Bikes

One of our favourite forms of entertainment is watching the streets to see what items are being carried on scooters. Almost everything that comes to our house arrives on a bike. Weekly groceries and water jugs, propane gas for the kitchen, and a new chair for the dining room are our most recent deliveries. Below are photos that we took last week when out and about: cases of beer, reams of paper, full water jugs, large propane tank, bags of ice.

Staycation

Last week was a school break week for SSIS. Tim and Lisa had a "stay-cation". One of the highlights was a Vietnamese cultural show called the AO Show. It is a wonderful acrobatic display using baskets and large bamboo sticks. The show tells the story of the Vietnamese people's daily lives in the country, working on farms, and in the cities, living in close proximity to millions of other people. Truly an amazing show and an unforgettable experience at the Saigon Opera House!

Another unique local experience was a visit to an orphanage outside the city where children living with the effects of Agent Orange are cared for by a team of Catholic nuns. These children are third generation victims of the American War.

A trip to the Saigon Post Office was another fun and functional activity. It costs about $1 to send a card to Canada and takes about a month to get there.

During the break Simon went to Doha to visit friends. He was busy there being a tourist, eating with friends, attending a day of classes at his old school, practicing with the QF Basketball team, and catching up with Ana and her family.

Russians and Ribs

Yesterday friends introduced us to two wonderful places in District 1. First was the Russian Market. It is called this because it is frequented by Russian expats looking to buy ski jackets and warm winter clothing for their northern vacations. The market sells clothing, bags, shoes, dresses, knapsacks that are actually made in Vietnam and exported to markets elsewhere. It appears that these are surplus goods and last year's styles. Great quality and great prices on The North Face coats, Nike athletic wear, MontBlanc bags, Timberland boots, UnderArmour sports clothing.

Our second adventure was to Quan Ut Ut American BBQ. We ate the best ribs we have ever had in our lives! And Tim would say the best honey corn bread in the world!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Living overseas can make a Canadian holiday a challenge! It can be hard to find the foods that naturally seem to go with that holiday. The weather does not reflect the season. The holiday is still a work day. And so it was with Thanksgiving this year. 

Challenge #1. Turkey. Lisa finally found a store that will order a turkey from a local farmer. But it takes 4 days and costs about $7 per pound. Also she remembered that she didn't move the roasting pan left in the bottom of the oven. However, there are lots of local pumpkins that look and taste delicious. So instead of having a turkey dinner, we invited friends for Thanksgiving desserts and ate pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin ice cream.

Challenge #2. Leaves. Saigon continues to be green, lush, and wet. We did discover some fallen leaves from the neighbour's Sa ke tree that worked nicely as decorations.

Challenge #3. Work! School! on Thanksgiving Monday. It just doesn't feel right.

But the day still calls for celebration and giving thanks which we did with friends and as a family. Of course we are missing Max especially. But we are thankful that he is celebrating in Nova Scotia with family, eating turkey, picking cranberries, enjoying the season, and giving thanks!

Wedding Pictures -- or not?

Every day in every district there are people having wedding photos taken. In the park near our house we see lots of brides and grooms, with occasional wedding party people. When we asked Nhung about wedding traditions, she exclaimed that the people we see taking photos may not actually be real weddings! She says that the local dress shops, tailors, hotels, and caterers take lots of publicity photos for advertisements. The only way to know for sure is to ask the couple.

Nhung also explained that a real wedding may take place on any day of the week and any time of year. Couples will choose a "lucky" day based on the Vietnamese calendar.

Also a bride will usually have three wedding dresses -- a red one to begin the day with celebrations at her family home, a white one for the afternoon celebrations with family and guests at a hotel, and a traditional Vietnamese dress for the final celebration at the home of the groom's family.

Rainy Season

Vietnam has two seasons -- rainy and dry. The rainy season in the southern part of the country (where we live) is from May to November. We have actually enjoyed the rains this fall -- they are predictable (usually in the late afternoon), short (30 minutes or so), and sweet (cooling off the temperature to something much more comfortable). We have learned to carry an umbrella everywhere and to wear clothes that are OK to get wet!

However the last couple of weeks have been none of those nice things. It can rain any time of day or night. And the rain has become much longer and much more intense. The locals are now calling it monsoon season and we can attest to that! Last night we took a taxi across town to watch Simon's team play volleyball and this is the sight that we had along the way -- roads flooding, bikes stalling, cars falling off the pavement.