(upbeat music)
- Hello, my name is Amanda, and I'll be doing
the ITA takeover today.
So I am in Da Nang, Vietnam, it's about 7:30,
and I'm headed to the gym.
But it's rainy season here,
so it just literally pours constantly.
So I'm originally from Texas, and since living abroad,
my boyfriend and I have lived
in Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
So if you have any questions about any of those places,
teaching online, or anything throughout the day,
just message me here in the question box.
So I teach full-time online with VIPKID.
So I don't have to work until later this evening,
and I primarily work on the weekends,
which I'll tell you a little bit more about.
But it is gonna be pouring all day,
so I'm gonna try and show you as much of the city as I can.
So this is my gym, and I'll show you
a quick snapshot inside.
If anyone's interested, it's one of the nicer gyms here,
and it's about 33 U.S. dollars a month.
(upbeat music)
So I just got done at the gym,
and I'm grabbing a quick breakfast on my way home,
so this is one of our favorite spots.
So Zach gets a Banh Mi, and I can't eat bread,
because I have Celiac, so I just get an omelet.
So we both took the online TEFL course,
because we were both working full-time
corporate jobs back in America at the time,
but we had no prior teaching experience.
We do both have bachelor's degrees, though,
which for VIPKID is now required.
So we both took the online TEFL course,
because we were both working full-time
corporate jobs back in America at the time,
but we had no prior teaching experience.
We do both have bachelor's degrees though,
which for VIPKID is now required.
We are going to get some fruit for the day
from our fruit lady.
So this is Zach's favorite fruit,
he gets like three of these a day.
Anybody know what it is?
(machines rumbling)
So this is our apartment building.
(speaking in foreign language)
So, I'll give you a quick apartment tour.
We're gonna shower, and then head out for the day.
So first, I will show you our lobby.
So, when you walk in, you take off your shoes down here,
and then this is our lobby, so we have free tea and coffee,
and right now there is a Christmas tree up.
And we actually do a lotta work in here.
Okay, so before we head out for the day,
I wanted to give you guys a quick apartment tour.
So, this is when you walk in.
We have a full one-bedroom,
and this is our little,
this is our dining area, and our little kitchen,
although we have never cooked here. (laughs)
And here is the bedroom.
And the bathroom.
So, finding an apartment here is super easy.
There's a bunch of Facebook groups you can join,
and then also, if you just walk around,
most the hotels and different places
will just have a sign that says apartment for rent,
and you can just walk right in and see one.
So here's a little view out our window.
A lot of Da Nang is really really nice, new construction,
and then a lot of Da Nang is also empty lots like this,
under construction.
So we've been living abroad for five months now,
we lived in Thailand for three months,
Taiwan for one month, and so far
we have lived in Da Nang for one month.
So we'll be here at least three months,
and we're thinking of either
staying a little bit longer here, or going to Bali next.
So we really like traveling around, obviously.
And that was one of the biggest reasons
why we ended up choosing just to only teach online,
because our schedules are super flexible,
and we're not really tied down anywhere.
However, because we don't work for a school,
we don't have an employer who sponsors our visas
everywhere we go, so every country that we've lived in,
we just are on tourist visas.
For Vietnam, we did actually get a year-long tourist visa.
So the year-long Vietnam visa is only for U.S. citizens,
but I think it's a great option,
especially if you're an online teacher,
to give you some security long-term.
But I will note that any Vietnam visas,
you need to get ahead of time,
and I will link our favorite website, you can swipe up.
Alright, so we're gonna go show you a little bit
around Antong, which is the area that we live in,
and then go to a cafe to do some work before this evening.
So the main way to get around town here is
scooters. (scooter horn beeps)
(Amanda laughs)
So, I'll go ahead and answer your number one question,
yes, driving here is kind of scary.
But there really isn't a better way to get around.
There is Grab here, which is like Uber,
and you can walk some places, but we really,
we really thought that it was best that
we needed a scooter, and we just kind of learned
how to drive on some smaller streets.
So you really definitely have to have your wits about you.
Driving is crazy, there are no rules, there's no lanes,
there's no right way to go down the street,
but as long as you're careful, again,
most everyone who lives here has a scooter,
so you just kind of have to be aware.
(scooter horn beeps)
Unfortunately, it's a really rainy day today,
but we do live literally two blocks
from this amazing beach here, and you can't see it
'cause of the clouds, but there's a really cool
mountain up there, so there's tons of outdoor stuff
to do here when it's not raining.
So we are stopping for lunch at
our favorite pho place, Pho Ha Noi.
So normally, we would've worked at a cafe all morning,
but because we wanted to show you guys around town,
we kind of did that.
So we are gonna go to a cafe after lunch.
So we are just waiting for our pho,
but I just wanted to mention that
we absolutely love Da Nang.
We especially love our area,
because our gym is a block away,
there is so many food, food, restaurants,
cafes, everything, and we're two minutes from the beach.
So, made it to our little cafe we're gonna work at today,
called the Hideout, love this place.
It is so cute, and they have really good egg coffee.
So this is egg coffee.
So this is egg coffee, and it's one of
my favorite things here in Vietnam.
So it's like this frothed, sweetness of egg on top,
and then an espresso shot on the bottom,
and you kinda sip it and get a little bit of both.
So, on our way home, we are stopping
to get a few groceries and snacks.
So this is VinMart, kind of like a 7-11,
and if you want to go to a bigger grocery store,
you can go to Lotte Mart.
Okay, so I'm about to teach for the evening.
I don't teach lot during the week,
I teach primarily almost all of my hours on the weekends,
just because those are the most popular
and in-need hours for VIPKID.
One thing that I always mention to people,
just who are interested in teaching abroad in general,
is that it's always great to teach online
in addition to teaching in a classroom,
just because it gives you a few extra hours a week
of ways to make money.
So, three things that are my favorite about VIPKID.
One, all the lesson planning is done for you,
so especially if you're a teacher in an in-person classroom,
this doesn't add anything extra to your to-do list.
Number two is that you're paid in U.
And number three is that you have a flexible schedule.
So if you wanna take a week vacation,
just don't put in hours that week.
If you're interested in teaching for VIPKID specifically,
you can message me directly, or swipe up,
and I can help coach you through
the interview process as well.
So we are both finished teaching for the evening,
and we're getting dinner.
We normally eat pretty late, just because
we don't get done teaching 'til like 8:00 or 8:30.
So we came to get come some banh xeo,
which is a really fun dish to show you.
Okay, so banh xeo is like kind of a
make-your-own spring roll-esque type thing.
So you start with one of these,
which is like a pancake.
And you can have different meats on it.
And then, you add some mango, and cucumber,
I think this is guava (laughs),
and onions, and kind of whatever veggies that you want,
and then you can add some spices,
and then you roll it up like a little spring roll,
and you dip it in this peanut sauce.
Okay, we've got a lot of questions throughout the day,
and we have only been able to answer a few of them,
so we are gonna take some time now and answer
a bunch of y'all's questions.
- So Taiwan and Vietnam are definitely
more different than they are similar.
Taiwan struck us as a very modern and orderly society,
where Vietnam tends to lean a little bit more chaotic.
- Very chaotic. - But, yes, but,
but there is a lot to like here in Vietnam,
especially where we live, in Da Nang.
It's very affordable, we have everything we need.
Now as for similarities, both countries have
amazing food and unbelievable nature.
- So I've actually lived abroad before,
and I've traveled extensively, including in Asia,
so the transition wasn't as big for me
as it was for most people, but I would say
that overall, it's really not as bad as you think.
There's so many things, anything that you need over here.
- So this one varies company to company,
because there are a few online teaching platforms.
But as far as VIPKID goes, we heard that things
are in the process of changing, and soon you will need
your TEFL certification as well as a bachelor's degree.
So we opted to go with traveler's insurance through
World Nomads, instead of traditional medical insurance.
World Nomads does cover things like emergencies,
and certain visits to the doctor.
But it is a lot cheaper in the long run,
since medical care is a little bit more affordable here.
- So this is a great question.
ITA actually has an amazing PDF with like,
all the online platforms listed,
a breakdown of qualifications and pay,
so I'll link that, you can swipe up to see that PDF now,
and if you're interested in VIPKID,
feel free to message us too, and we can help you out.
Okay, so we've gotten a lot of questions about Thailand.
So I'm not gonna post all of them here,
but they've just all just wanted to know
kind of about our experience in living there.
So we lived in Chiang Mai, Thailand for three months,
and then we've also lived in Hua Hin, Thailand.
So we love Thailand.
We actually met in Thailand, and so there's just like,
always something about it that we will love.
Thai food is our absolute favorite.
Like, everything you've ever heard about Thailand
is true. - Yeah.
The temples are amazing, everything.
Having said that, like, I could talk
about Thailand for hours.
But having said that, we have been shocked, honestly,
with how much we love Da Nang.
It is so easy to live here, there is so much amazing food,
a great community, and we live right by the beach,
like literally two minutes,
and there are mountains here as well,
so there's like so much outdoor stuff to do.
So, I don't know, I really love Da Nang,
I think we'll always go back to Thailand at some point,
but they're both really great. - Check.
- So we've gotten this question a lot,
I actually did a full cost breakdown
a couple slides back, so go check that out,
it might be helpful, but to address it really quick,
we work 15 to 25 hours a week,
and make 1200 to 1800 U.S. dollars a month,
and we save 500 to 1,000 dollars a month.
Okay, so I love this question,
but I'm also gonna give you like a terrible answer.
We love every place differently,
I just, I can't compare them,
because they're all so different,
but I can say that we would go back
to any of the places we've lived so far
and live again. - Yes.
- Alright, thank you so much for watching,
I am headed to bed, 'cause it's almost midnight here,
but I really hope this was helpful,
or interesting, just to see life abroad.
If you have any more questions at all,
please DM us at our personal account.
We would love, love, love to chat with you more about this.
Also, shameless plug, don't forget to follow us
on Instagram, and we also have a blog and a YouTube channel.
So go check us out on those, and we will see you later.
Goodbye.
(upbeat music)