snow has returned....

What was originally intended as a dinner party, turned out to be an intimate family-style dinner with our household plus Stuart's friend and his dad. The food was good and the view out the windows was beautiful, so as disappointing as it was to have to cancel the party due to the snow... well, at least was enjoyable. The trees that surround the house were covered with a fair helping of snow and the whole front yard was white.

The two younger ones, Ryan and Audrey, took off down the street and played down the street with the neighbors. They were all glad we live in such a hilly area--perfect for sledding down the streets.






As of this morning, the deck is still covered, the fog has hidden all the neighbors and it's a bit of a winter wonderland out there.

If it melts we're doing an encore performance of the dinner party. If not, maybe we can friends over tomorrow? Frustrating, but the kids love it.

As for me, it's back to organizing my sewing area and prioritizing projects.

KL Tower

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...The KL Tower is fourth tallest building in the world and features, much like the Space Needle in Seattle, a revolving restaurant and an observation deck. We, obviously, were there in the evening and couldn't figure out how to get into the park where it's located. Frustrated, but I'm still shaky with heights, so I didn't mind too much.

Return to Tam Ky Orphanage

Photos from Asia #2: KLCC

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is an incredibly modern city that bustles all day (and probably all night, though we always stayed in). People are always coming and going somewhere with tourists nearly always heading to the KLCC. It was the one place I definitely wanted to see--home of what was just a decade ago the tallest buildings in the world, the Petronas Towers.

Behind the towers, as part of the KLCC, is an enormous children's playground. Unfortunately, it's patrolled by police officers who don't allow big kids like Audrey play on it. We wandered around and managed to pretend to play just for a picture. It was a bit odd for Audrey to be chased off the play structure and additionally strange since there wasn't another kid anywhere on the sprawling playground.

The Red Palms are all around the property and are just super pretty with their colorful trunks.

Unscripted and sweet. They were discussing the cotton candy choices at a candy shop. I can't remember if this was in KLCC Suria or the Pavillion shopping center.

Kuala Lumpur has definitely lost its 'developing world' look and could easily be mistaken for Los Angeles, except for the Islamic holiday sales and Malay-language signage. This is, for sure, at the Pavillion, a large shopping center with an impressive food court on the very bottom floor.

More than a quarter-mile tall, the Petronas Towers were pretty spectacular.

Photos from Asia #1

So, there are a ton of photos that I didn't get to share due to a number of Internet/computer/camera problems, but now that we're back home...here they come.

The first few come from our stay at the Tokyo airport. We'd originally planned to take the train into the city, but when we got up there to purchase tickets we realized that it was going to cost us nearly 200USD to get into/out of Tokyo. Since that was more money than I had (I was already in the hole!), we stuck around the airport and visited the numerous gift shops. These were some of the fun things we found...

Multi flavored Kit-Kat bars:


Delicious Mochi: Chocolate, Caramel Pudding, Red Sweet Potato and Black Soybean Flour were just some of the available flavors.


Anything and everything in Green Tea flavor.


Strawberry Oreo bar


Plastic coated Japanese food (those are the prices, with 90yen=1USD)


And in case you wanted to look like you'd traveled further, you could buy Florida macadamia nuts, Las Vegas chocolate chip cookies, The Great America truffles or Mexican cashew cookies. Weird.

Traveling with Teens...

After the time traveling with Stuart and his friend, I figured I could write a little about taking teens abroad. Lucky me, Travelfish published it. Read it here.

what we are up to...

Visiting the coral-filled shore...

Watching a trained monkey retrieve coconuts then sit on the kids' shoulders...

Riding through the jungle on an elephant...

celebrating on Koh Samui

We made it out of Bangkok via train on Tuesday morning and spent the next eight hours choo-chooing down to a small city called Surat Thani. The kids slept nearly half the time, which was good for them (and me). Audrey was kind enough to let me borrow her lap for a bit and I, too, caught a bit of a cat nap. We'd been out far too late the night before at the night market (but did find Stuart some more school clothes) and then re-packing. I had to buy yet *another* suitcase there.

Did I mention that before? I'd sent Stuart along with Thang to ship some things home via the slow boat and had stuffed it all into a duffel bag. I reiterated to them both, Stuart and Thang, that I needed the bag back for packing other things to bring along, but in the chaos of the post office and numerous papers to fill out, the need to bring it back was forgotten. So the duffle bag was mailed home. Unfortunately that means we were short a suitcase. And of course this was the day before we were leaving Thanh Hoa, so I had little choice but to run to the open market across the street. I spent 150,000VND (about $8) on a small duffle. But the next day as we hobbled up the street to find our hotel, the handles broke off the new duffle. This was a problem and, of course, the solution would be to spend even more money. The night before leaving Bangkok we found another bag (and it did make it through the next leg of the journey).

Anyway, now after all those hours in the train, staying overnight in Surat Thani (in a crappy hotel, but getting to eat decent chicken at KFC), then a ferry ride and 1/2-hour car ride, we finally made it to Koh Samui. This is finally vacation.

I'd intended this to be our time to celebrate. Couples have anniversaries every year, but our trio hasn't marked an anniversary in several. But this year is special. We are celebrating our 10th anniversary as a trio and I'm thrilled to be in a place so beautiful and so calm to remember it. We've struggled through so much heartache, frustration and poverty over the years. Those things haven't really gone away either, they've just eased a bit. But in the fall of 1999, when we moved out of our family-of-four house and out on our own, I would never have though we would ever be in Thailand. Or that I would love teaching English in a small university in Vietnam. I never though I'd want to write a book or that my kids would be so eager to try out the world. I'm so grateful for all the people that came along the way to encourage me to do more, see more, trust more.

During our anniversary trip to Koh Samui, I'm thankful for so much. For my great kids, my family who help me in so many ways, for my students who've shown me such love, for Keith who went to Vietnam first, for Brian giving me two smart, funny and eager children. Truly, who'd have ever thought this is where I'd be ten years later.

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Happy 10th to us...

At our hotel (Samui Reef View Resort). Not bad for $35/night.

The reef that we have a view of...


Details from a temple being built down the street from our hotel in Koh Samui.


Goodbye Bangkok!

Hitting the streets of Bangkok

Long time no see, eh? Thanks to intermittent Internet in our dorm room, then the travel and lousy Internet at the hotel we are staying at... yeah, it's been far too long.

Brief update...
-We spent two days in Nha Trang, one of them at Vinpearlland. The *best* place to take the kids for a holiday, I swear. The waterpark and amusement rides and bumper cars and arcade all added up to a lot of fun. We also visited some Cham towers and a really huge Buddha.
-Zach went home after one more costly weekend in Hanoi.
-We said goodbye to students, friends and shopkeepers before heading up to Hanoi last Friday (11/9).

On the morning of the 12th, we flew via Asia Air to Bangkok where we were greeted by a city more cosmopolitan than any other I've seen. Could there be anything further from the streets of Hanoi than the streets of Bangkok? I think not.

So for the past three days, we've been checking out the shopping life of the city. We visited the Siam Paragon, an astoundingly large shopping center with Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Porsche and even Lamborghini stores. A bit mind-blowing to see the amount of money that people can and do spend.

Then there's the shock of the sex industry here and just how overt it is. The foreigners who come here with their pasty white beer bellies and loads of cash make us all throw up just a bit when we see them fondling local women. Or are the women? It seems that for those dressed up in what I would deem clothes suitable for prostitutes (or 'prostates' as Audrey often misspeaks), out of them I'd venture to guess that a third or more are actually men. We've had to have conversations that I hoped would never happen, but the kids have become better world citizens and more understanding of the ways that the world works, including why it's so abhorrently wrong.

As for our plans, we head out tomorrow morning on the train. We'll head down to Surat Thani for a night, then take a ferry over to Koh Samui for a few days of rest and relaxation (something I could certainly use about now). I'm fighting a nasty cold and hoping that the four days of doing nothing much will help me feel well enough to do the rest of the trip. On the 21st we train on to Penang where we switch trains, then continue on to Kuala Lumpur. We'll spend three days there we get on that final flight and head back to PDX.

I will try to update, but it's harder than I'd like to get on the computer and the Internet (this is thanks to Lyle in Bangkok). I'm getting emails, but responding is difficult. For brief updates, you can check out my facebook page.

we made it to Tam Ky

We arrived in Tam Ky this early afternoon to an ecstatic Mrs. Hanh waiting for us at the train station. Audrey has now surpassed her in height, how cute. She got us back to the GVN house via taxi, got Grandma starting lunch for us and headed out for a meeting. Meanwhile Me Ba came over. She works at the Quang Nam Baby Orphanage still and the head caretaker there; loving and nurturing each child that comes through there. There's something about her that is so inherently kind and it was wonderful to see her again, weepy at our reunion. The real reason for her visit was the ao dai.

One of our favorite kiddos from the baby orphanage when we were here was Quang, a rambunctious little boy who took to Stuart on our first day here. Every visit they were side by side. Four weeks after we arrived, Quang was adopted and now lives in Florida (near another set of siblings we adore). His mother contacted me and asked me to help get Me Ba an ao dai and through emails, phone calls and the help of several others, Me Ba is now the proud owner of a beautiful gold and black ao dai. It fit her perfect and she looked every bit the beautiful Vietnamese woman.



This afternoon I have to get some pictures printed and deliver nearly 100 pieces of clothing to the kids. We've also gathered almost $200 to go toward the kids, but I think I'll be plunking down some more cash to help out. They have some good programs going for the orphans with extra fruit, a monthly feast and paying the school fees for the kids at the Home of Affection. If you are interested in helping out, shoot me an email. I can easily get donations to them for the next two weeks (when we'll -gasp- be leaving Vietnam).

When Me Ba left, she gave me a short lecture in Vietnamese. I understood little--vui (happy), cam on (thank you) and yeu em (love you), but I know she meant well. We were both a bit teary, not quite willing to quite hugging each other, knowing that we both care about these kids--the orphans and the adopted children. In that, we agree and I know it. Even if I can't understand what her voice says, I can see it in her eyes.

at Tam Coc

heading out

I've been trying to update this page for some time now with pictures, but rarely can I get on and even more rarely can I upload pictures. What a shame. So what's been happening?

Last Sunday we went to the beach with students from the first year: Giang, Giang and Thanh all came, the last two bringing along their families as well. The group of us took a taxi out to Sam Son beach and hung out for hours with Audrey getting a new kite, courtesy of Giang (her former tutor) and playing in the water. I wish I'd had more time to chat with the students but Audrey wouldn't go into the ocean alone and neither Zach nor Stuart would join her swimming. Too bad, boys, because the water was great. So nice and warm with no crabs or rocks to step on. The big group of us headed out on cyclos after dark to enjoy dinner at a seafood restaurant. And of course, the kids had to play with their food. Crab claws were the hit of the party to be sure.

My other student Ha had her baby on Wednesday-woohoo! Nearly two weeks overdue she was more than ready. I'll head over next week for a quick peak, but since I'm still fighting a bit of a cold, it has to wait.

Oh! I almost forgot...last Saturday we brought Chinh along to go to Tam Coc again. It was beautiful and nearly deserted. Despite growing up less than an hour away, Chinh had never been to Tam Coc before, so I was happy to be able to bring her with us. Plus she helped us out by getting us on buses for the trip rather than the expensive taxi ride I was planning.

And tonight we head south to Tam Ky. We'll be there tomorrow, early afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing Mrs. Hanh again and hope that some of the volunteers stick around so I can talk to them about the kids. After our quick jaunt there, we'll head off to Nha Trang (another 10 hours on the train). The plan is to be there for about two days then head back to Thanh Hoa on a 21-hour train ride. Me and three kids...should be entertaining!

travel is for the wealthy

And the definition of wealthy changes wherever you go. In Vietnam, I make enough money to afford us to spend our weekends in Ha Noi, traipsing around the city eating expensive Western food and taking taxis to museums. I come back to Thanh Hoa and gripe about the insanity of prices in the northern capitol, glad to be back in a small city with prices I'm more than happy to pay. Less than a dollar for three bowls of ice cream. Dinner for four costs less than four dollars. I am happy to drop a few thousand VND in the upturned cone hat of the beggar woman at the market; she clearly can use the help as she scoots across the wet fish market floor. I feel like I'm spending my money wisely; I'm thrifty like that.

Then a student tells me how if life had a do-over, she'd be a doctor. She could make a lot of money. She could be rich. She could make, she paused for effect, more than 5million VND a month. She'd be rich! I made that much in the first few days of the month.

She imagines being so rich and I complain that it cost me 300,000VND for a pizza dinner in Ha Noi. Or that it will cost me more than 3million VND to get to Tam Ky so I can deliver these clothes for the orphanages, help Me Ba get a new ao dai, visit orphans who've no doubt forgotten us in the repeated comings-and-goings of volunteers.

But I can. If I want, I can spend those millions. And I will spend that and more, taking the kids down south...to Nha Trang, Da Lat, Hue? I don't know, but our biggest constraint is time, not money.

In this life of juxtaposed wealth, I forget how lucky we truly are. And I'm afraid the kids will never know. In a month, we'll be back in America, scraping by month to month on a salary that puts us a few grand below the poverty level. I'll continue making rice dishes and eating little meat simply because I can't afford it if I have to buy milk and fresh fruit, too.

It's a strange place to be--this temporary wealth, where I look for hotels at the beach and far-away attractions knowing that I'll be there before long. We'll be off to Bangkok soon, then through Thailand and Malaysia before heading home. I'm researching budget hotels and how to buy train tickets online. Thrift is in my nature. But the realization that this life of extra is something that those I care for most here in Viet Nam can never have stings. And it fights with my maternal drive. I want to show my kids all that I possibly can, yet in my rush to give my family a wider vantage of the world, we remain blind to so much.

Returning to Sam Son beach

After more than nine weeks in Thanh Hoa, we finally returned to the beach that sits only 15 km away. I'm not sure what took us so long to get back there, but either way the situation was remedied. I had the middle of the week off, so on Wednesday morning we took a taxi out to the beach we'd visited so many times before.

Stuart and Zach collected shells, crabs and other "waste" from the fishing nets. When the boats come ashore, they clean out the nets and all sorts of things find their way onto the shore.

Including this fantastic horseshoe crab specimen. Audrey was especially appalled when some locals started playing with it, flipping it over, etc., but someone nicer came along and lifting it by its tail, threw it back out to sea.
Audrey and I on the rocks. We didn't yet have the deep red glow we would acquire by the end of our three-hour visit to the beach. Ouch.



Audrey is always happy to pose for photos. The cheesier, the better.


For a snack, I bought xoi (sticky rice) from this woman. I know I paid too much, but there are times when I feel like it's worth it. She was so kind, she deserved the few extra VND.

Overall the trip was enjoyable. We were originally bombarded by sellers and children who would not leave us alone, but a few fellow sellers chased them off from us. It's always an awkward situation to be trying to set up a beach spot and have people surrounding us, touching us and talking quickly in a language I do not understand. And despite our answers of "Khong...khong thich...di di" they just stay pushing their wares at us.

Then, of course, there was the man who was trying to let me accept a massage. I finally got him to leave, but when he returned the second time he just kept touching, squeezing my arm, then my leg, then grabbed a handhold on my breast. I nearly punched the guy, but managed to keep it to a hard shove. So frustrating.

The kids were all enjoying themselves and we'd rented an umbrella, so we stuck around longer than we should have and three days later, none of us are sleeping well due to the burns. Oops. We forgot our sunblock in Hanoi and the stuff is unfindable around here. The locals carry umbrellas and wear long-sleeves, what would they need it for? So, we all pay the price. But next time when I say we really should go, I'm pretty sure Audrey will be more apt to believe me.

sigh...

How is it that no matter where you are life does not go according to plans?

Our time has been cut short by more than a week; a week that we were going to spend traveling around the country. Unfortunately when our visas were renewed, they only gave us until the 12th. I will finish work on the 1oth, head to Hanoi, then leave the country. I'm so frustrated I could scream. Not only for the limited time, but for the lack of travel we've been able to do. Each time we've planned to go to Ha Long bay, a storm has rolled in, cancelling our plans. Then there's the surprise vacation, mid-week. I will have Tuesday-Thursday off this week, just enough to not really go anywhere. We'll head to the beach and hope for some fun, but I'm fighting a cold and grumpy as all get out.

I was given no warning of the days off, the money lost. And I've got three kids who've seen more of the inside of a dorm building that they've seen of Vietnam. Quite frustrating.

Hopefully on Saturday we will be able to get to Tam Coc, but I'm afraid that Ha Long Bay and Sa Pa will not be seen this time. And my plans for Da Lat are sinking fast. I have obligations to get to Tam Ky and we may just have to do that instead.