It's the little things that you miss

We have been truly blessed to be able to see as much of the world as we have,  since living in Viet Nam.  In  a wave of Nostalgia I have decided to create photobooks of our adventures - Italy I did a while ago, China is done, ordered and awaiting delivering, and now I am working on Christmas 2012.

It seems such a long time ago but it was only 4 months ago - I guess life moves at such a fast pace that time becomes a bit of a blur.  Whilst looking back at photos trying to work out which ones to include I found this photo and it made me stop and think.....of the little things that you miss when your children (and in my case my husband) are not with you on a day to day basis.

Last night I went shopping with Josh for new Soccer boots (his feet are growing so fast) and for the birthday presents for the birthdays  he is going to today.  Bella, needing a break from the hours of study she has been putting in lately (of which I will say I am very proud of) came and watched a movie with me last night  (for some reason Josh was not interested in Dear John).  In reality neither of these things are overly exciting but they are moments that are precious.

To the missing half I miss you

As I look back over the photos of our holidays each memory is precious but the ones I treasure most are the ones that my family is 6.

To the here half - thanks for hanging out with mom

Christmas in Splugen, Switzerland, 2012.

Conquering Fears

Such an auspicious title and this blog is not really that dramatic but still that is exactly what I have been working on for the last little while.
To explain.  We have lived here almost three years, Matthew has owned a bike for maybe 2 years of these years, and for the last year I have decided that I really want to be able to ride it.  The only problem is I am terrified,  of what I don't really know, but terrified none the less.  Anyone who knows me (well maybe I kept it a bigger secret then I thought) knows when I tried to do the motor bike pre-licence course I went over an embankment down a hill and crashed into another class, jumped off and somehow landed on my feet but of course dropped their bike.  Hence I didn't get a pre-licence, the poor guy just said you are so terrified I can't pass you.  I have come a long way since then, I can now ride down a quiet street, turn corners, stop and sometimes even use the blinkers - I'm still working on the horn which in Viet Nam is very important.
The last few times I have ventured out on more busier streets I even attempted a main road successfully I will add.

Our Phu Quoc Bike Ride

So during our week end in Phu Quoc we decided to hire bikes and go for a ride along the beach.  This sounded wonderful until Mathew led us along a dirt track and then onto a dirt road.  I will add he shows no sign of impatience with my very slow speed but he does regularly remind me that going faster is easier.  The dirt road was very scary.  True there was no traffic but I kept thinking I was going to lose the back wheel in the dirt.  But I did it.

Add caption

With new confidence last night I rode to Citimart to get a capsicum and tonight I went all the way to Crescent Mall - this requires main road driving and parking - which if you imagine a regular Mall parking lot and shrink it for bikes, that's where you park.
One of my poor co-workers drove past me and called a friendly greeting at which point I barked at her not to talk to me - I haven't yet learnt to drive and talk, I felt so bad I quickly sent her a text apologising.  I then had to drive back in the dark but it all worked out fine.  (I will point out that Crescent Mall is only about 2km's away but still...).  My goal is to ride all the way to work, so this week end some friends and I are going to go for a drive in more challenging conditions - I do hope they realise what they are in for!

The dirt track

The beautiful scenery which of course i didn't look at because I was looking at .......

this.

Drinks Break

The view from our drinks break

Phu Quoc, Viet Nam

The Hotel

Finally we made it to Phu Quoc.  When we first arrived here some departing friends told us we had to go to Phu Quoc. Well almost 3 years later we finally made it and now I am seriously annoyed that we left it so long.  Phu Quoc is beautiful.  The beach was the best we have seen in Vietnam - no there were no waves to speak of but it was still lovely.

The Ocean and the fruit lady

Unfortunately 3 days was no where near long enough, we hadn't tired of the gorgeous breakfasts, the relaxing on  deck chairs at the beach, the cool (well a little too warm) ocean,  the fresh seafood lunch on the beach, the afternoon nap followed by a pool swim and then of course drinks on the beach watching the sunset before dinner.  What a shame we have no other long week ends this Semester.

Enjoying the deck chairs

Drinks on the balcony

The beautiful sunset

The beach Restaurant, which looked magnificient - maybe next time!

Travelling by Train in Beijing

Everyone has horror stories of travelling by train in Beijing so we were prepared, well we thought we were.  Firstly I will say that the train system in Beijing is easy to navigate and puts anything we have in Sydney to shame.  It's a mixture of lines and colors but they all intersect so you just go a few stops one way and connect with another line.  Easy.  The most difficult part is getting on the train.  When you arrive on the platform is looks very orderly - people seem to be  queing to get on the train.  However when the train arrives you just push your way on - now I have been on crowded trains before but these trains are not crowded they are crammed!

Not my view!

But I will take a step back.  Firstly when the train arrives you do not let the people off but rather you just push your way on and somehow you find a spot - I guess its like filling a jar with sand - every available spot just gets filled.  Matthew at one point seemed to have his body in one place but his feet in another, there is no risk of falling because you have no room to fall.  The Chinese are bigger then the Vietnamese so I am once again in a country where I am not considered tall hence I can't see much above people's shoulders, rather I am in the  unenviable  position of being at armpit height! thankfully travelling with my family I can never lose them.

We must have stood out!

When you arrive at your stop arriving you need to push your way off - I have to admit I felt a little like a cork coming out of a bottle but if you don't push your way off you will quickly find yourself missing your station.
Maybe we are more Vietnamese then we think because the whole process took us only one trip to master and we spent the rest of our time getting on and off trains like we had done it all our lives.

Sunday Morning

After a lovely breakfast this morning we decided to head over to our local market to get some salad ingredients for dinner this evening.

The Truck arrives

The scrambling

I have blogged a few times about our wonderful market but this morning it was funnier then usual.  The market is designed like a square I guess; the inner square is only allows foot traffic and has predominately meat and fish vendors.  Around the outside the square are fruit and vegetable vendors who face the road.  On the other side of the road are more fruit and vegetable vendors; these vendors are also down the sidewalk (if you can call it that) in what could be described as an outer square.  Now the road which is a road with bikes and pedestrian traffic, also has vendors selling their wares down the middle.





This all sounds quite chaotic but it works well - that is until the police van arrives.  Here we are buying our tomatoes when

all of a sudden there are a few loud yells and then everyone madly collects all their goods and runs away - to where we have no idea but they just disappear, some of the sidewalk vendors pull there goods back onto some imaginary line which divides the road and the sidewalk.

Nobody notices the evidence on the road

And they start coming back

The polie van then drives past pretending not to notice all the left over or forgotten produce in the middle of the road.
As the truck passes by the sidewalk vendors then move their goods back towards the road, the road vendors come back and set up shop in the middle of the road again and life continues as normal.  I have never seen this before though Matthew has but this morning was an added twist even for him.  The Police van must have only gone around the block because within about 5 minutes the yelling started again and once again the vendors dived into action moving and or disappearing.

Its almost back to normal

The Police van disappeared again and life resumes, we buy our lettuce and cucumbers and
then head off for a quite drive through the lovely streets of District 7, stopping for a coconut drink and to take a few photos.

Our Sunday Drive

And that was our Sunday morning.

The old and the new

Drinks break

Language

I don't speak much Vietnamese but I can get by and make myself understood. However here in China we have once  again been plunged into a country where we can't understand a thing. The difficult thing with Mandarin is you can't understand even the characters. Thankfully there is a little English around - like train station signs but I have come up with three things I need to remember when communicating with anyone who I don't have a common language with -

1. It doesn't matter how many times you say it - I still don't understand it.
2. it doesn't matter how many people repeat it - I still don't understand it.
3. It doesn't matter how loud you say it - I still don't understand it.

The only thing that really crosses a language barrier is pictures (though you have to be careful that the picture that looks like chicken is in fact chicken and not donkey, snake or something else that I don't want to eat) and pointing - as I learnt last night when I dragged a poor waiter to someone else's table and pointed to their red wine - I really wanted a glass of wine rather then the water he thought I wanted.
But as I have said a number of times to the children I can't complain their English is better then my .........(substitute any number of languages here)!