Deodorant

While sitting at the kitchen table working with Emma on her reading words, we realized that Xander was all too quiet. We went on a search and found him in the bathroom putting on deodorant! He's a little too young for it, but just copying what he sees mom and dad do.

Driving

We've been driving our car in Hanoi. The first time we drove to church, Christian asked: "doesn't it feel like we're going fast?" I answered: "Yes, it really does, how fast are we going?" Answer: 20 miles per hour!

It's just that crazy here : ) It's like driving amidst a swarm of bees. People weaving in and out of both lanes and driving all over the road. Nobody drives in a straight line. At a stoplight, (especially during rush hour) people cram into every available inch of space in order to make it through the light when it turns green. When we were driving home from parent teacher conferences last night I felt closter phobic in my own car!

It's actually polite to honk here as a courtesy to other drivers on the road - people just DON'T look around them when they drive, even when merging or turning. I rarely pass a motorbike without honking. Somehow I feel that if I honk 2-3 brief times it is more polite. I remember in the States, if someone would honk at me, I'd often get tears in my eyes because it was so offensive to me: "What? Are you saying I've done something wrong???"

These are some funny things I have seen in the past few days. A motorbike loaded up with mannequin parts. Bodices, heads, arms, etc. were strapped all over his bike, but the thing that was hilarious was that he had the long legs sticking out over his handle bars with the hips resting against his own stomach. From a side view it looked like he was driving his scooter with his own legs sticking over the handle bars. I wished I had the camera!

Today I saw the biggest "banana boat" of a scooter in my life. Imagine a skinny scooter with two ladies perched on it with huge three-foot round, four-foot tall baskets loaded FULL of green bananas on each side, and one strapped on the back. This time I did have the camera, but even going 20 mph it is dangerous to attempt to take a photo while driving.

Here are a couple photos from a blog Christian likes called HanoiJake. We love Vietnam.

Playing Cards & Goldfish

Tonight as we were brushing teeth, Emma said: "Mom, Satan is bad and Jesus and Heavenly Father are good. When they play cards, Jesus and Heavenly Father always win because they are stronger." My response with a straight face: "...humm, I bet you're right."

I love my kids and I must apologize for not keeping up with our blog. My intention was to post a little something every day, but obviously I haven't met that goal lately. I'll do better.

On the way to church last Sunday we passed a bike peddler selling pet fish. I was able to snap this photo of him. He looked at me as if he had no clue as to why I found him so interesting. I smiled and waved a thank you to him.

Visit to Special Needs School in Danang

During Christian's recent trip to Danang, the main highlight of his trip easily was his visit to a special needs school for mentally and physically handicapped children run by the Catholic Church. The school cares for children with all types of disabilities, caring for kids with disabilities from cerebral palsy to being hearing impaired. These children are largely at the margins of society and are neglected and ignored. They are prohibited from attending "normal" school.

It was truly touching to see the love that the nuns give to the 150+ children that attend the school. Some of the children live far outside the city and only go home one or two weekends a month. Christian was lucky to meet each of the children individually in their classrooms and to interact with them. Above are pictures of some of the students. On the left are some students practicing writing. Above right, Christian is interacting with some deaf high school students. They were very sharp and loved asking Christian questions about the United States. The school is really lacking in financial support since it is completely self-funded. The Embassy this year gave a small grant to assist the school but it really functions on a shoe string budget.

Christian's Travels

Sorry for not updating the blog more recently, Christian has been traveling for the last couple of weeks and life has been a bit hectic. A little over 2 weeks ago, Christian went to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for work meetings. He loved the vibrancy and beauty of the city and looks forward to going back sometime soon. Above is an example of some of the magnificent French architecture that still stands in Saigon (above left). His travels also took him to Danang where he met with local officials and religious leaders. Since the war, Danang has really thrived and is a large and growing city (above right). During his meetings, Christian had the opportunity to tell city officials of Grandpa Bitter's history of being stationed in the area. All in all, it was a fun trip for Christian. He is packing his bags again as we speak and will spend a couple of days this week in the Central Highlands in Pleiku meeting with local officials and more religious leaders. He hopes that his travel schedule calms down a bit after this next trip.

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.