I've been living in Vietnam for almost two weeks now, so I don't know if these count as first impressions or not. Overall, I think I made a great decision by coming here. There is so much to write about, so I will just start with a brief description by categories:

PEOPLE- I find the Saigonese really friendly. The cyclo drivers and Honda om freelance motorbike touts can be a bit of a pest when you just feel like walking, but in general people don't hassle you.

FOOD- In one word: Fantastic. I'm usually pretty critical when I eat out, but everything I've eaten here has been at least good and often excellent. All the ingredients are very fresh and it just feels healthy. Vietnamese food is much "lighter" than Chinese food, for example, relying far less on oil and salt. I liked Vietnamese food before I came here, but overseas Vietnamese restaurants are a pale imitation of the real thing.

TRAFFIC and NOISE- It is noisy, with much car honking and construction going on everywhere. While I would prefer it to be much quieter, it is not quite as awful as I had expected. The traffic is pretty intense though. Perhaps the best piece of advice in the Lonely Planet guidebook is to cross streets very, very slowly. No one will stop for pedestrians, so you have to move slowly and allow motorbikes to swoosh by on either side of you. Where I lived in China the traffic was about 90% bicycles. Here it is easily about 90 to 95% motorbikes. Ho Chi Minh City has a population of about 6 million people and I would estimate (and was later told by someone) that there are some 2 million motorbikes. Standard traffic laws are optional, so you see driving practices that are somewhere between foolhardy and downright dangerous. What's really scary is seeing parents with one or two young children precariously balanced on a motorbike with no apparent concern for their safety. In two weeks I have seen only about half a dozen helmets being worn, though remarkably no accidents.

HOUSING- I was booked into a guesthouse costing $350 a month. Since most people seem to pay about $250 a month for a room, I decided that this was much too expensive and relocated this weekend. For $200 a month I've got a furnished room with a bed, desk, wardrobe, refrigerator, TV with CNN, air conditioning, a balcony and laundry. It's not bad as far as rooms go, but I can't cook and it feels like living in a hotel. Although it is convenient in some ways to just rent a room, I would still like to get a house. One of the teachers here has a terrific three-story four bedroom house that she shares with just one other person for $500 a month plus utilities. Another teacher who is married to a Vietnamese and is going back to the States for six months approached me about house-sitting for him, so that may work out very well. It's only about 1 kilometer from work and I could possibly keep on the maid at their expense.

EXPENSES- One U.S. dollar is worth approximately 14,550 dong, so if you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a millionaire all you have to do is exchange about $75 for the local currency. To give you an idea of the prices: metered taxis cost about 80 cents on average and the motorbike rides about 35 cents; most street snacks, such as a delicious small baguette with pate, cucumbers, and various processed meats are about 35 cents; a meal at the average restaurant can cost anywhere from 90 cents to $2.70 or so; draft beer is 25 cents a glass.

WORK- Has been interesting so far. I work directly with a staff of three Vietnamese plus about a dozen foreign teachers. I get along well with just about everyone, but I'm already conscious of needing to steer clear of office politics, but that's the same no matter where you go. I'm also aware that my purely academic background (teaching in public schools and universities) will not always fit in with the profit-making concerns of a private language institute. Nonetheless, I'm pretty happy with the situation and I'm probably not going to be writing much about work in these pages. I'm not doing any teaching at the moment, but I will probably want to teach 6 hours a week or so once I'm more settled in.

I start Vietnamese lessons tomorrow. Ninety minute classes three times a week before work. I'm looking forward to it.