Whoever said blacks can't tan was lying. When Spring came and the sun started showing up gradually, I was excited. Like it had been cold for a while and no sign of sunshine so it felt good to feel some sun on my skin.
People kept saying I shouldn't wish for summer too quickly but I just laughed. Don't get me wrong, I love and prefer the cold but a li sun wouldn't hurt.
Then I started seeing people. wearing long sleeves, no not just long sleeves, it's like a gown that covers from head to toes when going out. I didn't understand until today.
The sun here didn't come to play I swear. It's not just hot but the air is HOT and the sun FRIES! your skin. See pictures of my arm after I went out to fix my bike.
Notice the two skin tones? The light part is where the sleeves of my t-shirt stopped
Gentlerespect76: I think it's the same place. I was told they have different modes such as fully online, in-house and three weeks online and one week practicum in their centre there.
My concern @ Whyna is about the acceptability of this certificate because I saw a lot sense in your early analysis that a program of such nature is better undertaken elsewhere rather than in naija for obvious reasons. Please does the certificate issued by this Ikorodu center command recognition there? Please help a brother, biko.
I honestly don't know about the recognition of their certificate but if you have $1000 to spend on TEFL, better add small money, come here or go to another country and do it
Denique: God when?
God when?
God when?
My fellow girl, same age o...
God when?
God when?
God when?
Babe I asked myself this question too.
Started trying in 2014. Go check my IELTS thread.
Your time will come as long as you keep trying.
How you take know my age sha
Tyteeso: Lolz..I understand what u mean, some are employed on the terms that they can speak English..is just like a village star that lie to his friends that he can speak English and when the tym to show what they claim and notin to say...they become dumb...I could remember when we went to Westlake to buy some items back then..they went to call a lady to come and speak English to us..that one came the on tin she sabi speak is hello and what's ur name lobatan at the end we have to leave the place..if u want cool services try and carry ur Vietnamese friend along...speaking there language they can dash u what u want to buy free
Those two sentences be saving lives since 2011. Lol
Teacher: How old are you Student: I'm fine thank you
Tyteeso: Lolz...even in African countries some pple still treat others as shit..so it's everywhere..and even in Vietnam then some will run away when they see us coming..cos they av not seen blacks b4, some call us monkeys but 90% of Vietnamese are nice..they may be scared of u at first or when u behave strange..u know as naija be nah, like when we are in the bus and I am tired of standing and I see someone feeling anyhow..u can know that when u are close to them they will cover there nose as if u are smelling..then I move closer to such person sitting within minutes he/she will stand up to move away from u and me I jejely sit down on the sit.. more so in the morning when we are going to class and the elevator is full and we are late, the elevator opens we enter like that and b4 u know it half of the Vietnamese will run out of it..some don't like u and some knows that the elevator may hang on the way when it's overfull.. So they run out
LMAO. Thank God I didn't come during this period. What year was this?
About the bad service, it's based on their lack of skill in English so communication can be difficult. Seems you have not experienced it? Their language is hard to learn, as one word might mean 5 different things, depending on how you pronounce it
I just use Google translate mbok or go with a Vietnamese friend if it's a bigger deal.
The other day, I went to open account, babe after walking up and down, consulting, asking and re-asking me question and giving me ticket, babe came back and said they are no longer opening account.
I sha look am comot Went back with a friend and the account was opened.
A out the language, true but I'm trying. I'm currently learning or cramming the sentence "I don't understand"
They love it when you can speak their language. Guess we all do
Lovely people you say? Until they start mistreating blacks just the same way the Chinese are acting. There must be a slight level of hostility they exhibit with blacks.
Tyteeso: Cars over there is 100% tax..so most can't afford to buy a car..it's was there govt policy to reduce so much cars on the road..more so new bikes like vespa there can buy a tokunbo Camry here in naija with the cost..English get affected one way or the other if u have more Vietnamese friends cos u will wanna speak for them to understand..cos even in language we av vietnamese English..the one I know they all say is putting "come" to replace "go"...lolz..they will say in sentence " tomorrow I come hometown" simply telling u they are going to their hometown tomorrow..but very lovely pple tho...most my guys there are marrying Vietnamese now
LMAO. I think they've changed to "Is have" in place of "There is"
All my students start out with that too. Sometimes, when they remember, they join both of them together �
Tyteeso: On pick pocketing..oshodi guys are learning when it comes to that in Hanoi...especially in buses and crowded areas...could remember back then after been warned by our orientation guide abt pick pocketing..we all laughed that we be naija guys..notin fit happen, at the long run after a month..me and my guys are on our way to class in bus 44 and when we got to class they removed laptop and charger from my guys bag pack..that was when I tuale for them..dem be boss for that lane
James4bright: I was baffled right there. I was beginning to think cars over there are very affordable. Maybe you skipped purchasing the bike and bought a car rather.
Praise Zeus, you didn't break your legs while learning to ride a bike.
Ever felt like you'd become terrible at English the more you reside with non-english speakers?
No I don't think so. I have friends from different countries and I see them regularly. My church is also an international church with lots of activities going on during the week so I'm good
Mizwisdom: To add to what Whyna has said, here are some good and bad about Vietnam
1) Fraud
2) Packaged tour (fake travel tours companies)
3) Stolen lauggage in Airports
4) Be careful when crossing streets in Vietnam
5) Traffic accidents are number one cause of tourist deaths
6) Taxi scam (you should know this one)
7) Robbery
) Pick pockets
9) Unsafe food hygiene
10) Over payment for goods
11) Bad service
12) Air pollution
Good things
1) Cheap food
2) Motor bikes
3) Friendly people
4) Markets
6) Good for business
7) They love children
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9) Teachers are respected
10) They are not hostile
Wow!
Number 4 in the bad list is spot-on! I was terrified when I just got here. Guess I forgot all about that after I started riding my bike.You don't wait for vehicles to cross the road, you cross right in the middle and they will dodge you. Once you start walking, DON'T STOP!
Number 10 is also true. They see foreigners, the hype price. Sha show them you're a Naija breed. This happens mostly in the local markets. I did the price at 2 different places then buy at the 3rd place when I just got here. You'll eventually get to know the prices of things cos they sell per kg here.
I haven't witnessed all the other ones. I've watched videos where the Whites in Tay Ho complain about pick pockets but never seen it.
I don't pray to encounter any. Haven't seen anyone it happened to too
If you're here, please holla. Let's do some egg coffee �
Edit: 11...could you explain further?
12. This is one thing I've been hearing about but haven't experienced too since they say it's worse in Hanoi. Compared to the fumes from exhaust pipes of bikes and cars I used to inhale strongly in Lagos, I haven't experienced such here. Maybe the time hasn't come but I'll write about it once I experience it. Lol
WhyNa: I'm sorry I have no idea. There's a Nairalander I'm currently helping who said he was in touch with the embassy. I'll ask and post the feedback here...if he doesn't see this first
SpeciallyUnique: STILL PLEADING FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE VIETNAMESE EMBASSY IN ABUJA, IS IT CURRENTLY OPERATING??
THANK YOU
I'm sorry I have no idea. There's a Nairalander I'm currently helping who said he was in touch with the embassy. I'll ask and post the feedback here...if he doesn't see this first
In additiion to what I already metioned in previous pages...
1. Use your airline kg well. Bring your essentials....
2. Compared to the income a month, you can survive on 40,000 naira a month or 60,000 if you drink and party. If you pay for accomodation, budget an extra 80,000 for something decent. By month end, you'll have much more than enough savings. Nothing less than $600
3. Vietnam is a tourist country. I haven't visited some places yet but you can go on vacations within Vietnam and have a swell time with beautiful memories
4. When you become friends with a Vietnamese family, you automatically become a family friend. They would randomly give you stuff to take home on each visit and almost always invite you over for lunch or dinner
5. Lunch is by 11am here. Lol
6. The school and teaching system is waaaayy different here. While we start with alphabets and then proceed to 2 letter words, the 3 and all that, They jump that. So it's common to see students who can read and write but can't speak and understand. It's even more amazing when you find an 8 year old who can read out words like computer, purple, rainbow but can't read simple words like The, If, Girl.......Cramming at work is my best guess. Those big words are learnt first mostly under vocabulary and pronouciation.
7. When you sign contracts here, accomodation or so, try to sign for 3 months irst. I'll be moving to new apartment. Cheaper and better.
8. Don't attempt to cook rice with pot here. It will burn and be undercooked. If your apartment doesn't have a rice cooker, it should be in your list of first things to buy
I'm still learning everyday and seeing things. Lol. If you want to teach here, also be ready to play games, be lively and fun and be a clown if you work with children
gentlemate00: What is the latest news regarding lock-down in Vietnam?
Lockdown was lifted this month. Everything is back to normal including school. I've been mega busy cos I teach at a couple of places and retained both my online and one on classes. In the long run though, I might have to let them go starting with the least paying as I get better gigs to replace them. The trick is to know how to schedule them so they don't clash.
Traffic here can be crazy but not as crazy as back home. What they have here is go-slow and it's only during rush hours.
Again, I'll advice anyone who plans on coming here to learn to ride a bike before or once you come here. It really saved me otherewise, how would I have managed being at different schools and centers in a day using Grab/Uber.
Gentlerespect76: From my little research so far, I am coming to the realization that the easiest way is to contact a language school in Vietnam for the one month intensive TEFL/TESOL certification. Some of the schools provide guaranteed employment after your graduation.
In effect, one does not need to run the program here in Nigeria but in Vietnam. Now my question to @Whyna, please how can I contact you for more specifics considering that there are so many fraud landmines online and even in Vietnam? Please you only need to guide one and have boundaries that you are bound to protect because I know how human beings behave. Please, help out. Expecting to hear from you as soon as your convenience allows!
We are praying for you to succeed!
Yes contacting a language school is another way. Don't know much about it but the one I cntacted then when I was in Nigeria doesn't help with visa. I think there is another one that includes visa cost, accomodation and feeding but it's damn expensive. I honestly don't know if they accept Nigerians and the possibility of the job placement. Understand that it can be a market strategy cos once you're here, you get a job anyway with or without them especially if you're white. Get the drift?
You can type your questions here or mail me and I'll get to it once I'm free
Edit: The easiest way to come here is to get a relaible agent. It's cheaper than the language school if they accept you
kevwemanuel: Hello whyna, thanks alot for the eye opener. Please I need you to throw more light on some things, some of which you might have mentioned in passing, but were not clear enough to me.
1) Did you get a job from Nigeria before your arrival in vietnam? If yes, was this done by the agent you used? Please throw more light on how you got the job.
2) I know you mentioned that you had to send your documents to the agent to (possibly) process your visa, if I am right, what else did the agent do for you?
3) How much did the agent charge you?
4) You mentioned that your first point of call for authentification of documents was Ministry of Education, did you eventually authenticate the documents there or you went to another ministry? Please state the ministry if so.
5) What is the average pay like for teachers?
6)Please I need you to itemize all your costs during the process up until your arrival e.g. TEFL? Police report? Medical tests? Authentication? Notarization? Visa fee? Agent fee? Flight ticket? Accommodation cost in vietnam? Any other cost I forgot to mention?
Total cost?
God bless you as you go out of your way to answer my plenty plenty questions.
N.B: To all the e-warriors, abeg I am not feeling fine and don't have power for insults�. I just want great clarity in this process to aid a rational decision process.
I have already answered these questiions before in details/
1. Yes I did. No it wasn't. I didn't take the job sha. Glad I didn't
2. Hmm. This question is somehow. The agent does whatever you discuss and agree with him. From visa alone to visa and work permit, to visa, work permit and job and even certificates (shey you jasi?)
3. See 2 above
4. Lol. Why else would I go there. It happened as stated
5. It depends on you. If you work full time or part time and if you work in a school or a center or both. The least you can be offered is $800 with accomodation and it's mostly in a somewhat rural area. That was the kind of job I was offered. It was full time to and thankfully, I didn't take it. You should expect to make from $1000-2000 but remember, it depends on you.
6. I'm sure if you read through the thread, you would see some of the costs stated there. I have started forgetting some. A good estimate is 2M and no you won't use it all up. I stated this before too
gentlemate00: I visited Ho Chi Minh city and Danang in 2018 with wife and kid, its cool city Saigon mall is cool too. Hope to see you in Hanoi after oga corona don settle. relax you have done your best.
gentlemate00: The problem here some people want her to introduce the agent she use for her package and she is not ready to take that risk incase something happen some guys will be on Nairaland within a minute to tell us how they were scam, Like she said the process is you need to find someone trustworthy to help you with the package. If you are interest in Vietnam do your own research.
You see, those who are complaining here are the unserious ones. If you are serious errrhhh... I mean if you are really, really serious about traveling outta the country you will not be asking @WhyNa to be spoon feeding you with all the info. You’ll do some deep digging after you’ve been given the lead.
Whatever @WhyNa has posted here is more than enough for anybody who is bent on living out of the country with or without any assistance!!! You can’t compel him to give any further info.
AFTER ALL HE DIDN’T GET THE HELP HE HAS PROVIDED HERE BUT HE WAS STILL ABLE TO MAKE IT OUT OF THE COUNTY!!!
gentlemate00: The problem here some people want her to introduce the agent she use for her package and she is not ready to take that risk incase something happen some guys will be on Nairaland within a minute to tell us how they were scam, Like she said the process is you need to find someone trustworthy to help you with the package. If you are interest in Vietnam do your own research.
Thanks.
I wonder why this was difficult for some to understand.
1) Nairaland doesn't support the use of agents. Majority of the comments hidden on this thread were people who asked for agent's number or dropped their email address.
2) I can't even give out the agent's number cos if it backfires, y'all would come back here and call me a scammer.. I tried my best to give step by step info on how to come to Vietnam, yet, look how it turned out. What do you think would happen if the agent fails?
Understand that even though I found someone and was lucky, it was a giant leap of faith as I never saw this agent or knew him from Adam.
Ugoerico: For @Cryomancer 1. You had a good point there!! but you made it in an unfriendly way! U could have selected your words better, cos u ain't paying her for the info, plz learn not to feel entitled...
2.@WhyNaa I commend you for enlightening them on the prospects of Vietnam, however you erred seriously by: a.) Learn never to use one's life predicament to mock him. Lets just assume the guy is truely angry over his life, so u feel u are entitled to use it to mock him? That's morally poor. b) The thread can only be wonderfull when it can serve the intending travelers...I belive you created this thread inorder to help those who would want to toe the direction of Vietnam. Such intention should have been open enough to make a stepwise guide on how to immigrate, AT LEAST THE PROCESSES YOU TOOK that landed you sucesfully.
To all travel hopefuls,Never relent! Explore all means and you will achieve it...Think, research and read other threads here on Nairaland. Join the Social & Professional fora of your target countries. INFORMATION IS ALWAYS POWER!
I'm sorry I let my anger get the best of me but I never really intended to mock him in any way. It actually feels sad that despite giving detailed information throughout the thread, he still said I was hoarding info, like how? Page one alone gives a step by step direction. I also encouraged people to try and do their own research cos indeed I do not know it all and there are things I must have missed. People go a step further to email me and I try my best to reply so why the accusations?
WhyNa: Now here are some of the reasons I was comfortable with going to Vietnam
1) The visa policy. You can extend your stay before your visa expires 2) The cost of living is pretty low. 3) The job market is huge
My only issues were getting a trusted agent to run the package and it was pretty damn expensive!
WhyNa: The CELTA school said they don't aid with visa application but linked me up with an agent. Here began my journey of contacting nothing less than 50 persons/agents.
I had to be careful. Within the time it took me to start the visa process and get it, a friend was duped twice. So believe me when I say you have to be smart and careful in this journey. I spoke with looots of scammers. Nigerians there topped the list of scammers, a couple of Vietnamese people tried too. I wrote a lot mails, made lots of calls, chatted at midnight cos of time difference.
Finally, by God's grace, I was able to find one reliable person and so the journey began
WhyNa: The very first thing I got was a police character report from Alagbon. Then I proceeded to get my medical and TEFL certificate.
With this 3 documents and my degree, I left for Abuja for authentication.
First stop was Ministry of Education
WhyNa: Now that I was done with both ministries, I proceeded to the Vietnamese embassy for another round of authentication. I was supposed to go with dollars and I didn't so I had to go change the money and come back.
By 4pm, I was done with everything authentication.
Stage one had been completed
WhyNa: From the Vietnamese embassy, I went straight to DHL to send the documents.
Authentication is 300 per document. 1200 for scratch card. Hold money little little things
WhyNa: A lot of people have been sending me mails, asking me how to come here. There are several packages available...
You can come here on a 3 months visa
You can come on a 3 months visa, job offer, flight ticket.
You can come on a football visa, flight ticket, airport pickup and accommodation
You can come on a one year visa, 2 years work permit, TEFL, flight tickets, airport pickup and 2 nights accommodation.
They all have their advantages and disadvantages. Just be wise and careful to avoid stories that make water come out of the eye. I can't overemphasize this!
Disclaimer: I don't work with anyone here and nobody here helped me get the visa or anything to avoid anyone mailing you with or in my name. Biko.
WhyNa: If you read through the thread, you would have actually seen that I mentioned these things and no, everyone doesn't need to do the exact same thing I did. What works for A in January might not work for B in February!//
See I don't know it all. Nothing is permanent and if there's one thing about Vietnam, they pass laws on a steady. People should do some research on their own too and I bet you, they'll find things even I didn't find.
WhyNa: With 2M, you can start the process, get to Vietnam, and still be good for the next 1-2 months. By process, I mean both getting the right documents, authentication, one year visa, work permit, flight, accommodation, feeding, etc.
This however depends on some things.
1. The agent 2. Your prudence in spending 3. Your taste. 4. Location
Other than that, 2M would get you the best option.
Cryomancer: Well I didn't expect much from you than what you've just exhibited.... Yea you can call out people now and say they are angry about life after looking through their profile pictures and their posts, just because you've simply relocated and have the information they never had.
Well... like I said earlier, "Life is very funny"
I hold no grudge against you Ma'am, and I wish you the best.
First you accuse me falsely, then play the victim card. Some man you are
Cryomancer: You knew about all these all along but chose to keep it to yourself when people were asking... Now that someone else is kind enough to reply, you're now forming I too know.
Anyway just remember that life is always funny. When you think you know it all, you'll be amazed at howmuch information other people have already acquired.
I must commend your effort in trying to tell others about Vietnam but I'm sure you didn't do it to put others through in their migration plans, rather you only did it to show people that you actually made it out finally.
Good luck with your journey in life and I wish you the very best over there in Vietnam.
Wow. You are funny, very funny and I wonder where all this anger is coming from.
I remember some pages ago, I encouraged people to do research on their own cos I don't know it all and of course I was crucified for it.
What exactly did he say that I haven't mentioned somewhere in the thread? Or were you planning to come and overstay?
Get a grip of yourself and try to think next time before typing. Dont t let your fingers run faster than your brain
Your picture even shows you're angry at life itself
Travel › Re: My Journey To Hanoi, Vietnam by WhyNa(op): 7:50am On May 21, 2020
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