Posts

Bubbles and blackouts

-
Image
Not much is going on after the week break, but that’s not a bad thing.  We’re in our routines and doing our things, school for the girls and the day to day of life and the house with me.  It’s the long stretch now, however.  There are days here and there, but the next big break is February for Chinese (Lunar) New Year.  So, it’s kind of a long slog until the next break, but when that comes it’s gonna be a BREAK!  Part of that is it’s a month off, the other part is we are pulling together plans. As it stands now, we are planning on getting back to Thailand and going to Chiang Mai and an elephant sanctuary.  We didn’t have the time while we were in Thailand to get to one, but we always wanted to do so.  Now, however, with a month off, we are thinking it might be a good time to do that.  Besides, Kiddo around elephants…. I mean, I’m giddy just thinking about it.  After a few days there, we’re thinking we can get to Da Nang and beach it, relax,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Like the movies

-
Image
The girls had school on this last Sunday, but the good news to that is they now have a break.  The first week of October is Labor Day/Week here and so they are off from 1 October until 8 October and we get some time together.  It’s a needed break, as both have been working hard.  J, on her masters and as Language Art coordinator for grades 4/5 and for Kiddo it’s because Grade 3 is hard.  I don’t say that mockingly.  A lot of new stuff is coming at her and her class got mixed and separated, so her bestie H is in a different classroom, so there is the social pressure of new kids and new friends as well.  It’s time to have a little down time and sleep in and just chill. We’ve been having some lazy fun.  On Wednesday, J and Kiddo redid her bedroom, completely redoing where and how it was set up.  It needed the deep clean as well, so that was an added bonus.  We moved everything, though.  The bed is in a new spot.  The turtles have a n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Falling for it

-
Image
The school year has it’s ups and downs and this year will be no different.  Kiddo had a bit of a meltdown this weekend over some homework and math practice she needed to complete, but we got thru it.  She was forgetting to carry the one or borrow the one in adding and subtracting 3 and 4 digit numbers.  So, I found a way to help her remember and we crushed some practice.  I found a way to make it personal for her so she’d remember.  Kiddo loves animals, so in adding, I told her to carry the baby mouse up to it’s new house and when borrowing, she needed to ask her neighbor to come over and play.  She got it and it stuck with her.  Carry the baby mouse up or ask a neighbor to play.  It was cool watching her click with it and mumbling to herself as she did the practice. Besides that, it was a great weekend.  It was 25ish (77F) all weekend and that was awesome.  We had the house open and fans on and nothing more.  It was so nice to ge...
Post a Comment
Read more

The bold and the beautiful

-
Image
Yesterday morning I was walking with Kiddo to school.  There’s a thing here with babies where the will take them out and not have bottoms on.  Just Winnie the Poo’ing it.  The why or what or reasoning behind this escapes me.  I’ve read that it is a relic of the past, but it also stems from a want to eliminate diaper rash, especially in the humid summers in Shanghai and some other regions.  However, it happens and we’ve just kind of gotten used to seeing it and we all roll with it.   So, Kiddo and I are walking and she’s holding my hand telling me something Kiddoish and we’re just having a walk to school.  Normal day.  Suddenly, “Well, there’s a naked baby… that’s a bold choice.”  I cracked up.  Her use of language is too much some times; or should I say that her word choices are, sometimes, a bold choice.  HAHA Besides that, Kiddo had a play date on Sunday with good friend H.  She and H are in different classes this year, s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Four days in Saigon - The Finale

-
Image
**** Please note: Parts of this were written in Vietnam on different days and some waiting on my flight and some while back in Shanghai.  Please roll with the reference to days or timeframes.   It’s the pace and the frenetic energy that always grabs me.  It’s indescribable, inimitable, and unlike any other city in the world.  HCMC (Saigon) is my place in the world.  My metaphorical home.  Everything about it makes sense to me and makes me feel like I am part of it; that it flows through me and is part of me.  Sure, I will admit, that is outsider syndrome, as I am on outsiders looking in.  Yes, maybe if I grew up Viet I would see things a whole lot differently.  However, as a visitor it’s a place I never get tired of going back to again and again.   There are problems, don’t get me wrong.  A million and two scammers looking out for a white face or foreign person to try to get over on.  There is infrastructure problems. ...
Post a Comment
Read more