Greetings from steamy Saigon!

Sin Ciao!

     Life has finally settled down enough for us to sit down and write.  We have been in Vietnam for four weeks (hard to believe) and I have gotten used to so many things that were so new just weeks ago.  Charles, Maeve, Sophie, and I are enjoying a long weekend because of a national holiday, and today felt almost like a normal Sunday.

     Our first visit to Saigon South International School meant muddy feet!  The school has been undergoing a major new building project and quite honestly it was hard to find the front door.  The most amazi

ng part was watching a work crew plant the huge front field, each little plant by hand.  (Yes, you see people wearing traditional Vietnamese hats every day.  They make sense for sun and rain, both of which there are plenty.) It was just the beginning of a feeling that I have had every day since...people walking around behind me

 cleaning up.  The sheer volume of workforce in Phu My Hung (our neighborhood) continually amazes me. 

     Saigon South International School is a great place.  I have enjoyed meeting other teachers and their families extensively.  Many seem to be from the north western coast of North America, both the States and Canada.  One other southern family from Nashville is the extent of the Southern U.S. contingent.

     My new students (6th-9th graders) are delightful and from all over the world.  It is

 comforting how similar daily life in the classroom feels to what I know.  I have enjoyed working with middle schoolers again after more that ten years.  I have had to rely on textbooks more than in a long time, and it is funny how hard it can be to help students make connections to them because they are written for an American audience.  My students have learned many things about the U.S. because of it.  I know I will be able to use textbooks less as I figure out where all of the resources are hiding.

     It has been challenging walking into a completely empty room after so many resource rich days at The Center for Inquiry.  My position is new because of new kids, so I didn't move into an existing position.  It also seems tricky and expensive to get resources into the country. I'm sure I will be tripping over stuff in no time.

     Maeve is loving kindergarten.  I knew all 

would be alright when she came home and taught me "Skidda - ma - rink" the other day.  Long days have been an adjustment, but she seems to be settling into routines.

     I have a quick ten minute walk to school, which I love.  If  Maeve and I go together, we take a taxi.  One is always waiting outside of our building and the 16,000 dong price (about $1.00) certainly even beats driving the Saturn with U.S. oil prices.

     Speaking of Dong, (the Vietnamese currency), the cost of living is quite inexpensive here.  Daily expenses of living and eating (providing you are not always eating western food) pale in comparison.  We are beginning to negotiate the grocery stores that locals use every day.  "Fresh is better" here and most people have very tiny refrigerators.  (Including us!)  We have tried all sorts of new foods that we like. Dragon fruit, and pomelos are some of my favorites. (Maeve misses chicken nuggets and sticks to apples, baguettes, and grilled cheese.  Ugh. )  We have catered food for school lunch which is AWESOME!  I feel like I will never have to pack a lunch for school again.  (My Center teacher friends will understand how appreciated this is...)

     It rains every day and is hot, hot, hot.  Not too unlike good ol' South Carolina in August.  My colleagues from British Columbia walk around in pools of sweat much of the time.  It definitely feels tropical, and near the Equator in ways that are different than SC.

     Our apartment is luxurious by Vietnamese standards, open, and comfortable.  It has been interesting to adjust to no oven, no dishwasher, and no hot water in the kitchen.  We will eventually buy a toaster oven and microwa

ve.  I have to admit that I miss a clothes dryer.  We have a washer in our balcony, and hang everything up to dry.  I have a new appreciation for lint traps...

     Although Phu Ny Hung is the suburbs, it feels like we live in a bustling city.  Until we go downtown.  I have never experienced the same kind of rush of people, motor bikes, and general melee before.  It is intense.  Charles said that he saw someone moving an entire, fully constructed swing set on the back of a scooter the other day.  He and I have talked about how there is a calm to the chaos in driving.  People tend to make way for one another in some ways.  Rarely do you see any "road rage".  The only scooters we have so far are awesome razor scooters that the girls ride in our children laden apartment courtyard but that will change soon if Charles has anything to do with it.  I'm just proud to have figured out how to cross the street...

That's all for now.  Send questions and keep in touch!

Julie