Work Rest and Play – the VSO way.

Sorry no pics for the time being – not until I can work out a way to post from my laptop once more.

Apologies also for the length of time between posts. The hassles of new job and new home have left little time for posting.

Anyway, because there is much to tell, I have opted instead to split it into three categories. Work, ex-pat life and domestic bliss.

By the way, it’s from this point onwards that all readers are invited to add their own ideas for fundraising for KOTO. I may be calling in favours.

Work

Work is good, generally speaking. Good despite being locked in the office last night. This, the local staff informed me, is quite normal for volunteers. Apparently it has happened many times before. Strangely despite this they haven’t yet worked out a plan for not locking up without first checking the building is empty.

Anyway, after much searching for mobile phone numbers in and around people’s desks and much cursing while trying to work out how to get an outside line, I made my escape.

It is certainly an interesting time to be working for KOTO. During my two-year stint here, plans include moving to a new all-purpose restaurant and training centre in Hanoi. There’s also the aim of opening a similar operation in Hue and later in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The good news is that I will get to travel between all these sites – the bad news? Well who do you think has to find the money to finance all of this?

Actually, it’s not all falling on my shoulders. I have an impressively able Aussie colleague who is working with me. Currently she has the slightly less fun task of filling in funding applications to send to various philanthropic bodies. She is keen to help me in the more exciting end of fundraising. I am keen that she assists me – I can certainly use the help.

The staff are fantastic. Although , as ever, I seem to unintentionally amuse them. Every time I go past their little office window I hear giggles. I’m starting to think that there’s a joke here in Vietnam that every one gets but me. But I think it is good-natured. Or at least I hope so.

Currently I am on the thumb twiddling and inventing work stage of my job. I’ve been, on the whole much left to my own devices this first week. I’ve taken the time to sort through any fundraising activity that has gone before me. I wrote a press release about a VIP visitor to KOTO – a British VIP at that. I shall hopefully be able to post pictures of him at some point – I will keep his identity under wraps till then.

I have also bitten the bullet and decided that, despite my limited knowledge of the operation here, I would try to start a basic fundraising plan. Remembering my VSO training, the aim is then to consult management and staff here for their thoughts and additions. So far, the boss seems pleased with both my ideas and my work – long may that continue.

That brings me to what will be the fun part of my job – events. In a little over six weeks there will be a 70k KOTO bike ride. I get to organise it. After that there is a winter appeal where KOTO collects clothes for the homeless and the trainees provide food that will hopefully help the less well off combat the cold – which I am promised will arrive soon.

Other than that I have contributed some ideas of my own – a backpackers ball and a monthly event for bored ex-pats are two of them. (Rob and Katy in Ibiza – any chance you could lend us a DJ?) . Other plans already existing for the new venue, include movie nights and themed “taste of home” events for Embassy staff.

All in all it seems like a lot of fun. Like being a club promoter but with a worthy caused to help.

There seems to be no shortage of energy here to drive me onwards and no shortage of will to make it work. I hope I can come up with the goods.

In general though it is a little strange to be back at work. Working from home for the past 18 months has made me unused to alarm clocks and the morning commute (albeit a very pleasant 15 minute walk).

I have learned that even working for a good cause makes it no easier when your alarm goes off at 6.45am.

Anyway, today is Friday, my first week is almost over. Bia Hoi (that’s cheap draught beer to you) here we come.

Nearly forgot. I have always had the plan to return home for a couple of weeks next Easter. Having mentioned it to the boss he is very keen that I mix my trip home with a little bit of fundraising. So, if you’re reading this and would like to learn a little more about KOTO and you can provide an audience and a reasonable donation then give me a shout and I’ll see you in April..

Ex-pat life

Talk of the weekend leads me nicely into ex-pat life. On the one level the VSO volunteers in Hanoi have certainly struck lucky. Not for us African mud huts or even the isolation of the Vietnamese countryside. Right here in Hanoi we have all the fish and chips we could eat and I’ve even managed to source a pretty decent bangers and mash.

I’ve always had a mistrust of people who go abroad and take their own bottle of HP Sauce with them but if you’re an ex-pat then it’s kind of forgivable. I mean, I love Vietnamese food but you can’t eat it everyday. Just like I wouldn’t eat English food every day back home.

Gettingg back to the lot of a VSO volunteer. As I said, we are a pretty lucky bunch. However a slightly embittered ex VSOer I met referred to us as the plankton in the NGO food chain. As an example, a UN “volunteer” gets around $1,500 a month, a fortune by local standards, compared to our $250 a month.

I have to say though, I have no complains. What I get seems very reasonable and does allow me to have a life here. It wouldn’t feel right if I had any more cash. No VSO volunteer is doing it for the money but that’s not to say they are necessarily doing it entirely for charitable reasons. Most are lured here, myself included, by a mixture of the adventure and the cause.

I must admit though I had a slightly jaundiced view of ex-pats. Then again, now I am one, I am seeing it from a new angle. Don’t worry I won’t be sipping gin and teaching the locals how to play cricket. But then again I did have a quick look around a shop here called “Western Canned Goods” and was delighted to find they have both malt vinegar and Colman’s Mustard. Man cannot live on rice alone.

There does seem to be a social scene amongst volunteers. I have found a couple of very nice pubs to have a beer in. Last Saturday I even went to a night club. A grotty little boat on the Red River called, get this, The Titanic. Lovely setting, awful music, not sure about the clientele. No doubt I will be back but it might be a while. Then again there’s every chance I could be talked into it tomorrow night.

Domestic Bliss

My new home is pretty decent. My room is a little dark but I do have another room adjoining and a balcony. Right now it needs clearing out a little and personalizing a bit but I have a plans to turn the balcony into a chill out lounging area. I am in search of a comfortable outside chair and an oversized fan. In addition I have bought some mozzy coils to burn to keep the insects off.

For the most part the life of a volunteer here seems to consist of watching an enormous numbers of DVDs in the evening. Money doesn’t stretch to going out every night but films, almost all of which are pirated, are cheap to buy. The TV option isn’t great. We get CNN (which is already driving me nuts), HBO and ESPN sports amongst others. Believe it or not we actually get more football coverage than at home. When the lads back home in the Toon settle down to watch Newcastle V Charlton on Sunday they should spare a thought for me watching it here – with it finishing around 1am.

My housemates are very nice and have really helped me settled in. There will come a time though when my social life shouldn’t rely on them asking me out to visit their friends. No doubt I will make my own mates in time.

Domestic arrangements are a little different. While mostly it is cheapest just to eat out, there are times when all you want to do is have a quiet evening and not leave your front door. The good news is that while you can struggle with the language and bargaining problems in the local market, you can opt instead for the super market. There is a reasonable selection there but, even taking that into account, it’s pretty difficult to find all the ingredients to make the kind of meals I might eat at home. Most of the time I make do with a sandwich or beans on toast or some such snack food.

At this point I should mention that lunch is taken care of at work. Rather fantastically I have a restaurant menu that I can order from and get lovely KOTO food every lunchtime. Darling the tofu crepes with prawns are to die for.

The other different aspect about eating at home is the crumb factor. Because of the ants, cockroaches and rats here you really don’t want to leave a single crumb on the kitchen work top after you have eaten, never mind dirty plates or unwashed pans. I have been warned that if I don’t want domestic bliss interrupted by large back beetley things with those nasty antennas, then I shall have to turn over a new leaf in terms of being a little more house proud.

Right that should do it right now. I shall hopefully post again soon, although work pressures will mean that it might not quite reach the levels of before.

TOON TOON.