This could be THE deal breaker right here....

So much has happened since my last posting, but all I can think to write about are all the damn cockroachEs. I absolutely hate these things. They haunt me for a good couple hours after I kill them. And not because I feel bad about it either. And why in my kitchen, on my floor? At least have the decency to stay hidden! And why are they getting bigger? I killed 9 in one night. Soren helped. I was proud of us. Matt was in the states. The thing I have learned. Is that you have to kill them immediately or they get away and run and hide and haunt you even worse and they do eventually show up again. I've also learned that I have zero control of the profanities that escape my lips. I know this is a major shock to everyone. Okay well it felt good to get that out. Maybe now(soon) I can blog about something substantial. Peace out. Xoxoxo

DayTripping

  Dentistry
So we took the kids to the dentist because they were all complaining that they were sure they had cavities. -They were THAT bored. So we went to the ‘Dental Street’. I say that because here in Vietnam, multiple businesses of the same kind will set up shop all on the same street/area.  Competition be damned.  Sofia goes in first and I go with her. The dentist speaks English, but I could barely understand him.  Sofia’s teeth were fine, but one needed to come out(baby tooth). So I said ok and he pulled it. I think he put a topical anesthetic…. And presto just like that Sofia has a wad of gauze in her mouth and we’re out the door. Under 10 minutes easy. Then Oskar came in and the exact same thing-(except his teeth had some decay).  He was told to come back in 1 month to get the another one out. Soren’s teeth were perfectly fine. We were very surprised.  We asked if we should do x-rays, he didn’t understand the question. I think the total bill was US $5.  We took Soren to an orthodontist, on a different outing. He wanted to pull 2 teeth before doing braces. We hightailed it outta there. We maybe wanted a second opinion. All in all, we are quite satisfied with our dental experience. When the time comes for actual drilling/cavity filling, I hope we remain pleasantly surprised.….And yes, I do trust the dentist and his ability/knowledge. But I am now even more weary of Dentists and their  expensive ‘protocols and procedures’  in the USA. I might even think it all very unnecessary……a scam you might say.




                                 Natural History Museum, the Zoo, and Fresh Donuts
Yes, just like it sounds, we did all 3 on the same day. And we took the bus home. We’re crazy like that. The kids actually enjoyed the Museum. Except Brighton of course. It was fascinating how old a lot of the stuff was. I mean like FOREVER ago old. And from different Dynasties and Empires. Tons of  Hindu deities and of course Buddha aplenty. Amazingly preserved and kept. The zoo was depressing, but aren’t all of them? The donuts were a hit, though not like the US at all. But that’s the beauty of it I guess.
                                       (NO pics for this-yet)


                                                                   Rosie the Elephant

Independence Day and Rosie the Elephant

I wanted to take the kids out o Independence Day, cause it was a day off and we had to do something. So we went to the ‘Backpackers’ area. There are fun souvenir shops, lots of westerners and western food. There is also a circus near there and I knew they had an elephant that has been captive for 18 years,. We went in the evening and when we go there we found out the circus was on a 2 week hiatus. But they let us in to see ‘Rosie‘-the kids named her. She is on a 15 inch chain and in a chain link enclosure.  About a year ago, an American woman paid for her to be in a covered enclosure. Not sure how the conditions were before that. There is a group trying to get her freed-into a zoo, I guess…. I’m not even sure if she is in the circus anymore, but I’ve been told that they won’t just release her/give her up-have to save face, or something like that. Very lonely elephant to say the least. We took her fruit and egg sandwiches and threw them over the fence for her. She wanted more and spit on us. I thought it was funny.  A caretaker on the grounds walked by and said “She crazy, elephant crazy”. I was annoyed and said, “Yes, because shes on a very short chain!” complete with hand motions and irritated tone. Sofia couldn’t gwet ovewer the saddness and injustive of it all and was dwelling on it forever. It’s a tough deal, because you can do nothing and it seems entirely senseless. 

 

We then enjoyed walking into all the fun shops and tour companies. I’ve got it all planned 
out for when/if  we have visitors. We enjoyed a nice meal of burgers and fries for the boys and curry for Sofia and I.

                                                                         

    If you look close enough you can see all the flags,......


Of course we decided to take the public bus home, so we have to walk a few blocks. We stopped for refreshment and picture taking along the way. We especially appreciated the Vietnamese Flags being displayed at every business. We take up a lot of space, even the whole of the bus stop benches.  It took us about 10 minutes to realize that it was too late for the buses, so we just hopped into a taxi.  

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

We attended a small gathering at the church and ate some amazing food and the kids played games. All the  young single adults set it up and organized everything. We had some small but loud drums and some fun lanterns in shapes and colors of fish, elephants, birds, peacocks, etc. They even had real candles

-LIT- in the church, what a concept. Fun and festive and the kids loved it. 

                                                           

                                                                              Moon Cake

Looks are everything~we haven't tasted 1 we like! (reminds of the 'fruit cake' thing at Christmas~does anyone really like those.....?)

Here's a link to what it's all about.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Lacquer Factory Tour

There is a Vietnamese lady in the ILV group that I belong to, and she owns and operates a Lacquer factory. Lacquer here in Vietnam is huge. All kinds of designs and all sorts of items. She exports 95% and has a small store in Saigon where she sells her excess. She allowed us to tour her factory. She hires the artists straight out of design school. The artwork is amazing and though they produce many of the same design, each one is hand done and therefore an original. It was fascinating to see how many steps and painstaking detail goes into each piece.  They were doing inlay eggshell as well as mother-of-pearl. Each little piece is carefully positioned.  Nga, the owner, is successful and humble and fun to be around. She started all of it on her own and built it up by herself. Love me a successful entrepreneurial business woman! She gave us all a gift-necklaces made out of water buffalo horn(I think-I had Dalila with me, and missed some minor details….). We then went to her shop and to lunch!

 Crazy shaped chest of drawers






                                                                                                      The drawers--------------------------->

                                                            Round chest of drawers

 pools of water where they wash and fine sand the product. And to the right, more drawers.

                                                               Artists at work.

 I love this pic because the guy has his cell phone sitting in the middle of it. Of course we teased him about it.

 The pools again, guys would just squat on these boards, dunking and sanding away.....

                                Egg shale inlay--------------->

Piles of pieces to be painted....... 











                                                                   Americans go Shopping
We 3 Americans~Ruthie, Lyndsay, and I, took off to the fabric markets.  I love going, but am always so overwhelmed by all the fabric. I have similar problems in the states going to JoAnns fabric, but this is to the 100th degree.  One of these days I’m going to pick out loads of great fabrics and take it all t a tailor and have some fabulous custom made clothes. All the people are doing it. We conquered 3 markets and got very turned  around, not lost really, but definitely not where we wanted to be. So we hopped in a taxi and found our way. We topped it off with an authentic lunch from Pizza Hut ;) Here are some pics, but really they don’t do the ginormousness of the markets and the quantity within, justice

                                        This is a Chinese Pagoda we saw while lost/confused.

                                                        Endless Fabric Samples

 I felt a bit foolish taking pictures here. Very close quarters and it's not like I don't already stick out....but then I remembered that the previous day, we were in a restaurant and the employees grabbed Dalila and all took turns posing in pictures with her-using their phones.



                                                  International Ladies of Vietnam….

A large group of us dined at some upscale(overpriced) French restaurant. Great view, mediocre food, hi-class service and  most importantly, Incredible company.  Many nationalities represented here, American, Vietnamese, Korean, Malaysian and Chinese from Singapore. Seriously some of the BEST laughs since my arrival.

                                               She now has 11 teeth, and I just had to put these pictures up!

First day of school!

Dalila is ONE!

                                             

Lady Dalila Shine graced this world with her presence on August 15, 2010 in Louisville, KY. She joined our family exactly 4 days later. Another girl, FINALLY! She is the happiest and funniest baby ever. We love her so much it hurts. Dalila gets cuter every day. I love this age because her little personality is coming through more and more.     

I wanted to have a little party for her. I tried to make it as exciting as possible with just the family. I decorated the kitchen.  Oskar and I blew up really bad heart balloons. Every other one popped in our faces as we were doing it, and the heart shape did not show. The birthday hats and little bunny decor thingy that I found at one of the markets were a hit.

I also got these super cute sugar flowers from the market for her cake. Of course, I'm ALL about the cake. So, I make one from a cake mix purchased here. A Betty Crocker brand import from the expat store. I'm thinking this should be good and easy. Cake falls apart in about 5 pieces as it's cooling. I'm pissed-big surprise, I know. So then I start crying. Matt is trying not to laugh. I'm totally upset, crying to go home....this place is stupid.... I just want a cute cake for her 1st birthday....etc, etc. Again, Matt is consoling me and doing a real good job of keeping his laughter in. Bless him. I get a grip. Matt insists on helping. I wanted to start over, but he salvaged it, took the kids to the pool for awhile and I managed to make and decorate a dang cute cake for her 1st birthday. WHEW!

                                                                

 I still haven't figured out what the problem with the cake .....exp. date, humidity, oven...? I KNOW it wasn't me. We had dinner and opened presents. I bought her a darling dress from the market, cuter on the hanger then  on the little Lady-whatever.       

                                                                                      

                                                  

                                        

                                                                                   

She also got a little stroller and it came with a big plastic white doll with blue eyes(that we ditched ASAP;)) She LOVES the stroller. I even caught her tying to put it in the toilet-her other favorite thing.                                    

                                                                             
                                                                                    

We sang to her and enjoyed the (surprisingly delicious, considering the drama involved) cake and ice cream. She was picture perfect darling all evening.

                                    

                                                                         

                                                                              

                                                                                 

Everyone was thoroughly impressed by my party throwing skills. We are easy to impress nowadays, but I have to admit, I was very pleased with myself and decided I would/could/should stay.