About 2 weeks ago, I began a new job. It was my second language school (I was still working at the first) because as I slowly found out, the language schools in HCMC only give piece meal work (this means they only give a few hours here and there). This school also was just as bad - I had been offered only 3 hours of work a week. The number of hours a teacher teaches is never set in stone (this means permanent) because classes end and new classes begin, teachers quit, new teachers start, etc. Working in language schools is usually quite unstable in terms of hours and pay. This I have always known, but I wasn't prepared for the way the schools work here.
When I began my job at the second school, I quickly realized that it wasn't going to work out. When I left the first night to get a xe om and there weren't any, and I had to take a taxi to get to my other school, I knew I was in trouble. Because the buses stop so early in the evening, it isn't possible to work at night without either a) using a xe om, b) using a taxi c) buying a motorbike. Since I had no interest in getting into accidents in HCMC, I knew that I couldn't stay. Wanting to stay in Vietnam, I began thinking of how I could resolve this situation.
What I found was a much smaller city, outside of Saigon, about 30km. away called Bien Hoa. The population was 700,000, so I knew there would be language schools. With less people would be less traffic, and I'd be able to rent a moto. I began my research, contacted a few schools and a couple of days later had an interview with the owner of an English school in Bien Hoa.
