Happy New Year!

 We are happy to report that, indeed, Santa does fly all over the world.  We had a lovely Christmas morning.  That tired, after the opening rush, new toys laying all around feeling that coffee does not help with at all was familiar and exactly the same.  Games, jump ropes, tea sets, a new Barbie, puzzles, and new beauty kits dominated the day.  That evening the girls presented their version of the Nutcracker for us.

      Christmas Eve, we went to colleagues' house, Joe and Theresa.  (They have an adorable nine month old named Nikko.) Their 13th floor apartment has a fantastic view of Phu My Hung and Saigon.  It was fun to have dinner and XMAS cookies with others.  It was at this time that I missed my family the most.  In fact, there have been a couple of moments that were hard in my first Christmas away from my parents in 40 years.  Over all, though, we had a good Christmas.

     We had a chance to Skype with family a couple of times, which was great.  For a few minutes I felt like we were with them.

Sophie models her new birthday cake hat, traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai (prounounced ao-zy), and not quite ready for Vogue makeover from her sister's new beauty kit.

Maeve and Sophie in their new traditional Vietnamese outfits.

     A couple of days after Christmas we ventured downtown to see the water puppets at the History Museum.  Very fun! Water puppetry is uniquely Vietnamese I understand.  It has this interesting feeling, kind of like the feeling you get when you see a snake in water.  The themes are traditional Vietnamese stories (fishing, the golden turtle, for example.  Charles said he would be sure to get me a fishing outfit like the one the puppet in the picture is wearing next Christmas...)  One of the highlights was the dragon who came out at the beginning breathing fire and spit water at the audience.  (I got a little wet.  Charles is convinced the puppeteers were having a bit of fun with me.)  When Maeve told my family on Skype about the water puppets, someone asked "Did you get wet?"  She said "Yes.  And a kindly lady brought Sophie and I paper towels to wipe off."  

     When we arrived to see the puppet show, they said there was no room and to come back at 2:00.  We have learned that tenacity and sometimes playing the naive American role can work to your advantage in Vietnam.  In the end, they put a few plastic chairs in the front for us.

Our fellow audience at the water puppets.

     Sophie launched a personal campaign against the ants in our apartment.  (Everyone has them, and there seem few ways to get rid of them - one of the little pain in the behinds about Vietnamese life.  They are annoying at the least.)  In any case, she cut and made flags with sticks to put into each plant on our small patio, and in Charles' new kumquat tree.  "Ants please love us and don't eat our plants."  is what they say.

     After a long wiggly-wobbly time, Maeve finally lost her first tooth.  The tooth fairy left dong and dollars!  Very exciting.  She even put the money in a beautiful, small, pink embroidered bag.  Cool, Vietnamese tooth fairy!

    Maeve used her Dong to go to the new kids play place at the Lotte Mart.  We had a wonderful morning hiding in the ball pit that has ball load and shoot cannons, sliding down the giant roller slide, and playing with the unique games there.  It will be a great place to go from time to time to play, exercise, and have fun.

     Things are gearing up here for the biggest Vietnamese holiday, Tet, which comes up at the end of January.  

   We are gearing up for our big trip to the beach on Friday and are very excited.  It had been raining a lot this week so we are hoping the dry season will return to us. The resort is a stay in a bungalow on the beach, all meals included, sleep in mosquito nets place.  We're hoping for a week of sand castle building, reading, shell searching, and swimming.  The pictures of Doc Let (pronounced yop-let) Beach are stunning.  We will be sure to take a few ourselves to share. 

    Happy New Year to you and yours!  We'll check in when we are back from our tropical paradise.

Holidays, Vietnamese Style

    I know, I know.  A whole month!  I have an excuse.  So many big aspects of international school life happen so early.  Exams and report cards were something I was ready to do.  Ordering for next year, and being involved in the hiring process for next year, I was not!  I still need to go in for a couple of hours today or tomorrow to finish the math department ordering.  SSIS has hired a new upper school principal this week.  I was invited to facilitate the faculty part of the interview process, and pull together faculty feedback.  It was an interesting process.

     It is amazing to me how early the "Where will you work next year?" conversation starts.  Friends assure me it is how it works in the international school world.  If I think about it, I knew that I was moving here in February of last year.  I have thrown my hat in the ring to make a move to the comfortable land of elementary school.  (Whose principal is also departing and a new assistant principal job is is open.) We'll see what happens.  

      It is our third day of a three week break, and I have started to feel the connections between my brain synapses again.  But I have to back up...

     We had a lovely Thanksgiving with our friends the Perkins.  

The dinner was awesome - the turkey some of the best I have had in years. We celebrated on Sunday because we all worked on Thanksgiving Day!  It was a little strange.  I am proud to say I made a pecan pie, as I have for my southern husband every year since we have been married.  Here, it was a challenge to top all others.  The pie pan?  My neighbors.  Baked?  In the Perkins' oven.  Pecans?  After sharing my astonishment of the $20 price tag for the right amount of pecans to a wonderful SSIS parent at the check out line at our local western gourmet food shop, she sent her stash to school for me.  I am finding out that expat life is about sharing and helping others out in new ways.

      The morning of our Thanksgiving celebration, our school hosted the Terry Fox Run for cancer research in HCMC.  Charles ran the 5K in honor of Nancy Riley, my sister in law. It was a wonderful community event on a beautiful day.  

 I also made tributes to Grace Carey and Jon Brenner, two people who are in our thoughts and hopes in relationship to cancer research.

     We could tell the Christmas season had officially started when we saw the beautiful lights outside of our balcony.

Charles wonders whether or not there is a translation issue involved in the story of Christmas in Vietnam.  Did they think that Jesus was born in a cave?  I laughed it off at first, but after seeing many "cave" creches around the city, I wonder if he is on to something...  (By the way, this one has a rush of water that runs over the top and back of the tarp. ??? Fabulous, eh? The cotton snow is so realistic.)

     The Christmas season also brought familiar kinds of  celebrations like a fantastic dinner and dancing party at The Duxton (a fancy hotel downtown) hosted by SSIS.  It was great fun.  We had roast beef and other wonderful foods that were a rare treat.  How fun it was to dance and party with colleagues.  I think we have found a great baby sitter to boot.

     Maeve went on a school field trip connected to her study of seasons.  They went to Dem Sen park, an amusement park.  They went into the "ice cave".  Yes - the thrill of an amusement park event that involves putting on heavy winter coats and being in the cold!  (I can hear my sisters in New England giggling.) A very nice mom who supervised Maeve on the trip sent pictures to us.

     Maeve has had her first season of performances.  She excelled in her solo in the dance recital.  The most fun for her, I think, is  her new fancy dance outfit, complete with wings and halo.  Maeve had a solo for the jingle bells number.  Very exciting.

     Her school Christmas concert was fun too.  I took my whole sixth grade science class to watch.  Maeve was asked to be the narrator.  She did a splendid job.  No fear whatsoever of the microphone.  (OK, maybe one very public nose pick...)

 

     Aside from the holiday preparations, our lives have been busy and full, with all of the events all homes with kids enjoy.  Maeve is proud to annouce her first loose tooth!  It is now very wiggly wobbly.  Will the tooth fairy and santa come on the same night?

  This same kindergartener is also reading like a pro.  Learning to read is a process I have spent so much time thinking about, as I took doctoral courses in language and literacy, but it still feels like magic when you are in the midst of it!

  Sophie "reads" too.  Each story shared, Maeve reads first and then Sophie.  She is quickly learning her letters and numbers.  We just got an old huge chalkboard from school like the one we have on Trenholm.  Let the learning begin!

     We found the Vietnamese version of playdough and had a wonderful day creating.

     We still swim at least four times a week!

     You would be impressed with how well Santa has done with absolutely no Christmas wrapping paper to be found.  (Brightly colored bags from the store, bulletin board paper - shhh.... don't tell school, regifted gift bags...) I have done two things that I said I would never do this Christmas.  #1 - buy a fake tree. Voila!

 It could be the most atrocious Christmas tree I have even laid eyes on.  "  It's beautiful!" is all Maeve and Sophie have to offer.  Enough said. :)  We found some stockings for Santa to stuff too. Right now we are playing "Christmas morning", taking turns wrapping "gifts" in blankets to pretend that Santa has come and unwrap.

     #2, I bought a Barbie doll. The things you do for your children...

     We are counting down the days to Christmas with our paper chain of dates.

I realized, as we put up the tree, that it was the first year that the girls were able to decorate the entire tree by themselves together.  Wow they are growing.

     I got the best Christmas present early, straight from Kindergarten.

     We are off to a matinee of Madagascar 2 at the NEW MOVIE THEATER TEN MINUTES AWAY!!!!!  It is amazing, in this last week alone, the new one stop Lotte mart grocery store, bookstore, movie theatre, and bowling alley opened, as well as a new children's book and toy store which is slotted to open elsewhere today.  Walking into the Lotte Mart two days ago brought tears to my commercial American eyes.  We will no longer have to go to a million different stores to do our weekly shopping.  Phu My Hung and Ho Chi Minh City have changed exponentially even since our arrival five months ago.  People talk about how ten years ago there were not stores in Vietnam that were anything like grocery stores.  (Actually, this entire part of the city was a rice field ten years ago.)

    (We have just returned from the brilliant new stadium seating movie theater with only 8 people in it for the movie.  We paid $10 for all of us to see it.  We returned to greet our housekeeper who just cleaned the entire apartment.  Sometimes I like living in Vietnam.  : )

     We are fine, and realize that this international life wears well on us for now.  I know that there will be moments during our holiday season when we will miss people, family especially, terribly.  It won't be long before we see them again.

     I promise it won't be a month before my next entry so check in.  And drop us a line, we'd love to hear from you!   jsriley@aol.com

We wish you peace, love, and joy for this holiday season.  

We miss you all.

Love, the Waughs

Steamy November Vietnam

    Yup.  It is still hot.  Sweaty at 7:30 in the morning after you walk to school hot. I knew there would come a point when it would feel so different that it was still hot.  I have hit it. We have had a few glorious nights when we have slept with the windows open, and last week brought beautifully breezy mornings when I was tempted to keep walking to the park instead of school. On the flipside, how fantastic is it to spend every Sunday morning at the pool?

    I realized a couple of things when I looked at my blog the other day.  First of all, it has been way too long since my last entry.  There is no doubt that we have entered a new realm of daily routine and life here.  Time is flying.  Today you could not have convinced me that Thanksgiving is a week away.  The other thing I realized is that my pictures and descriptions have become much less about Vietnam and what is new in our life here, and more about happenings within our own smaller, daily, expat life. I have therefore promised to try to capture more of the daily, uniquely Vietnamese aspects of life that shape our days here.

      We are almost well, after a week of passing around a cold and fever/achey virus.  Quite honestly I am always a little relieved when we pass something around the house quickly because it lets me relax, knowing that it is not a mosquito borne disease that we have to worry about.  Thursday, I was home from school as well as Maeve, and we actually had a nice day reading - all of us! I read 3/4s of Three Cups of Tea. Maeve has reached that moment in time where she has transformed into a reader.  It's so exciting, so fun, and seems like magic. I was so happy at the joy she took from a lingering visit to the Fahasa bookstore downtown.  Needless to say we left with a few samples and always take the opportunity to grab a few good English books when we can find them.

     I returned to school the next day with a rose on my desk.  :  )

 Thursday was Teachers Day in Vietnam.  What a nice surprise it was to get a few sweet gifts.  I have to say that I definitely feel how differently I am viewed in the eyes of students and parents in Asia.  Don't get me wrong, I had many wonderful students and worked with some fantastic parents in the states.  But here, I am thanked profusely by parents every time I see them.  And yes, students have their moments, but overall, there is this huge, looming expectation that they will behave, be respectful, and be good students.  I have to be careful to make calls home when it is really necessary, because calls from teachers can bring extreme ramifications.

    I smiled on my trip to the doctors the other day because I actually recognized almost the entire trip downtown.  I wasn't sure that would ever happen amidst the cacophany and chaos of Ho Chi Minh life.  It's beginning to feel familiar.

     Just as my friends in the states talked about some of the best conversations with their kids happening in the car on the way to places, Maeve and I have great conversations on our taxi rides.  

     So here's something that made me happy about Vietnam the other day.  We had not yet bought cell phones.  I had heard that some people, as foreigners, had to go through lengthy processes of registering to get a phone.  We actually have survived pretty well without one.  (And there is the added fact that you can't really use it here to call businesses or get information because , well, most people speak Vietnamese and I don't.)  Anyway, my friend got a spiffy new phone that is pink and rings "Oh Micky You're So Fine.."  and she offered her old phone to me.  I was a little confused about how that would be helpful, but my friends David and Urko in the IT department at school put a SIM card in the phone for me, replaced the battery, and voila!  I have a cell  phone, complete with number, and a month's or more minutes all to the tune of 200,000 Dong (about $12).  (You actually purchase a card with  a chip that goes into the back of the phone and gives it a cell phone number and minutes and then you just load minutes onto it.) So I know that the pay as you go phones are getting more popular over time, but why the heck do we have to pay so much money to use cell phones in the US?  

     I love seeing babies on their moms' backs like this.  This is in our apartment complex.  

     Our local bakery on the street in front of our building.  It is Korean, and everything tastes as equally white flour sticky sweet as the sugary doughnuts the girls love the most.  We do live in an expat community, but it is the Korean expat community.  It is very interesting.  Most of the American, Brits, and Aussies that live in HCMC city live in a place called An Phu, which I have not yet been to.  It is about 45 minutes by taxi.

     I have high hopes for this new Lotte Mart (also Korean) opening in December.  I hope it may bring some one stop shopping back to my life.  We'll see.  It may be one stop kimchee shopping.

     Maeve made the school newsletter with this one from the Halloween parade.  She is with her closet kindergarten friends Andrew and Tommy.

     Being silly at home. It is lovely how happy and settled the girls seem to be.

     Waiting on the SSIS morning bus.  Maeve likes to be first in line and Dad takes her down a bit early so she can.  P.E. = swimming now.  Can you say even happier about life at school?  Charles and Sophie usually keep walking after putting Maeve on the bus for breakfast and coffee.  

     It seems we finally have people appreciating our beautiful little house on Trenholm Road.  They are renting , with a contract to buy when their home in Texas sells.  (You'll notice I said when. Keep your fingers crossed.)
        The weekend's job it to find a turkey for the big day.  We're celebrating with our friends the Perkins.  

What do we celebrate?

I am thankful for this life changing experience,

and our health.

I am thankful for our friends and family whom we miss, all of the wonderful people in our lives, 

and our new friends, especially those who make us laugh so hard we have to cross our legs.

I am thankful for Aunt Nancy's recovery, 

and the cabin visits we will enjoy with her and many others for years to come.

I am thankful that Grandma Riley had such a long and interesting life, and that I told her how much she meant to me before she died.

I am thankful for the luxurious time we have together as a family

as we look towards three weeks off for XMAS break.

I am thankful for you, taking the time to share this unique part of our life with us, if even just by reading.

Tan biet for now.