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.

Xander Singing

Okay, this is a teensy weensie clip of Xander singing in church last week. He was belting it out (as he does every Sunday) with songbook in hand and I happened to catch the very last couple seconds of his singing. Christian just about died when I pulled out the camera, but I couldn't resist. Enjoy!

Emma Goes to Kindergarten

We sent our baby girl to kindergarten yesterday! We went to an orientation last Saturday and met her teacher who is also new to Hanoi. Ms. Annalee and her husband both teach at the United Nations International School. We are really excited for Emma to be going to such a great school.

Emma got her team shirt (the green one in the photo) on Saturday - she is an Eagle! There are four teams across the school and they have school spirit days where she will wear her Eagle shirt. Her friend Nina is a Tiger and Ms. Annalee is between them in their new classroom. Emma has 16 kids in her class and there are four kindergarten classes in all. They really try to mix up the nationalities and not have more than two kids from the same country in each class.

Monday morning, we all woke up at 6:00 to a HUGE thunder and lightning storm. It lasted more than 40 minutes before turning into an absolute downpour. Emma came downstairs at 6:15 fully dressed and said "Aw, my very first day of school is ruined!" We told her that there would be many rainy school days and not to worry. She was excited when we told her that she got to take her own little umbrella.

Saying goodbye to Emma on the bus was tender. As excited as she has been to go to school, the moment of truth hit when she got on the bus and the bus monitor buckled her in. She sat there with big eyes and butterflies in her stomach. She was being so brave! Both Christian and I went in the bus to give her an extra hug and kiss goodbye. Xander was ready to hop into the seat next to her and go for a ride. After school, Emma said that she was nervous and cried just a little when the bus pulled away. But then she remembered that going to school was what she really wanted and she sang a song to herself and felt much better afterward. Xander on the other hand missed her terribly all day long. She has had two wonderful days of kindergarten and loves it!

Bath before breakfast and our chicken

Just a few funnies to post for the day...already and it's not even noon yet. Xander's diaper was out of control this morning and he got a bath before breakfast, hence the diaper-only shot. I love Emma's striped "footie" jammies and rock star glasses look!

Yesterday I explored our street market in the alleyway next to our house. It was bustling with activity early in the morning and was so exciting. I bought some fruits, veggies, some pork tenderloin and a whole chicken! Helena Lopez from Beijing taught me how to shop for meat out of the street markets - thank you Helena! Anyway, they laughed at me when I had them chop off the neck and head and then teased me a little "are you sure you don't want to buy any of the organs?" - they had piles of organs on plates sorted by type...lovely! So this morning I was rubbing the chicken down with salt to clean it and I realized that the chicken still had feet. I'm just not used to seeing that on a chicken. The tendons are still attached so when you move the legs the toes flex out and everything...creepy! Emma was fascinated and grossed out at the same time. She asked me why it had a purple-ink stamp on the skin? (Kind of like our FDA approved label). I told her it meant that this chicken was good. She said "it means this chicken didn't run away?" I could just see the wheels turning in her head - yes, we're eating an obedient chicken who followed all the rules and played nicely on the playground. : ) I'm still laughing at her cuteness.