Declaring War against ants, learning how to shop for food

View from our living room does not suck.

 So - pushing the 2 1/2 week mark here in Vietnam and so far so good!  We have had to "deal" less and got to "settle in" more, but honestly don't think the "dealing" will end for awhile.  At least it's little things now...like really little.  Like - ant-sized.  There are ants here (lots of other bugs too but that will come later).  I am at war with them.  They have no rhyme or reason - don't necessarily come in when it's raining, or necessarily go after food.  I don't know what their deal is.  They are really really small ants and kind of reddish/see-through.  We keep an annoying amount of attention on keeping food binned up, crumbs picked up (an interesting concept with a 2 yr old eating) and water wiped up.  We've found a few of their entry points and bombed them with toxins but they just go away and find another way in...We go back to Cali in a few weeks for Brittany and Jason's wedding (which will be a blast!) and I plan on coming back here with an arsenal of ant-traps.  They have no chance.

 So Graeme still garners TONS of attention.  We shut down restaurants, our pool area, busy intersections waiting for a light to change, even have had scooters pull off the road to check him out! 

 He rolls with it most of the time but some days it's a toll and by the 5th person that wants to grab him out of my hands or pull him up and squeeze and kiss him he gets over it.  The other day they were filming a movie in our pool area (called "Idle" and coming out in January, keep an eye at the Megaplex for it!).  He shut the production down when we rolled up to go swimming - all eyes were on Graeme!  They were cool with us using the pool.  Then they asked Graeme if he wanted to be in the movie.  He said "No Thank You"!  Kids gonna have an ego the size of Texas...

  It kinda works in our favor if we are out to dinner.  Especially the last few weeks we were with large groups from the school.  The staff will usually grab him and whirl him away - free babysitting!  He usually comes back knowing a few more Vietnamese words and fists full of watermelons.  Somehow they don't speak English and he doesn't speak Vietnamese yet he ends up with his favorite fruit in his hands!

Graeme has picked up "Hello" "Thank You" "Goodbye" in pretty good Vietnamese.  He knows when to say them and to who.  Whenever Erin and I say them we get funny looks b/c we are butchering the language. 

You cannot imagine the reaction from people when he's cruising along

and they are staring at his hair and eyes in disbelief and he throws a
"Xin Chao" at them (hello) in just about perfect dialect.  They hit the floor...

 

One of my favorites so far is this family stuffed on the scooter - they pulled up to Graeme and I on our bike and just gawked at us for a few blocks.  I am glad I had my fish-eye lens with me...by the way - who is actually driving that thing???

 

Might not help that we roll around like this...the bike seat alone is enough to get stares, then they see Graeme and it's all over....

 We've had some questions from back home about why we are/were struggling a little bit with food.  Well, eating out is no problem.. You can eat very well here for very little money every meal of the day.  But our lifestyle in Cali was to eat 3 meals a day out of our refrigerator (with the occasional meal out).  So we wanted to start stocking the fridge and cooking as soon as we could.  Without realizing it, we had become quite the organic eaters at home.  When Graeme came along we made all his food - 99% organic.  Once he began eating the same meals as us we integrated more organic foods into our diet because of him.  We were probable 30% organic before him then probably 60 or 70 percent after.  Not militant about it but when it made sense, tasted better, etc. that's the way we went.  Fast forward to our first home cooked meal here...well, lets just say they don't have the same regulations on food here as in the US in regards to pesticides, fertilization, etc.  Let's also just say the tap water isn't quite what our bellies are used to.  Add to this the fact that Trader Joe's and Whole Foods haven't tapped this market yet...well that all leads to washing your veggies and fruits in a bin with water from a dispenser mixed with a solution called "Vegy" (you can use Clorox as well but just couldn't get myself to do that).  This takes TIME.  Also, stuff just doesn't last as long in the fridge due to the humidity/heat, so you cannot really stuff a weeks worth of groceries in there and expect it to all be good.  We asked around and found a great company called Organik (www.organikvn.com)  They have a little shop here in town, but even better they deliver from their farm in Dalat.  Straight to our door.  For $1usd.  Yes.  $1usd.  ONE US DOLLAR!  You order it online and pick the day and time for delivery.  You don't even give them a CC.  Just pay the guy when he shows up.  They are like clockwork too.  I order things at 4 or 5pm for 7am - 9am delivery the next day and pow - at 7:15am the bell rings.  You can do this everyday if you want.  Our first attempt we ordered what we needed for a nice stir fry dinner plus a few other things.  It was $7usd total.  So, yeah, these guys are bookmarked on our web browser and now we are feeling much better about what we are putting into our bodies.  Still have to wash it all but that's okay.  Once we get a housekeeper (still looking!) that will be their job.

Been busting out the wok skills that I honed in college - still some rust in my game but it is getting better.  Also still wrestling with the rice-cooker we bought.  Never used one before and add to that the instructions are in Vietnamese and well...we are shooting about 50% with getting the rice to come out how we want it so far.  Graeme hasn't had Mac N Cheese in like 2 weeks so we must be doing something right...

We've been exploring our neighborhood more and it's beautiful.  There are several stunning parks as well as a bunch of Cafe's (which we are hungrily learning that most don't sell food - just juices, smoothies, coffee's, teas).  Locals will sit at these places for hours talking with each other and sipping on drinks.  Funny because anywhere you go when you sit down you get iced green tea.  Then you order a drink.  And they keep refilling your green tea throughout.  Hydrate or die I guess!

I'm starting to fade a bit here so here are a bunch of shots from our neighborhood.  Graeme and I try to hit a different spot for lunch each day and finish with ice cream in the park before his nap time.  Then he likes to show off to Erin how he knows where everything in on the weekend!

Don't forget - Skype is FREE!  Also we found a great App called "whatsapp"  you can throw it on your phone (it's free for 1 year then they want you to pay 99 cents).  It lets us text back and forth for FREE.  We've been using it with people in USA and Canada and works great and is easier then emailing, fb'ing, etc...

Hope all is well...

Hoà bình,

The Hawken's in HCMC

#thetaoofgraeme