Become a Virtual Tourist Member Today!  Sign Up for Free | Sign In

AnnPuddu's VirtualTourist Home Page

Search:
email to friend | help
Home » AnnPuddu
Get Your Own Home Page
Fast, fun, free.
Click to start building now!

VirtualTourist Member AnnPuddu


AnnPuddu's VirtualTourist Home Page
Click Picture to enlarge.
 email me
 add as friend


AnnPuddu   
travel wide, go easy


Real Name: Ann Puddu
Lives In: New York City, US
Birth Date: July 7, 1941
Member Since: May 08, 2005
Last Login: Sep 15, 2008   16:39 UTC
Member's Time: Oct 11, 2008   13:32 EDT
VT Rank: 8213
Deals Rank: Unranked
Travel Interests: Not yet selected

 

Page Views: 550            

here i am!!

by AnnPuddu - last update: Jun 20, 2007

i've spent a lot of time traveling; a lot when i was a kid and even more in the last ten years or so. although i do love being a tourist and moving on from place to place, there is something about actually living in another culture that's really special. i lived in tangier, morocco for two years and just recently in danang, vietnam where i was teaching english at two universities. living in a house, walking down the street in your neighborhood, shopping locally, etc. totally changes your own world perspective.

just finished two months on the road in australia and new zealand. traveling by greyhound buses from sydney to cairns stopping in all the best beach places...great. alice springs and desert as amazing as promised!

a year later...june 2007. spent two months fulfilling a life-long dream last fall: being a RESIDENT of amsterdam rather than the perennial tourist! finally...i rented an apartment behind the concertgebouw, joined a gym on overtoom, shopped at the albert hein supermarket, etc. etc. what i was missing, i realized, was WORK!!
when i befriended some moroccan teenage girls in vondel park and let loose with my tiny bit of arabic, they begged me to come to their school and teach them english...OHO...english is really a very portable skill. i made some connections with some community and women's groups and if i go back for a length of time like that, i'll be able to pop into classrooms!

spent the winter again in danang...surely vietnam is going to be the wealthiest southeast asian country...never saw such hardworking folks! i work pretty hard there myself...everyone wants to practice their english with the native speakers...not too many tourists in danang which is a beautiful port city smack in the middle of vietnam, right on china beach. tourists head south to hoi an or north to hue. cruise ships park in the harbour which is the biggest deep water port in that part of the world and take the tourists north or south. more folks land at the airport in danang which was built by the americans during the war and is up to international standards. taxi drivers and buses greet them and shepherd them north and south. so, to my delight, being a westerner in danang is still somewhat of a novelty and i am warmly greeted wherever i go...someone always wants to practice english!

Comments for AnnPuddu
July2 Tue Aug 14, 2007 16:49 UTC
 Hi Ann-I'm interested in responses to to your Q. also. Can you tell me anything about the Ashdod area from your prior trip? Thx. Louise
ghibli88 Sat Jul 7, 2007 12:00 UTC
 A warm Happy super birthday to you,best wishes from hot and sunny Italy.
vpeter Sat Jul 7, 2007 04:14 UTC
 Hi Ann, happy birthday to you. Have a nice party. Greetings from the Netherlands.

Find:       Matching:  Advanced