Holidays

     We have returned from our journeys!  Yes, a little early.  We had some wonderful family time,  certain adventures, and learned oodles about ourselves and traveling as a family.  I am so proud of the girls - they are getting so much older and were great travelers, not always in the most comfortable of circumstances.  

     Paradise Resort was a little bit cabin, a little bit camp.  The older French guy who runs the place with his Vietnamese wife is quite a character - very welcoming and charming.  He had a little bit of Grandma Riley in him and looked more like my dad than anyone else we have seen in Vietnam.  The girls ran to embrace him. It was funny.

   The view from our bungalow at Paradise Resort.

   Lesson #1:  The Waughs have decided that we are a flying family.  

The train ride to Nha Trang was an adventure indeed.  Packed to the gills with locals, the train car that reminded me more of New Jersey transit than Amtrak provided a long ride. We were told that we did not need to buy a ticket for Sophie so Charles and I juggled her on our  laps for seven hours.  Don't ask about the bathrooms- let's just say that Sophie mastered a pretty awesome stand on the toilet and squat.

   Lesson #2:  Buy a seat for Sophie.

    When we arrived in Nha Trang, there was not a car to meet us.  (Never did quite figure out what happened there.)  It was pouring buckets and my friend had explained how dangerous and far the trip was.  We decided to not risk it, and stayed in Nha Trang for the night.  Good choice.

    The next morning we set out for Doc Lech beach.  A long but very cool taxi ride.  It was wonderful to get out into the countryside and away from the din of HCMC.  We enjoyed the beach, the amazing shells.  

     Meals were fun - family style as we met people from around the world.  I especially enjoyed talking with a young Dutch couple traveling throughout Vietnam.  A pair of women were there from Finland and staying 10 days!  I felt badly for them.  They hadn't yet seen the sun when we arrived and it was what they were counting on most.

    Maeve loved swimming with her dad in the waves most:

What is your favorite part at the beach?  I asked her on paper.  Playing in the waves.

     

 Here's an intimate glimpse of Charles' and my laying in bed conversation...

     "You know honey, I used to lead two week trips in the middle of nowhere and not be phased at all by lack of clean water, not showering, and sleeping on the ground.  I think I am getting a little soft.  I want a hot shower, fluffy towels, and clean sheets."

     "Yep. You're getting soft."

     " And the beach would be gorgeous and wonderful if it were not for the trash, cow poo, and sharp shards of glass."

     "Oh, now you are just being a snob."

     Needless to say, with the chilly weather, and the feeling that any moment someone was going to get gashed, we headed back to Nha Trang on the third day.  Did I mention that we never had enough toilet paper at any point on our trip?

     Lesson #3:  Julie Waugh had now surpassed the time of great joy from roughing it and  adventure trips. 

Maeve and Charles share a spot of tea on our porch.  Although 70 degrees and cloudy was not the best beach weather, it was glorious after our life in sweaty Saigon.  We all actually donned long sleeves.

Some of Sophie's treasure from the beach were leftover Styrofoam floats from the fishermen at the local village.

The beach is breathtakingly beautiful, even on a cloudy day.

Maeve and Sophie loved jumping the ferocious waves in the South China Sea.

Sophie spent extensive time making sand creations.

The shells were abundant and incredible.  Many were unlike any I have ever seen, and I have never seen so many in one place in my life.  We have beautiful collection of them at home.

Sophie especially likes the coral pieces.

A local fisherman in a traditional Vietnamese basket boat.

A tropical storm in the Philippines made the ocean very rough.  Maeve did enjoy her first lessons from her dad about wave surfing and riding.  Sophie had a chance too, but did not last as long.  They were the roughest waves I had ever been in!

Coconuts right outside our bungalow.  

     After three days at Doc Lech, we went back to civilization and treated ourselves to a nicer hotel room for one night.  Nha Trang is a huge tourist destination in Vietnam with beautiful beaches right downtown.  We enjoyed the restaurant Louisianne, with western style food,  a pool, and beach side umbrellas and lounge chairs. It felt a little like Grandma Sundberg's Ocean Club. We ate there more than once.

     We ventured on cable cars over the ocean to Vinpearl resort - a very upscale resort but also aquarium, and small amusement park.  A couple of hours of good ol' tourist fun.  The cable car trip alone was awesome.  We enjoyed the family car bumper car session too.  The place was empty because it had rained all morning and was "chilly".  It was our best spur of the moment decision on the trip.

     

The view from our hotel room in Nha Trang.

Nha Trang rainbow.

The very cool aquarium on Vinpearl resort.  It had one of those moving conveyor belts that went through a large tank.  We got to see rays, sharks, and huge sea turtles up close.

Maeve the climber, at the Vinpearl kids play place.

View from the world's longest cable car ride over ocean.  This was a cool part of our trip.

     After unsuccessfully trying to secure plane tickets back to Saigon for us (It is a big travel season as we near Tet, the Lunar New Year and Vietnam's largest holiday.), we settled for the blue train.  It was much nicer and cleaner.  Maeve and Sophie loved the novelty of sleeping on the top bunk of the train.  That was until Maeve felt "trainsick" and had a hard time.  It would have been fine if I could have slept at all on a moving train.  Coming home to our own beds was a treat.

     Lesson #4:  The Waughs have decided that they are a flying family.

Top bunks on the improved train ride on the "blue train".

     In all, we had some good times. Cool weather, quiet and ocean, seeing new places. Was it the incredibly relaxing getaway I longed for?  Sorry.  But we are learning that living in a foreign country is often like that.  You are never quite sure what you are going to get.  We did get a good sense of what travel in Vietnam is like, and will make smarter decisions about our next trip.  (Flying within the country, for example, is not that expensive and we could probably budget for it.)

     We were also incredibly proud of the girls and what good travelers they are becoming.  If we were moving, be it train, taxi, or cable car, they were pretty happy.  We will work on their picky eating habits which provide a travel challenge. (And life challenge!)

      Tomorrow morning we head to the known fun place Dem Sen water park for a  last yahoo before we go back to routine on Monday.

     Happy New Year! One of my resolutions is to write more and keep up with this blog. Tan biet for now....

    

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