October 2010

October has been a historic month for Hanoi, as it celebrated 1000 years on 10/10/10.  On a much smaller scale, it was historic for us, being the first time we were not with Joseph to celebrate his birthday.  When we talked to him about his day, we were blessed by all those who made his day special.  The day before his birthday after his soccer game, girls from his college group sang "Happy Birthday" to him in 3 part harmony.  He was impressed.  The same college group took him out for supper and then on his birthday, our Pastor surprised Joseph and brought cake and ice cream after the college group meeting.  What a blessing to him and to us!

Brittany recently rediscovered her scooter, which was a perfect timing:
because of the 1,000 year celebration, the road near our house was nicely black topped.  At the top of the road there is a nice hill that Brittany is enjoying going down and seeing how far she can coast.  The pictures above and below show the old and the newly paved road.

Ann and I have been hosting the Alpha Marriage Course and we just finished our fifth meeting.  Wow, it is a great program!  We have been meeting at a restaurant - so we start off with a meal in a semi-romantic atmosphere, with each couple having their own table.  It is a little like a date night but with the purpose of learning new skills and ways to grow our marriage.  If anyone wants to join us, we hope to have it again sometime after the Lunar New Year (February).  Of course for some, the commute to and from the evening session would be a little tight - ha ha.

We cannot believe that October is almost over.  We hope to go and see the recently opened Citadel in Hanoi before they close it to the public (November 2nd).  It a Unesco World Heritage Site.  Here is one link if you would like to read more about it:  http://www.holidaysindochina.com/news_detail/51/114/Travel_Destinations/Hanoi_Royal_Citadel_Citadel_named_World_Heritage_Site_.html

This year has seen a lot of high level meetings, with lots of official processions being led by police cars clearing the traffic for the dignitaries.  A few times we have seen a special escort(never having a camera with us) of a group of police officers in special uniforms on Gold Wing motorcycles escorting the VIPs.  They sure look like fun to ride. Unfortunately, the legal max cc is 150. 

Swimming & Other Interesting Happenings

We went swimming this week at a pool near our house for the first time. The pool was wonderful for Ann to do laps, as it appeared to be Olympic-sized (50 meters). While Ann was swimming some laps, Brittany and I were playing near the side of the pool. This is when I discovered that the metal braces holding in one of the lights on the side of the pool was rusty and somewhat sharp. As I swam by the light, my finger grazed against the metal and my finger was cut.


The picture is of the little peninsula our house is on - The hotel in the picture is the Sheraton, where former President Bush and most recently (in August) Hillary Clinton stayed.  During the 1000 year celebration of Hanoi (10-10-10), we are wondering who will be our neighbor.


We were thankful they had a first-aid station. Next time I will avoid the sides of the pool. From the sidelines I got to see Brittany swim and do a pretty good job of keeping up with Ann.  (Update - my finger is healing nicely.)

This past Saturday Brittany had ballet at 8:15am and then basketball practice at 11am. Brittany is taken to practice by her coach and even brought home by the coach - so it is a great deal for me, because I get all that time with my daughter. We have had two practices and there are 15 girls on my roster. Both weeks we have had 11. Ann has been busy both Saturdays otherwise I would have some photos. Hopefully this next Saturday Ann will be able to take some pictures - and I'll post them here.

Last week Ann has made several trips to the Hanoi Music Academy to hear the first ever International Piano competition in Vietnam. She has had the privilege of coaching several students, who are students of a friend of ours and substitute teach another student.

Until her motorbike was fixed, Ann had to take the ever common Xe Om, a motorbike taxi.  The Xe Om drivers hang out on many different corners or in neighborhoods waiting for possible customers. The ones in the neighborhood are familiar to everyone and we greet them as we pass where they are sitting and waiting for customers. The one Ann had been catching is just down our little alley and around the corner.  The benefits of taking one instead of a taxi are:  1.  It's cheaper.  2. If you arrange it before hand, you get picked up at your gate.  3. You get dropped back off at your gate.  The last time Ann took the Xe Om, we saw the driver as he was coming back and we were going out for an early morning walk.  Ann asked to be picked up at 8:30am and he was at our gate waiting for her before 8:30am.

After her motorbike was fixed, Ann began driving her own motorbike. It is a challenge on the motorbike, with crazy traffic and traffic jams, but the most challenging thing was getting her motorbike up our new curb to come into our alley. In my last entry you saw pictures of the torn up curbs, but now there are newer, higher ones without the cement ramps that were there before. She made it, but it was a challenge. Ann's motorbike, which is a Honda Cub 50cc has been featured on the show "Top Gear".

To cap off the week of competition, there was an awards and performance night at the Hanoi Opera House.  The Opera house was built in 1911 by the French during their occupation.  The pianist whose students Ann was coaching was able to get us tickets to the packed out event.  He actually gave me his ticket, as he could only get two others (Ann & Brittany).  He was able to get in to see the performance though.  The last performance was by the winner in the college age group, who played a Concerto by Chopin.  It was a lot of fun.  Brittany enjoyed it as well, though it did get late for her, as the performance did not start until around 10 (after all the awards and speeches).

Well, I better end this entry.  It has been a full week.

Trying to Repair Motorbike Tire

As Ann needs her motorbike tomorrow morning early (found out this afternoon)to go to the first ever International Piano Competition in Vietnam, we tried to repair the tire late this afternoon. We have been out of town since Wednesday, with a return to a full schedule on Saturday, leaving an attempt to repair until today.

The road we use to go out to the main road is having new curbing put in and had a bulldozer pushing debris off the road as we attempted to leave. So I brought out my motorbike with Brittany on it and then pushed Ann's motorbike out. As we made our way up to the main rd., Ann and I switched back and forth from driving my motorbike and pushing hers.



As we searched, not a single place was open. I have yet to figure out the hours of the place nearest our house. Sometimes I see it open and other times not.

So, Ann drove home with Brittany (waiting there as it is a little dangerous getting back onto the sidewalk to our little alley). As I walked home with her motorbike I noticed a large number of people fishing at the lake - it seemed more than normal. I then remembered that there was a national holiday last Thursday (National Day) and that many people took the whole weekend off. That may explain why no place was open?

Ann and I decided that our trip was good for exercise. Now to figure out how to get her to the piano competition.

Sights, sounds and other senses May 2010

Ah, May is heating up and so is the humidity. We have been told to expect a very hot summer here. The heat index the last couple of days has been above 110 with it supposed to be even higher this weekend. Getting used to sweating and knowing that even if you were to go and wash, you would be sweating again just doing nothing. Unless you go to a room, close the door and turn on the ceiling fan and air conditioning. Ah, how wonderful is that.

In the last month as I drive my 125cc motorbike around I am amazed at the vehicles that are populating the streets of Hanoi now. The normal cars are Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, an assortment of vans and trucks and other types of cars. But the brands I see often and in both the Sedan and SUV version are: Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Nissan. I also see in less quantity, Cadillac, Porsche (sports car), Bentley and even two Rolls Royce.

As I drive around I also get to experience smells - my favorite is the smell of the meat for Bun Cha (a noodle dish) as it is being grilled. It is wonderful as I pass through the smoke as they cook right on the side of the road. There is one street in Hanoi that has several of these shops and if you drive down it in the morning, with the street covered in shade from tall trees, you will go through a wonderful cloud of delicious smelling grilled meat.

As you drive through Hanoi you can't escape the sound of construction. Hammering, drilling, cutting, pounding, and welding. It seems that even in most neighborhoods there is construction going on. At both ends of our alley there is a house being constructed, but we are close to the one that is much further along and we the sounds are faint.

There are more sights and sounds, but I will save that for another time.

House Hunting

To date, we are working with 3 real estate agents and tomorrow we meet our fourth. In Hanoi it is not uncommon to work with several Realtors, even at the same time.

When we call a company to meet with a real estate agent, they will call us back about a time to meet to see houses. They have to call the owners, as the owners will have to meet us at the house (no lock boxes). We then decide on a meeting point - we never go to the real estate office.

When we go to see the house, if the agent we are working with is not the one listing the house, the person who listed it in their company also comes. As the owners are meeting us at the house, most of the time the agent is calling them as we leave one house to let them know we are coming to their house. Sometimes we have to wait for the owner to show up, as we get to the house before they do. Today we had to wait at one house for about 20 minutes.

Some of the houses we see are down very narrow alleys (enough room for two motorbikes to barely pass each other). When we get into an alley like that we immediately start thinking about how the piano will be moved. Getting to some houses is like going into a maze and we are thankful we are following the real estate agent back out.

Today we met with two different companies. The first one met us with two motorbikes. The agent was on a motorbike with a driver and Ann rode on the other motorbike with a driver and I rode our motorbike with Brittany. At times it felt like a motorbike group - with the roar of the three engines as we came off a small alley to the major road. Well, "roar" for motorbikes here.

The second agent was on a motorbike herself - and I had Ann and Brittany on ours. At the second house we saw with this agent - the owner let us know she has other houses that we could look at. A number of owners, whose houses we saw today, have one or more other houses. Amazing.

Back in Hanoi

Ahh, we were welcomed back to Hanoi by warmth - around 90 degrees. Two days later it was back to around the normal temperature for this time of year - in the 60's, but then continued to drop into the 50's. Not too bad, except a little cool on the motorbike. We are thankful that as we have gone out it has not been raining, though the forecast was rain everyday - it has only been raining at night. Cold and rain don't mix well on the motorbike (right Joseph?).

We began house hunting almost immediately, but due to it being Tet, the Lunar New Year, we have only been able to see 6 houses. Nothing promising yet. We see more houses tomorrow.

We are staying at a friends house by West lake as we look for a house. A day after we arrived in Hanoi, our friends left on holiday for the Tet break - and Brittany is getting to experience taking care of a dog and cat, at least some of it anyway.

My first drive across town was interesting. The city has continued to block one direction on major and minor intersections that usually have major congestion. Most surprising was near where we used to live. As you go south on Lang street (it is on Google Maps), you can not cross the intersection of Tran Xuy Hung. You have to turn right, then make a U turn to the left, and then turn right on Tran xuy Hung. At this intersection they have a type of metal fence. On many of the minor intersections that have caused major congestion, they have put in a median and planted grass - so the intersection no longer exists. You have to turn and do a U turn further down to get across the street. I have been told that this strategy seems to be helping the traffic congestion. I'll try to have a picture in the future.

As I made my trip across town I was reminded again of house dangerous it can be. I saw this poor woman who had been on a bicycle laying on the ground, surrounded by a group of people. From what I could tell, a motorbike had crashed into her while she was riding her bike. I hoped she was not too hurt as she was moving.

As we are taking care of our friends dog, I have had the pleasure of taking the dog for walks in the morning. On these walks I have seen some very pretty birds - this morning I saw a bird with a very blue coat, an orange breast a long beak and about 5 or 6 inches tall. Wish I had my camera with me. I also saw, in what looked like a pool of water cut off from the lake, hundreds of fish with their heads above water looking for food. That is until I poked my head over the rail and they all decided it was safer to disappear. On the sidewalk I take the dog on, there are periodic man whole covers (but rectangular). As these are connected to the lake, a man had his fishing line down the whole. I'm not sure if his odds were better or not.

This was a long post - but much to tell in the short time being here. Next blog - about our house hunting experience.