It must seem like I have abandoned this diary, but I haven't- honestly. It just seems so much more difficult now to find the time to write.

I recently moved to a two-bedroom house that I'm renting/housesitting until at least November or December. It's certainly nice to have a place of my own again.

Along with the house I inherited a maid. It's weird having a maid. She comes and cleans and irons twice a week. She hardly speaks a word of English, so I'm able to practice my Vietnamese with her. I have taken a break from lessons, but I think I need to continue taking them if I really wish to improve.

The last week has been very interesting socially. Last Friday was the graduation of one of the classes I was teaching part-time and we went out for coffee to celebrate. On Saturday night I had a "date" of sorts. We were supposed to go out to a club and ended up just listening to music and chatting at home, which was just fine by me.

Sunday I went out with a lot of the people who work at reception and registration at work. Two of the receptionists were celebrating their birthdays. The restaurant they chose was not very good (a buffet), but we had a good time. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop and then seven of the ladies went back to my place. The witching hour in HCMC seems to be 10:00 o'clock though, so they didn't stay long. They invited themselves to come and cook dinner for my birthday next month and that should be a treat- if a bit loud!

On Monday one of the teachers celebrated his 50th birthday and we were invited by one of his students to her house. She is Japanese-Vietnamese and quite wealthy. It was an excellent lunch.

Tuesday was actually a quiet day. I attended a workshop and ended up going to bed around 7:30. I seldom stay up late anymore because Vietnamese are early risers and it's difficult to get any sleep past six in the morning.

On Wednesday I had dinner with the same girl who had come over on Saturday. (I haven't thought of a nickname for her yet). We got some take-out from a restaurant I like and then listened to music while I taught her Spanish. It's funny because most people are asking me to teach them English, but here I am teaching someone Spanish.

I think I mentioned earlier that Vietnam doesn't feel like a communist country. This morning at the post office I was reminded that it still is though. This is what I had to go through to claim a package….

I had to go to window three and show the note they had sent me and my passport. From there I had to go pay VND 3,000 (about 20 cents) for some forms and on to window 2. From there to a customs inspector who opened the package and then back to window 2. Then I had to wait about 5 minutes for them to hand me back the paperwork and I was told to come back and pick up the CDs on May 2nd. They have to listen to them first, so I hope they are deemed culturally acceptable.

I didn't get annoyed. The whole thing was rather amusing really. But imagine having to go trough all that any time you get a package!