This years adventure begins with the flight here. I had to quickly collect my bags, clear customs and run to the domestic terminal changing trolleys mid way then line up there and check bags back in even though I had been checked through from Sydney all the time reminding myself this is the Vietnamese way oh how quickly I had forgotten this part of the journey!!!
I finally arrived at Da nang airport to be pleasantly surprised it is now an international airport all new and shiny!
My friend Van's brother picked me up and we scooted down to Hoi An to where I will be staying for the next 5 weeks.
My accommodation is by far better than last year and no concrete bed boy am I happy about that!! However there is always something to make my trip a highlight I now have padlocks on the gates and front door to contend with and let just say that its not easy to unlock in fact it took me 15mins in the dark to try and unlock the bloody gate!!! I have now mastered it but its very tricky. As soon as I had arrived at my place to stay it was lets meet the landlord passport to give to the police and paper work to fill out as well as organise my transport (bicycle) and finally get some rest.
The following two days were public holidays here so no swim lessons which was a good thing as I needed to organise food water make contact with my Vietnamese friends and generally catch up with everyone.
The weather here has been really hot in fact last Thursday was the worst 38c and 90% humidity AHHHHH needless to say we copped a beauty of a thunderstorm that afternoon lightening thunder and a huge down pour for an hour.
So news from the swim programs: Swim Vietnam is going really well. One of the head teachers Trung has done a presenters course in Ho chi Minh so now should be able to present the Austswim course here but in saying that he has told me that he needs help until he feels confident to do himself, We have one new pool out of Hoi An about 20km away which is going great, and another which we have just taken delivery of which will be installed out in another province about 30km from Hoi An and the other big news for the pool is we are building another in-ground pool in Hoi An which has just got approval.
The other big news is two of the senior teachers are being sponsored by Rotary Hillarys in WA to come to Australia and do some training with Austswim in Perth and attend some of the swim centres. Trung and Vinh are very excited to be coming but they thought that it would be easy to come and see me until I explained i lived on the other side of the Country. Oh Well there is always next time. Maybe Water Skills for life could look at sponsoring instructors to come to Oz in the future.
Golden Turtles Swim Club is up and running at the new kindy just around the corner from where I am staying. Kerre runs classes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for the expat kids and then the Vietnamese kids. Kerre has 3 older Vietnamese ladies helping out and being trained as swim instructors which is great. I hopped on in last Thursday and it was a lot of fun. She does need help with getting some funds together to put in here own pool and provide things like proper swim clothing for the instructors.
So Hoi An is booming there is a lot of new places opening up and a few more expats arriving to set up businesses or to work in the hospitality industry here. Its still a great place to be and still relaxing but opportunity knocks for those who want to make a go of it.
Tanya
President,
Water Skills for Life
www.waterskillsforlife.org.au
