Finished

Finally it's here, that day that teachers, parents and students all love - the first day of holidays. I am sitting in a very quiet house at the moment everyone is sound asleep, even the street is quiet this morning - the only sound is our fan whirring in the background but that for us, is a milestone, we have grown so accustomed to the heat we no longer need the air conditioner on all the time.

But back to today. How to explain the emotions I am feeling! I guess all I can come up with is 'we made it'. We have finished our first Semester as expats. Someone told me yesterday that the first semester is always the hardest - they were speaking of teaching in a new school but I can translate that to life in a new country.

This past semester everything was new, yes everything was exciting as well but exhausting at the same time. We had new schools, new job (for me), new friends, new academic curriculum, new food, new house .... and the list can go on - but even though we have been here only 5 months we can say we life has begun to become familiar and predicatable.

But again 'we made it'. This past week has been a busy week. The kids all had end of Semester exams, and exams wherever you are can be stressful it also meant for the girls different pick ups and drop offs for school - thank goodness for Khan. I had a field trip to Dai Nam, though it was wonderful it's about 1 and a half to two hours away which made for a very long and noisy bus trip, not to mention a day of walking around a zoo and a fun park. Matthew had an invitation to the opening of a new company at the airport which we all were invited to - thankfully exams had finished. We also had the Winter formal, which I think will be a completely different blog. Josh had a sports day and I had a work Christmas party, this unfortunately was the one that just didn't make it but there's always next time.

This is why the kids are still sleeping, Matthew is sleeping and I am making the most of a quiet moment.

Christmas is now just around the corner and for a country that is not a christian country - they certainly make an enormous effort to be festive. The house across the road is decorated with lights, lights and more lights, a huge Christmas tree at their front and a navity scene to revile the ones in church. But it's still not home. We are all feeling a little bit homesick, christmas is a time for family and it was made all the harder this week with many of our teachers being really excited about going home for Christmas - but I am sure we will have a wonderful time in Hoi An, which we leave for on the 23rd December but more importantly we have the 21st which is the day Zander flies in. Matthew has asked me a number of times why, in writing this blog, I have never mentioned Zander leaving but I just couldn't, I wasn't ready to share the emotions attached to sending one of your children to the other side of the world for the next four years. However on Tuesday my family will once again be a complete family and I can't wait, and even though it won't be for long and we will have to say good bye again it's all worth it.

Reading back over this entry - it really is just ramblings - but I think ramblings are important they provide a sneak peek into the lives of others - that's my excuse and it sounds logical to me. I am heading off this morning to try and do a spot of christmas shopping but if it is like our attempts to shoe shop in a country of tiny feet - I am in for an exciting day.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I have this notion that Christmas decorations have to go up the December 1, no earlier and no later. So the week end before Wednesday December 1 had us out Christmas tree shopping. Thankfully the week prior to this we had been to a Bazaar where I did manage to find a traditional Nativity scene, I am not sure which tradition it belongs to but there is Mary, Jesus, Joseph, an angel and the three wise men so it ticks the religious tradition box, the fact that the angel looks a tad Jewish (according to Mikaela - I think the little 'rabbi hat' gives that away) probably ticks the religious tradition box for a couple of religions - but when you live in a country where Buddhism is the major religion - I was happy to find one. Our Nativity scene could also be considered very environmentally friendly - it being made out of recycled tin cans so it makes us all feel we are doing our bit to be environmentally conscious. The faces on a little people I think speak for themselves!

Back to our Christmas tree shopping. We originally thought we would continue the environmental theme and buy a plant and decorate that - but that was before we found The Christmas Stall. Driving down Ha Ba Trang we passed a Catholic Church, which being both ornate and pink, yes pink, caught our attention. We also noticed a Christmas Stall - so quickly pulling over and all jumping out (you have to love having a driver there is never parking issues) we were amazed at what we could buy.

We settled on a little tree that came with a touch of snow (so very unVietnamese) and pine cones, which as it turned out are great they make up for a lack of decorations, but for the grand total of $8.00 we were happy.

Of course I would not allow the tree to go up before Wednesday but as we really didn't have much it didn't take long. But the tree.........when we unwrapped the box and put it together we found it had two legs instead of three which makes for a tree that constantly falls over. Anyway a few coat hangers later and some magazine props we had a tree up, albeit a little slanted but that's OK. We played christmas carols while we decorated our tree with an assortment of tack and less tacky decorations, the only thing we didn't have is an angel for the top (But thanks to Leanne and her story about the first angel on top of a Christmas tree I am not really sure I can put an angel on the top ever again).

But there you have it. Our christmas tree, it might be small but still it's festive and now we can all sing it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.