Bizarre Close Encounters with North Korea's Foreign Minister

So Jennie and I were visiting Hanoi's #1 tourist attraction, The Temple of Literature, on Saturday (I think Jennie will post more on that later) when we had a pretty weird experience. The compound is a series of temples, and in one of the temples I turned around and saw a group of about 10-12 Asians being led around with a formal tour guide and interpreter. There were also several photographers and cameramen in toe. When the group got real close to where I was standing I leaned over and asked one of the photographers in Vietnamese who was the leader of the delegation. He informed me that it was the North Korean Foreign Minister (Pak Ui Chun) who was visiting Hanoi. Boy was I surprised to be that close to one of the leaders of one of the few countries deemed part of the "Axis of Evil."

I was also frankly quite surprised that he didn't seem to have any security with him and that they didn't clear out the Temple of Literature for his visit. Tourists were allowed to mingle around in the same areas and we were just a few feet from him a couple of times just checking out exhibits. All tourists are treated to a musical performance at a certain point in the tour and he received a special performance that they let other tourists also attend. At the end of the performance, they invited him and another North Korean up to the front to wear enormously hideous bamboo hats (about 4 feet around). Both dutifully donned the hats and smiled for the cameras. Unfortunately, all of our pictures turned out blurry. Before concluding his visit, he was guided over to the a big temple drum and invited to bang on it. Afterwards, he was ushered out of the temple from a side exit and into a nice new Mercedes flying the North Korean and Vietnamese flags - perfectly befitting every totalitarian dictatorship that spurns capitalist overindulgence.

Baptisms

We had five people get baptized this morning. It was wonderful to see our Vietnamese brothers and sisters on the rooftop of our church building being baptized. The Spirit was sweet and they were all so happy. They had so much support from family and friends. We had about 65 people at church today, including the mission president and his wife from Cambodia. Most of these new converts have been coming to church for many months. After church we had a big pot luck lunch to celebrate. It was a beautiful day.

Gargling Gargoyles

We would like to show you the new talents of our children. Xander does EVERYTHING that Emma does, and it pleases Emma to no end. Just wait little girl, it will soon drive you crazy! That said, the kids really do love each other. Xander's first words every morning are "Emma, Emma, Emma!" Whenever Emma is gone, Xander runs around the house asking for Emma. He's going to have a tough time when Emma starts kindergarten next month. It's hard to believe our little girl is old enough to go to school!

Christmas in July!

We received our shipment of 178 boxes from Prague this week! We hadn't seen these things for over a year and the kids (even mom and dad) were elated to see our long-lost "stuff." Xander had never seen so many toys in all his life, that he can remember. Emma was dancing around the house with her two stuffed puppies, now re-united after one was in storage in Belgium for a year. There were many other favorite toys and items that made us so happy : ) We've kind of been living with the minimum "stuff" for the past year. Christian and I worked SO hard to get most of the boxes unpacked and put away. We still have some to go, but we've made good progress. As the movers were bringing things in, Christian called up the stairs - "Jennie, are we going to have enough room for all your kitchen stuff?!? Every other box says 'kitchen' or 'porcelain'." : ) I love my pottery - it makes my heart go thump, thump, thump : ) In my defense, Christian had almost as many boxes of books. I guess we all have our weaknesses.

Silk Handicraft "Village"

We went to visit the silk making "village" today. It was more like an alley with shops in an outer district of Hanoi, but we got to see the silk fabric being made and Xander thought that was WAAAAY cool! Anything that makes a lot of noise with fast moving parts is fascinating to him. While I was checking out the shop wares, Christian took Xander again, and again and again back into the factory. Emma was content playing with a small dog that reminded her of a favorite children's book hero Skippyjon Jones, AKA: Skippito Freskito. We normally don't condone petting animals here, but this dog was an exception (the Rabies vaccine is in short supply).

Vietnamese funeral procession

A couple days ago I came across a funeral procession while I was out exploring. The first part of the video shows the musicians and the front of the procession. The second part shows the bus decorated in flowers and the mourners walking behind the bus. The closest family members drape white gauze across their clothing. Others family members wear white head and arm bands. Apparently, the wife cries out repeatedly "wake up, why are you sleeping so long?" to give the dead a chance to wake up before the burial. The eldest child is expected to mourn the loudest to show his love for his parent and to help the spirit reach the next world.

In addition to having a family shrine in the home, the entire extended family gets together every year to mark the death anniversary. There is a large feast and the eldest son is expected to pay for all expenses. The family also regularly burns elaborate items made out of paper (cars, clothes, houses, shoes, money, etc...) to provide for the spirit of the deceased.

If the body is buried (and not cremated) it is exhumed on the 63rd death anniversary and the remains are put into a clay pot in the grave to allow the family grave to be used by others (the Vietnamese do not embalm their dead). This is referred to as "changing the clothes" of the dead.

First day of tennis

Emma started tennis lessons on Monday with her little neighbor friend Kiera. They both did really well and the coach was so great with them in celebrating every small success. Watch out Wimbledon...

Photos of Hanoi

Here are some of our first photos of Hanoi. The first photo is of women serving Pho on the street : ) That one is for you Briant. The other photos are common things we see all the time. I bought baskets from the basket seller above. It was funny, he was trying to get twice as much and I was bargaining with him when a truck drove by and the guys in the window were laughing and smiling and making the number "10" with their hands. They knew he was trying to charge me too much. He ended up caving in and giving me the price I wanted to pay. I paid 10,000 Dong (about 60 cents) and he wasn't upset about it. The people here seem to be so good natured.

Happy 4th of July!

We've been wanting to catch Xander running on film for a while. His feet make such a cute "pitter-pat" when he runs. : ) He's saying "see, see, see" because he wants to see the movie.

Pottery Village

We went to a pottery village last Saturday. The whole village is shop after shop after shop of pottery. It's the only industry there and it's amazing to see the whole process being done all around you. Because of the rich clay soil in the Hanoi area, pottery has been made here since the beginning of time. The kids and I went to an exhibit on Vietnamese pottery at the Smithsonian last fall. It got me all excited to get here and see the wares...I love pottery! This is a photo of a guy in his shop. He was sitting on his little stool washing each piece by hand before he carefully packed them in the baskets with straw. We'll definitely be going back to this shop. Oh, another great thing about Vietnamese pottery, they don't use lead in the glazing process, so it is food safe all the way around.

Emma's Birthday

We let Emma choose which cake she wanted from our favorite inexpensive and close French Bakery. The cake was delicious and it lasted 4 days. Emma was cute, she'd say "no cake today, let's have some tomorrow." She's the boss, it was her real birthday!

Hang Da Market

After language studies today, Christian and I went to the Hang Da Market. It is close to our house and we hadn't been yet. It was fun to go and see everything for sale under one roof. Can't wait to get back and explore some more... The food looked and smelled so good (they had little "restaurants" there, but we didn't want to risk getting sick.

Emma's Haircut

Emma and I chopped off our hair last week. It is just too hot to have long hair, even when it is as long and beautiful as Emma's was. We were dealing with too many battles with washing and brushing out tangles. Now there are no battles at all - it's a miracle! And she looks so darn cute! I even cut Xander's hair super short. He is so wiggly that it takes me quite a few days to get all the cuts even, but here's an initial photo.

One Month in Hanoi

Christian and the kids in front of the Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum
(our house is about 3 blocks from here)

Well, it is hard to believe but it is true... We arrived here in Hanoi one month ago. We spent the first couple of weeks in a hotel but are really glad to be in our place now. We are living in an extremely expansive apartment that has the feel of a long and skinny townhouse. It has 3 floors with 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths and is located in the heart of downtown Hanoi. The layout of our apartment is a bit interesting but we like it all the same.

This is the view from our Living Room

Christian has been spending his time in language training so far which is one-on-one for 4-5 hours a day. He doesn't begin working at the Embassy until the end of August. Jennie began studying Vietnamese a couple of weeks ago as well and is a hard core student (9 hours a week in a two-student class).

This is the view from our Master Bedroom

As time has past, we've started to become more accustomed to life here including the insane traffic with crazy scooters everywhere. Everyday we feel like we're playing frogger just to get across the street. The heat has also taken some getting used to. So far we've been averaging days in the 90's with 80+ percent humidity which can make for some sticky times. The kids have loved having a swimming pool as part of the apartment complex. Jennie's been a real trooper in exploring the local markets and grocery stores and luckily discovered a very yummy French bakery just a block or so away from our place where we can buy great fresh bread.

Rain in Hanoi

We wanted to share our rainstorm from yesterday! This is looking out our front window. Our apartment starts on the 6th floor. Now you know what it looks like outside our apartment!

We are in the rainy season right now and it rains almost every day. It usually pours 20-30 minutes and then sprinkles for a while. Last week the kids and I got all ready to go to the pool and by the time we made it downstairs it was an absolute downpour! We decided to wait it out, then the kids got restless so we went outside, then I thought "hey, we're already ready to get wet...let's get wet!" We played in the downpour and were absolutely soaked in minutes. It was like standing in a nice warm shower - it was so cool! We played for 30+minutes until the lightning and thunder started up and then went inside. The next day we found out that it was the most severe rainstorm Hanoi had had in a 6-hour period of time. Here is a photo we got from a local online newspaper. It's someone riding their scooter waist-high in water!