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.
