back, and we laughed our way into the hotel lobby, and HAHA. It seems the hotel staff still didn’t realise his mistake. Or rather the miscommunication we had. SO he laughed along as well. O my.

ANYHOW, Vietnam has been great so far. Everything is CHEAP. 5 of us had lunch at a restaurant/pub place for SGD$12. The pens here all cost less than 70 cents. Nat and i had dinner at a restaurant with really nice ambience and Food for less than SGD$10. Totally worth it. A typical Main course would cost less than SGD$2.
THE COFFEE HERE IS GREAT. It makes Singapore Coffee taste like crap. Coffee lovers like GEK, CHLOE AND AARON SHOULD TRY IT. ITS LOVELY. LOOOOOOVELY.

OKAY. If you read the whole post, you’re too free.  HAHAHA.

To all who’s still overseas – Sam, Jiajia, Aaron (I MISS YOU.), G-Babe, Waiyiu, Jasper and Hisham (We’ll be going over to your side soon!) I HOPE YOU’RE ENJOYING YOUR INTERNSHIP!  BE SAFE!
To Papa, Kor, Ee, Zach-Chlo-Jedd-Bloss, Nanny and Family, Xuan, Debbie Tay, Everyone at church, I MISS YOU ALL! LLOVEE!!
OKAY. I’ll post again soon. With pictures.