Shopping

Shopping - You know when you are back in Viet Nam when a simple task like shopping makes you get your camera out.

9am in the morning and there is a Sapporo Beer Girl offering us a drink

How can there be an Asian Zone in an Asian Supermarket?

Buy Corn Flakes and get a white rain poncho!

Graduation

This is a very overdue blog post but I guess better late then never.  

With lots of Mikaela's friends, as well as a cousin, graduating from Australian schools it has made me think back to Mikaela’s graduation and how different it was from what she would have experienced had we been still in Australia.  

Vietnamese Ceremonial Drums

The most obvious difference I guess is when Kaela graduated she had completed all her exams so it really was an end to her school life, and life was about to change in so many ways.  For most of the students here the end of school brings enormous change as most of them head off to different countries to continue their studies so it is not just a graduation but rather a final goodbye.  

Proceeding in

For Mikaela it means returning to her home country, though she will return to a familiar country where there is family and friends, she cannot return to her old life for it no longer exists. Viet Nam has changed all of us in many ways some of which we are yet to discover.  Mikaela will need to find her place in a country where she is no longer a minority, where there is a middle class, where you can buy shoes and where a manicure costs more then $5.00.

What will she miss most?  Besides her family (I hope) it would have to be the wonderful friends she made here - Mikaela found a group of friends that formed a tight bond, a friendship I am sure that will last forever and will have them meeting up again whether it be in Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Vietnam or the States.

With all this in mind her Graduation, like graduations around the world, was an event with so many mixed feelings.  There was excitement for what lay ahead, sadness at leaving behind all that was so important in their lives, worry about leaving their home and the devastation of leaving their friends and heading into the world on their own.  

So back to Kaelas graduation, Graduation at the American International School is full of pomp and ceremony with some very American elements and some traditional Vietnamese traditions as well and absolutely nothing Australian like.

Graduated

The whole cap and gown is reminiscent of every American TV show i have ever seen but when the students proceeded into the Opera House wearing that cap and gown and accompanied to the beating of traditional Vietnamese drums it was very moving.  

The whole experience, so vastly different to what she would have experienced at home, was a wonderful way to finish her school life.

So where is she now?  
Settling into University studying law, though her heart is set on International studies for the future, she is trying to get a job to pay for life in a non third world country, thankfully she is living with family and she is busy reestablishing old friendships and forming new ones and hopefully missing us as much as we miss her.

First Day of High School

Last Day of High School

Listening, I hope

Hat Throwing!

I made it

Our Girls

Mikaela, Wendy and Kayleen, friends forever

We are so very proud of her

Her very proud siblings

Class of 2012

Week end in Hoi An

Even though we have only been back to school for 3 weeks, the chance to take a long week end was too good to be passed up. This week end was Vietnamese National Day, which meant no school on Monday. Yes we have not long been back from Italy but still a week end at the beach sounded great. We have often headed to Nha Trang but thought this time we would head for Hoi An, a beautiful UNESCO town where we have stayed before but this time we just wanted to stay on the beach.
I am so glad we did. The beach was probably the nicest we have found, ok the waves were tiny more like ripples but still the water was clean, there was white sand and there was a beautiful breeze.
The sunshine was a little slow in coming but that was ok we still could swim in the ocean and relax in the sun beds. There was a huge pool as well but when you are so close to a nice beach we only had a dip in the pool. We went into Hoi An for dinner each night and one morning Bella and I popped into to get a few items of clothing made. For about 60 dollars we had made 2 skirts, a top and a dress nothing like retail therapy to improve the mood of a teenager.
Today before our afternoon flight Bella and josh tried parasailing - both of them came back buzzing.
We are now at Danang Airport waiting for our delayed flight (I seriously do not want to be delayed in Danang) we all agreed we had a wonderful break but it does remind us how much we miss the Beach.