Our World Widens

     It is hard to believe that weeks have passed.  Yet we have done so much.  For starters, Charles returned from his trip to Phnom Penh with great stories about a Cambodian wedding and a soccer game between Cambodia and East Timor.  He got to have some great meals, and quiet, late mornings with coffee, the news, and a big, uninterrupted breakfast.  Sounds like he appreciated the "personal time".   Sorry no pictures.  He didn't think to take the camera out of his bag.

    I have no pictures of Hong Kong either, sorry.  The camera battery was in backwards and I thought that the battery was dead.  I will try to take more pictures of our lives because I know I will cherish having them later.  But I need no pictures to remember Hong Kong.  The sights, the feel, and the smell of it have left an indelible image on my brain.  What an amazing place!  

     It is a combination of the San Diego Zoo, Times Square, and Disney World.  It is modern and sleek, and efficient in ways I could not imagine for so many people in one place.  It is very green and you don't go long without seeing water from one of the bays.  There is pollution, and it sounds like it gets worse daily as China gets more industrialized. As a naive weekend visitor, I feel like it gave it a misty, ethereal quality adding to Hong Kong's mystique.

      Hong Kong is clean, so clean I felt I could eat off of most surfaces.  The whole island seems like a giant architectural puzzle, carefully built up.  At one point I was on an outside escalator heading up to catch a bus,  (Mmm Hmmm, get your head around that one.) and I looked over the side to a 80ft. plus drop!  Zoinks!  (There actually is an escalator that goes from the bottom to the top of the island, which I will do in its entirety on our next visit.)  It felt like you could spread your arms and touch the skyscrapers on both sides.

     I am convinced that you could buy almost anything that is made on the face of the earth in  about ten square blocks in Hong Kong. I have been places before on the earth that people described as a shoppers paradise, but this is the only one I have been to that lived up to its name.  All kinds of goods, all kinds of prices, absolutely anything you would need in life, and then some.  I know that Maeve and Sophie will appreciate my trip to Toys 'R Us on Christmas morning.

     I went to a terrific workshop on leadership skills at the Canadian International School in Hong Kong.  Physically, it is an amazing 14 story purpose built facility wedged  in the side of a hill overlooking Repulse Bay.  A jaw dropper of a place.  I particularly enjoyed meeting the people who work there, as well as the people from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and China.  The workshop afforded me a wider view of the international school world.  It was a nice feeling to be the rookie international teacher/department chair in the room.  It has challenged my interpersonal skills in new ways.  

     I went to the workshop with Rhonda Isley, my assistant principal, who was great fun to get to know better.  I learned new things about SSIS, too, which will help me negotiate my life there.  Rhonda has very close friends that live in Hong Kong, Bob and Susan, who were so great at showing us around and picking the perfect restaurant for dinner.  I know that my trip would not have been so diverse and fun without them.  

     My favorite story about Hong Kong involves Rhonda.  She left her passport and ticket in the airport and realized it as we were about to board a tremendously efficient internal train that would take us to our gates.  (By the way, we checked our bags at the train station downtown, and didn't have to touch them again until we got to Saigon.)  After going back for a look, and talking to guards nearby, she came back to begin making plans with me about having to stay and get a new passport and visa as she went with me to our boarding gate. "Don't give up yet."  I told her.   "Maybe your ticket and passport are waiting at our gate."  When we arrived to find no passport or ticket at the gate, I gave into the fact that Rhonda would not be returning to Saigon that day.  And lo and behold one of the guards ran up with Rhonda's ticket and passport with 5 minutes left for us to board.  After cheers and enthusiastic thank yous, Rhonda expressed that she could not believe it.  Rhonda has literally traveled around the world and she said that she could not imagine this happening in her life.  The man at the counter smiled at us and said "Welcome to Hong Kong!" in a Mr. Roarke sort of way.  "Have you been to Hong Kong before?" he asked us.  "No," I said, "but I will certainly be back."

     It was hard for me to filter how much of my enthusiasm for Hong Kong is because of how clearly different it is from Vietnam. Despite feeling like Times Square on New Years Eve, shopping in the main districts felt calm and quiet in comparison to the cacophony of Saigon. Goods were so plentiful and in convenient locations.  Saigon has many, many of the same goods, but they are all spread out among thousands of tiny stalls and shops.  It is hard to find the time to simply find things quite honestly. 

     Back on the home front, we were able to take the girls to the Dem San water park on a day that Vietnamese children in the whole country were in school.  It was great fun!  Water slides, a wave pool, and a "lazy river" which the girls decided was a circular lap pool in which you could swim very fast with the current.

     Back to routine, things are well.  Yesterday we celebrated Halloween!  Thanks to our friends the Perkins and their timely costume share, Maeve got to be , well, you can see for yourself...  

I went as Candi, the Krispy Kreme server.  Sophie refused to wear a costume.  We still got to trick or treat at faculty apartments and we went to an incredibly hectic Halloween Fair at school where we got to experience our favorite Vietnamese custom of people cutting in front of you in line all of the time.  Maeve and Sophie had fun despite.

     The week of vacation, Maeve, Sophie, and I all went to Well Being, a salon across the street from school, to get our shaggy hair tamed.  All three us us sat in chairs at the same time, and in the middle Sophie said "This is so fun!" (By the way, the total bill was about $8.00) It doesn't surprise me that  at home our favorite new game is salon.  Maeve has made the signs we need to know when the salon is available:

Charles realized why Maeve had asked him "How do you spell treats?" when he saw his addended shopping list:

     Maeve continues to enjoy dance class immensely.  We ordered a pink leotard, tights, and skirt today so she can have the same as her classmates.  Maybe she will blend in. (OK, maybe not...)

I hope you are well.  Drop us a line.

October Holy Cow I'm So Glad It's Break

     Bliss.  It is Saturday night, and I have the whole week off!  Nemo is the Saturday night movie on Disney Playhouse.  We just finished a dinner not nearly Charles Waugh quality, and it is officially time for the evening cocktail.  Charles, by the way, is most likely at a Cambodian Wedding with our friend Joel Conkle in Phnom Penh at this moment.  He left this morning to have a couple of days to explore and live an adult life.  He deserves it.  Joel lives and works in public health there, and is one of Charles' favorite people to argue with.  Has the makings for a great weekend for him.

     One of my favorite stories of the week was about Charles' trip to the Cambodian Consulate when he went to get a visa for his trip.  When he went to the pay window, they told him the cost of his visa, and everyone in the room laughed.  They explained that he could pay $10.00 less if he did not want to "expedite" his visa and wanted to come back later to pick it up.  

     We have felt this a lot lately - our "special price" because of the color of our skin.  Charles has taken  joy in playing hard nose in any flexible paying situation, walking away, paying for Xeom rides (motorbike) up front, and walking away from deals completely.  Quite honestly, our price is always at least twice that of the Vietnamese.

     I had my own trip to the American Embassy last week to get a document notarized.  To be sure, I idealized what I though a trip to an American Embassy abroad would be like.  You know, stately, refined people speaking in dignified whispers and cozy wing tip chairs in which to wait. Quite honestly if I had closed my eyes, I could have been at the DMV on Decker Avenue in Columbia, SC.  How do they do that?  How do they create that "Everybody's the same and everybody's stupid" DMV feeling half way around the world?  The guy who was pissed off and started threatening to give up his U.S. citizenship got to go before me even thought it wasn't his number.  How does that happen?

     I get to go to Hong Kong at the end of the week for a leadership conference.  Added an extra day for SHOPPING!  I am hoping to complete most of my Christmas shopping in one day.  Here, it is so hard to find things, and when you do, they are in 15 different stores.  The conference sounds like a good one too, incidentally.  :  )

     Maeve made my week when she said, out of the blue and while she was coloring,  "I used to be afraid of moving, but now I like it.  Know I know I can be happy moving anywhere. " It's amazing how kids let you know things that you want to know at just the right moment...

     Maeve's world of literacy is exploding.  She is beginning to read early texts, and her favorite thing to do in my classroom after school is create elaborate picture stories on the board.

Here is one of her most recent, involving a giant bird, a giant flower, and Sophie saving the day with her sword.

When she was done with it she said "Daddy, write And they live happily ever after... at the bottom.  He started, and she said "No Dad, in Chinese!" and proceeded to create a caption of what looked like Chinese characters.  "What does it say?"  Charles asked.  We didn't understand her answer.

   One cartoon on our one kids channel Playhouse Disney has made a particular impression on Sophie.  It is called Safety Patrol.  Charles hates it.  The kids stop the story line to say things like "Uh Oh, can you point out the safety violation here?" when a kid is walking up a playground slide the wrong way.  Then Charles says louder "Make sure you do what you want to!"  Anyway, the other night I was waiting in Sophie's bed for her to go to the bathroom before we read books.  Sophie came in, held up her finger and said "Uh oh.  Safety violation.  I forgot to wipe!"  (A divergent attitude from her sister who says "I always wipe.")

     We are proud owners of a safe.  I have to admit it makes you feel  like you have bucks, even when it holds only dollars that belong to my school to pay for my Hong Kong conference and our passports.  We have been advised again and again to have one.  With workmen and maintenance workers in and out, all who make probably $6000 US Dollars a year, some people in apartments have problems.  There is also the running out of Dong factor.  Most people go to the bank for their big black bag of Dong (See last week's post.) and stock their safes with a month's cash.

     Charles and Sophie made it to the Vietnamese History Museum to see the water puppets.  (Traditional Vietnamese puppet show in water.)  Can't help you visualize-haven't seen it yet.  Made a huge impression on Sophie.  Maeve and I are looking forward to going back with her this week.  Charles said they watched the show with an Irish tour group.  When he walked into the room, he laughed.  "Everyone looked like you." he said.  I think it struck him much in the way that I feel like I look like most of the women in the room when I go into a restaurant in Michigan in the summer.  And yet heightened.  We spend our days amidst tight, skinny, small Asian bodies.  Yes, we have lost a few pounds.  The girls are looking svelte and angular.  But by no means do we blend into the crowd.

     Last week was a tough one at school. With parent conferences and other extras, it was stressful.  This week ushered in the bottom of the pile!  I am hopeful that it is the beginning of a new comfort.  I can feel my real teaching "chops" coming back.  It is a good feeling. The lower school unanimously and emphatically said they would like to have books instead of basal readers this week.  The curriculum director asked my opinion about the matter just once, and after a passionate half hour soliloquy , I am not sure she is happy she did.  Even though it wasn't mine, the decision felt like a victory.

     One of the things I am beginning to accept, is that nothing is the same in Vietnam.  And I don't mean that it is not the same as the States.  It is not the same here.  If you find a good product at the store, you may not be able to get it again, even in the same afternoon.  If you know a restaurant or shop, it will move or close.  If you figure out how to do something, procedures change.  I have already mentioned the continuous construction everywhere.  It changes the physical landscape in ways that make you wonder if you have gone the right way... Charles said the theory goes that as a culture, the Vietnamese don't place an importance on consistency and live in the moment in ways we may not understand, mainly because of their continuous experience with war.  This country has lived in a state of uncertainty for as long as they can remember. They can't count on what is going to happen tomorrow.

     I had a couple of wonderful finds at our corner grocery store this week.  The first is a Vietnamese alphabet puzzle:

I was aware of all of the multiple sounds from the same letters because Vietnamese is a tonal language.  I was not aware of the missing letters like f, j, x, and y.  I wonder why the Vietnamese alphabet does not have these letters?

     These last find are the pieces des resistances...   I don't know what questions to ask. (?!?)

  

         More photos next time.  Hey - drop us an email sometime.  We miss hearing from people.  And when we miss events like the wedding of wonderful people like Alan and Joni, I get a little misty.  Enjoy your celebration you guys.  I know it will be one of the best parties on earth. We love you and will be there in our dreams....

Indian Food

    My first middle of the night writing in a long while.  It feels like a long time ago that we were all up in the middle of the night adjusting to a new time schedule. No doubt tonight's sleeplessness is due to the delicious Indian food,delivered right to our door, that has given me a raging case of heartburn.

     Last Tuesday was parent teacher conferences at school.  Maeve's, by the way, was stellar.  She has come so far and become so strong as a student.  She is happy, happy, happy.  And walks around like she owns the place.  

     So it meant that Maeve had the day off.  Charles thought it would be a great day to go to a place we had heard of called Questzone, an indoor playground for kids.  According to the Nordic Chamber of Commerce website Charles was going there.  A half hour taxi ride later, no luck.  Charles realized he could get all pissed off about it, or make the best of it.  Then he saw the Military Zone 7  South-Eastern Area Armed Forces Museum!  Wow I feel like I missed out having to work all day.  Here's an excerpt about the museum from the glossy brochure: With 609 exhibits, 242 pictures and 60 extra-scientific documents (statues, embossments, sand tables, maps....and so on), the central room is general pictures talking about the armed force of the South Eastern Area during 30 years of resistance(1945-1975).  Here, there are exhibits, pictures helping visitors to understand parts of simple lives but rich human-culture of the South Eastern fighters and understand popular events during the building and developing process of the South Eastern Armed Forces and learn more magnanimous battles contributing to make history crossroads for the two revolution wars.

Here is  a picture of Maeve and Sophie with Ho:

And a Vietnamese tank:

     

     After the museum, they went to a nearby park, which Charles realized was certainly more about the couples on every bench than children. 

 They played anyway...

     There are many moments that I am happy to be with my blue eyed daughters in this country. People smile and stare at them and we can often get away with whatever we want.  Sometimes, people want to hug and kiss them and squeeze their cheeks in ways that make me uncomfortable.  They deal extremely well with it.       One afternoon at school, a woman gave Maeve a running hug and picked her up and swung her around, showering her with kisses.  "I guess you know my daughter." Charles said.  We got the gist that she was the assistant in the early childhood room next to Maeve's.  "Maeve," Charles asked her as we walked away,"who was that?"   

     "I think it was one of Mommy's students."

     Charles has threatened to charge for pictures with Sophie when they are out and about.  Hey - we have to pay that South Carolina mortgage somehow, right?

     I went to the bank last week to wire money to South Carolina.  Going to the bank here is always fun.  The system is so antiquated in ways.  Despite the fact that they do use computers for everything, every transaction also has 15 duplicate forms to accompany it.  You have to fill out the paperwork for a withdrawl, and then go and sit down to wait for them to get ready to give it to you.  Then, you can put your money in the money counter to make sure you got it all.  It is amazing to me how much Dong people walk away with.  Many fill a thoughtfully provided black plastic bag with the stuff and walk out of the door!  Maeve was with me one day as a woman completely filled a grocery size plastic bag with Dong.  She looked at me with saucer eyes like "Can you believe it?"  

     It always puzzles me in a place where I am always being warned about watching my purse and Katy, a student teacher at the school, had her bag stolen out of the front of her bike basket just the other day on the main stretch of road between school and our house.  Watch your purse, but carry around the same black bag that everyone knows what is in it full of Dong?????

     Maeve and I had a wonderful Saturday morning at dance class!  We watched the end of the 3 and 4 year olds class before hers.  Can you say Asian adorable in tutus?  I started thinking about who will hopefully soon be a new niece from China and how cute she may look in a pink tutu.  The class was terrific.  An hour long (!) with a quick snack break and a wonderful balance of "Keep your legs straight." and joyful dance, which we know is Maeve's specialty.  The class was small, and Maeve was only about twice as big as all of the others in the class.  It will be a wonderful addition to our weekly routine.

     As things get more and more comfortable, they sometimes get annoying. I caught myself speaking in bad Asian English the other day.  I think I have entered the under water part that you hear about in dealing with culture shock.  (Where you begin to deal with things under the surface and not just as a tourist.) A great guy who has a seventh grader at school and is from the States talks about how he was homesick and had a hard time for about six months, and then it was OK.  It would be silly to say out loud that this is not the States.  With a great new printer at home, work has become a step easier, which helps. But there are times when the little details of living take up much more time than I want them to.

    When Sophie can't read something, even if it is in English, she says "Awww, it's Vietnamese!"  (which sounds more like Vinamese when she says it with her animated little edge.)  Someday, I trust, Vietnamese will not be synonymous with something we cannot understand... 

          

Hope you be keeping well.  Keep in touch.