My trip to the grocery store tonight...

On my way to the grocery store I have to cross a major road that has a pedestrian crosswalk, but no traffic light. I often think "this is crazy!" as I cross the street, sometimes I get angry, and more often I just wish I had the camera. So tonight I grabbed the camera so you can see first-hand what my journey looks like. Please step into Hanoi traffic with me and enjoy! By the way, I have been wanting to film this ever since we got to Hanoi. Christian just beat me to the punch with that great video he found online a week ago.

Moon Festival

The Moon Festival is a BIG DEAL here. It's just as big a holiday as New Year's Eve in the U.S. It is a celebration for children after the harvest is over. Children sing songs and parade through the streets under the light of the full moon holding traditional star-shaped lanterns with lit candles inside...highly flamable, incredibly difficult to assemble, and NOT child safe, I might add - we had quite a few lanterns go up in flames, which added to the excitement of the evening. Above is a photo of the Moon Festival party we had with the kids we go to church with. Below is a short video of our parade. It was really cultural and lots of fun.

Emma's school also celebrated the festival and all the children wore the traditional Ao Dai (pronounced "ow zigh"). Here is a photo of Emma's kindergarten class.

Pho-eating Kiddos

I've been on a Pho kick lately and I'm glad that it makes an easy dinner when Christian has to work late. Kids, how about going out for Pho tonight? YEAH!

While we were eating, a woman told us that she had special Moon Festival gifts for Emma and Alexander. She went out to her scooter and brought back some good noise-making drums. It was an instant hit, and I'm just glad it was at the END of the meal. ...And I'm glad that we were the only customers in the restaurant at the time. The employees all thought the noise was cute. This is a quick movie of the drum craziness in the hallway that leads to our apartment.

Crossing the Street in Hanoi

I found this online and felt this short movie does a pretty good job of showing the real situation we encounter every day when crossing the street in front of our house. I especially like the hip cam so you can understand why Jennie likes to start singing the frogger theme song every time we head outside. It is even more crazy near the Embassy and traffic seems to be getting worse every day now that school is back in session.