I’ll have to admit, knowing that I have a job has taken a lot of pressure of the whole financial situation.  However, in true Kris form, I neglected to ask when I get paid so things could get a bit tight before that first cheque comes in.  But I’m spending under $20/day including accommodation, transportation, food, etc., which was my goal, and there’s a lot of room to save in there if need be.

For my second week (Nov 11-17), I spent an average of $19.69 per day (2.454 million dong).  Here’s a general breakdown:

lunch/dinner at restaurants: $36.91 for the week, average of $5.27/day

water/snacks/beer/groceries for breakfast: $27.81 for the week, average of $3.97/day (to be honest, the majority of this is beer)

taxis: $5.06 for the week, average of $0.72/day (this was 3 separate rides!)

sightseeing: $0.84 (War Remnants Museum)

tailors: $17.98 for two custom made shirts

hotel accommodation: $42.41 for the week, or $6.06/night

unaccounted for: $6.80 (give me a break, I’m not an accountant, all right?)

Considerations:  3 days a week, I will be teaching at a school quite far north from where we are.  It’s around $2.25 roundtrip for a taxi, which works out to close to $30/month, or I could rent a motorcycle for around $50/month.  I’m currently having a dilemma about which route to take.  For just a bit more every month I could have my own vehicle which would be awesome, but you are taking your life into your hands every time you enter traffic here and I’m not sure I’m a skilled enough motorcyclist to pull it off. We’ll see.

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So, for my second week, I spent $137.87.  My balance from the end of week one was $354.24, so that leaves me $216.37. Hopefully I get paid soon and the balance starts going up!