Going Back to Cali, Cali...huh?

Life - it's too fast!

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??

In the life of Education "years" end in June and begin in August.  So, where did this year go????  How can 10 months go by so quickly?  How can so much happen in 10 months??  When I think back of things we did last August and September, it seems like they were a lifetime ago!  To think of where Graeme was developmentally last August compared to now is unfathomable.  He went from not being able to use his Skuut bike because he was too short, to now adjusting the seat to its highest setting.  From grasping his English vocabulary to now singing counting songs in perfect Vietnamese with our housekeeper (Erin and I are still struggling with hand signals just to get home in a taxi).  I mean, just look at how much younger Graeme looks in this picture from September compared to now:

Tiny Tots Class September '13

Who, Us? May '14

THE LAST DANCE

Living a life in education it all comes down to the Graduation....Erin, being a High School Guidance Counselor, was entrenched in the development and execution of the ceremony.  Nothing she could not handle, but there was one responsibility that had her worried - announcing the students names correctly as they were awarded their diploma's!  Imagine - 46 students representing 17 countries, all of their extended families in the audience - and it is up to you to pronounce their name properly.  No small feat mind you.  Erin had their names on a sheet spelled out phonetically and studied it for over a month!  Well, when the time came she knocked it out of the park!  Here is the video of the ceremony - skip to about the 44 minute mark to hear Erin owning her students names!  CLICK HERE

I've written in the past about the merits of Saigon South International School and the honor Erin has of working there as well as the accomplishment she has achieved to do so.  I've also written about how excited, proud and humble we are to have Graeme start his formal education there.  So, where does it all lead?  What does this fine institution produce?  How about for starters the location of the Graduation Ceremony.  It was in the Saigon Opera House.  A french colonial building built in 1897.  It has lasted 5 wars, held seats of assembly for governments, sheltered refugees, and also put on a few shows along the way.  I am not sure about you, but I graduated on a sad excuse for a football field while sitting on metal bleachers.

Saigon Opera House

The Senior Class had 48 students in it.  They represented 17 different countries.  100% graduation rate.  100% acceptance rate to 4 year colleges and universities.  This class was accepted to 146 colleges all told.  Think about that one for a minute.  I graduated with just over 300 students.  The final number is tough to tell because as we rehearsed the ceremony the afternoon of the graduation they were still pulling students from their seats to let them know they did not make the cut.  I am going to take a guess and say that out of the 300 graduating seniors in the class of 1990 at Lakeland Regional High School we may have not met the same statistic that SSIS's graduating class did (insert snicker).  Do you know how there were a few students in your class who wore some sort of sash over their gown because of National Honor Society or some other extra curricular accomplishment they overachieved during their 4 years?  Well, in this class good luck finding someone without a sash.  Just an amazing group of students about to embark on life and become an amazing group of adults.  Congratulations class of 2014!

When you are this smart, they let you throw your cap!

Erin with Principal Paul Johnson

GRAEME IS STARTING WHAT???

These are the types Graeme will start rubbing his elbows with next year.  Wait, did I just say "next year"??  TRY IN 8 WEEKS!!!  How did that happen??  All along we have been saying "next year" when referring to Graeme starting EC3 (Early Childhood Education) at SSIS.  Well, about a week ago I had a minor anxiety attack when I realized that "next year" meant in about 2 months, immediately following our return from the USA.  Gulp.  How did this happen?  What am I going to do without my little sidekick?  He is already talking about how cool it will be to take the school bus to school, without me :(  

Erin and I had to go to a Parent meeting for an introduction to the program.  I went to the school store to sort out his school uniforms.  We need to say goodbye to all our friends at Kids Club.  I take Graeme to the EC library every Friday to read and take out books.  Today was the last day we did that as Father/Son.  The next time he does it will be with his Teacher and Classmates.  How did this all happen??  Too quickly, if you ask me.

We are officially parents of a student

ONE LAST HOORAH

With no breaks in the school calendar since last April, we managed to sneak away for a weekend with some other families to Ho Tram.  A stretch of beach with nothing around for miles that they decided to build a "Vegas Style" mega hotel, casino, golf resort at.  It was an easy 2 hour liesure bus ride away and they were running really good rates so we went.  The sand on the beach was too hot (dry season) so we hung hard in the pool.  As a matter of fact, Graeme spent 9 hours straight in the pool the first day.  His hair turned green from the chlorine and I don't think it was possible to have more fun than he did that day.  While of zero cultural value, it did not suck.

His hair matched his goggles by days end

Up Up and Away!

This is hard work...

Stealing a kiss at the swim-up bar

Mot, Hai, Ba, YO!

WEATHER REPORT (Hey, I am a Hawken!)

As of 4 days ago, rainy season has arrived.  What a pleasure.  What a relief!  We can now count on a massive thunderstorm every afternoon and enough breeze and cloud cover throughout the day to make being outside possible again.  The past 2 months have been indescribable in terms of quality of life outdoors.  We are once again creatures that can be active outdoors.  All I can say is Thank You to the Rain Gods!

Goin' Back To Cali, Cali, Cali... (please, please click this link!)

In just under 2 weeks we head back to the USA for a summer break stint.  About 6 weeks all told.  We will spend the first 3 weeks in Nor Cal, 2 weeks in NJ then the remaining back in Nor Cal. We are all very excited!  It will be interesting for sure.  Even though we are not moving back and just visiting, there will be some repatrioting to be done I am sure.  There are new routines, daily expectations and an overall general quirkiness that we have become accustomed to.  There will be things we miss for sure.  Like seeing the most amazing things that can fit on a motorbike, each morning watching fisherman from our balcony fishing as they have for hundreds of years on old wooden boats with nets and their hands, watching the most unbelievable sunsets from every window in our apartment (reference past blogs headline photo's for proof), eating new foods almost daily that we not only have no idea what they are called but usually no idea what they are, communicating with our hands versus our words, getting morning coffee off of ladies on motorbikes for 33cents, drinking 50cent beers (and complaining when a restaurant tries to charge over $1usd for a beer!), having our laundry done for us and everything being ironed daily (yes, even our underwear).

 Some things we will have to reacquaint ourselves with: 

• driving a car - Erin nor I have driven a car since September
• wearing closed toe footwear.  At this point we cannot even keep sandals on Graeme and I cannot stand the thought of wearing a proper "shoe"
• organization - form a line (aka a "queue") at any establishment (especially an airport), drive in a lane, drive on the correct side of the road, drive on the road (not the sidewalk).  These things will be foreign to us.
• Travel without worrying about ferry times, train times, bribing border agents for visa's, when the pick-up truck leaves/returns, etc.
• Going more than 2 km to do something and not riding our bike there.  The idea of getting in a car to go run an errand seems daunting to us right now.  We do have cruiser bikes in Lodi so hopefully we can utilize them properly.
• Car Seats for Graeme.  He has been freewheeling it since we got here.  Hope he likes the idea of restraints!

• Being able to order food (and get what you ordered), ask a question, go to a bank and it is not out of money, mani/pedi's that cost more than $5usd, massages that cost more than $10usd (what, you don't get massages weekly??), a manly haircut/pedicure/facial/full body massage/shampoo/ear cleaning/straight razor shave for $7usd....good thing we are only home for 6 wks and we can do these things right before we leave and be ready for the next session when we return ;)

The other day I was shopping for some gifts to bring back home and in a market I saw a T-Shirt that really says it all:  "VIETNAM IS NOT A WAR, IT IS A COUNTRY".  I'd take it even one step further and say that it is a "PEOPLE".  Such an amazing place, such an amazing culture, such amazing people.  We would love nothing better than to share it with you, just get here and we will do the rest

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  A beer, pizza or coffee to the first person to tell me whats wrong in this picture (answer in comments below) Hint: it's not the amount of people on the scooter.

  
  

  

  Got a flat?

  
  

  

  Need a ream?

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  Peace, Love, and Who The Hell is Driving????

Yes, I ate it.  So what?  I still won't eat cheese.

Momma, I'm Coming Home! (Oh, humor me and click this link!)

Why are we looking forward to coming home?  Simple answer.  Because of YOU.  We want to see YOU.  As many places as we visit here.  As many new experiences as we have.  As many new friendships we forge, we still are missing YOU.  "YOU" are our Family, our Dearest Friends. We will be home only a short time so please help us in making our time there efficient and meaningful.  Hopefully relationships pick right up where they left off as if we were never gone (we are sure you do not want to sit through 10 months of slide shows??).  If we haven't been in touch, or you haven't been in touch - now is a great time to reach out.  While 6 weeks seems like a long time, it is not.  Make a plan now or forever hold your peace....Email, Facebook, Skype, Whatsapp, Kik are all best.  If you are using our old US cell #'s you are out of luck.

Oh, and we really, really, really, really, really, really want to see SIENNA!!!!!

Miss Sienna Puppy we are coming to see YOU!

Hòa Bình,
The Hawken's in HCMC
#thetaoofgraeme

Back to Nature....Reunification Day Holiday weekend..

I know, I know...Another holiday???  Believe it or not, Vietnam has only 9 national holiday's, one of the lowest in the world.  For a typical Vietnamese those would be the only 9 days you took off all year.  They don't take weekends off either so 9 days total for the year.  Imagine that.

We had a few weekdays off in celebration observance of Reunification Day as well as Labor Day.  Reunification Day is commemorating the day that the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese captured Saigon in 1975.  It is a day of either celebration or reflection of shame, depending on what soil you are now standing on or were standing on back then.

Labor Day (aka International Workers Day) actually has American ties, dating back to the Haymarket riots in Chicago in 1886 due to workers demanding better rights and conditions.  In Vietnam the two days fall close enough together for a nice 5 day weekend....Road Trip!!!

While living in HCMC is beautiful in its own ways....not having direct access to nature and the outdoors is tough for us to deal with.  Even when we lived in SF, Golden Gate Park was across the street and Ocean Beach was a few blocks away.  We were always outside.  There are 3 seasons in SE Asia - Hot, Hotter and Hottest.  While our neighborhood here has great green space, especially for a large city, the weather the past few weeks has turned into our 3rd season, hottest, and we are ensconced in it.  Outdoor activities are limited to swimming in the pool and that is about it.  Temps rarely going below 95F and usually getting to low 100'sF with little cloud cover and a scorching tropical sun above.  The rains threaten each afternoon but most days do not come (still a few weeks away from true rainy season) keeping the humidity at an absurd level.  The other day I was out running errands and found myself commenting how nice it was, that it felt like a spring day - it was 92F.  We are getting to the mid 80'sF overnight....I was acclimated up until about 3 weeks ago, now even I need the aircon on in our apartment...

Cruisin'....

So we bailed to get back to nature...we went to Cat Tien National Park.  What should be a 2 hour drive is actually a 4-6 hour drive, never going over 40KPH (25MPH) on a "highway" jammed with cargo trucks as far as the eye can see that are traveling at ungodly speeds, passing at any opening, etc...we had a private car (thank god because the horror stories we heard about over crowded buses were unbelievable - 37 people on a 15 person bus was the norm!) so at least we were comfortable.  This is the main "highway" between HCMC and Dalat with the park falling right in the middle - note to self, when we visit Dalat we are going to fly.

What a great treasure this park and area are.  When you visit places here with the word "National" in them, let's just say, your expectations are not too high.  This park is the exception.  With multiple animal rehabilition centers and projects, over 450 butterfly species, countless exotic birds, crocodiles, elephants, sun bears....well you get the hint - nature at it's finest.

Most of Cat Tien is second generation forest.  The Ho Chi Minh Trail cuts through it and the US blasted the bejesus out of it during the war.  Some of the really old trees still stand - some over 700 years old! - but for the most part we are looking at a second chance, and one that seems to be thriving given the opportunity.

Not bad for a second go around...

You know what they say about guys with big tree's...

We stayed just outside the park with a 1k walk to a ferry to cross the chocolate river into the park.  You land at the Headquarters where there are some amenities, etc. so you see a bunch of people around here.  Being a National holiday it was quite busy for this park.  From there you could venture off in any direction you liked in any way you liked.  We brought Graeme's bike seat and rented some bikes and hit the trails.  Since he and I spend so much time on the bike together he was adoment about Momma doing the driving while we were here.  I did not object but I think even Erin was ready for a break from the constant conversation he provides while riding!

Once you leave the main area you are all alone in nature.  Not a soul around.  The heat followed us from HCMC but the breeze while riding kept us in the game.  We timed it (unknowingly) with the hatching(?) of the butterflies in the park - again, over 450 varieties.  We would ride bikes over bridges where literally thousands of them would be drinking out of puddles and the next thing you knew, you were in a butterfly tornado!  It was a surreal experience that happened to us all day long and never got old.

So this happened....a lot.

There are two ethnic villages within the park, S'tieng and Ma.  We took a bike ride through them checking out the rice fields, dragon fruit farms, livestock and stopped for some cane sugar juice.  

In the shack cafe we rested at there were writings all over the makeshift wall.  I was snapping some photo's of them and the owner was very adamant about me taking a picture of one in particular.  I had it translated via FB group that I am a part of and they were all written in an ancient mix of Chinese/Vietnamese no longer in use.  They were Buddhist sayings and proverbs.  Quite interesting as the villages were clearly practicing Christians evidenced by the crosses on their houses as well as having a church and a statue of Mother Mary (way to go French Colonists!).

Here is what I found out:  "They are part of  The Ten Commandments of Mindfulness. Some Vietnamese great monk translated it already this way: "Consider disease and suffering as medicines to the body / Regard mishaps as a means of self-liberation / Treat obstacles as enjoyable challenges / Greet haunting spirits as good companions / Consider difficulties as one of life’s enjoyments / Thank bad friends as helping you in self-adjustment / View dissents as friendly entertainment / See favors as merely unimportant sandals plentiful to discard. / Take disinterest from temptation as an honorable achievement. / Use injustice as an expedient door into spiritual perfection"

Dragon fruit with Cashew mountains as back up...

In Indonesia a pig is known as a families "ATM"..here it's dinner.

Xin Chao!

We spent the entire time we were there outside unless we were sleeping.  We visited the Gibbons Monkey refuge center to learn about what was singing to us each morning from the trees across the river.  (click on the video link below to hear what they sound like - it is mesmerizing).  We spent a bunch of time at our resort, Green Hope Lodge, and were treated like family.  I even went with the owner's son and his brother up river to a swimming spot one afternoon.  Corn fields, Cashew Trees in the hills, chocolate stained water, really a treat.  



As with most area's, when you get further from the big cities the people become friendlier, warmer and the pace slows down considerably.  Vietnam is no different.  While HCMC has it's own charm and beauty, as do the people of HCMC, there is something very comforting as you get further from it's center and dive into the local culture.  As we travel a bit more within Vietnam it is obvious to us that Vietnam is a magnificently beautiful country in both its landscape and its people. As diverse as a place can probably get, each area we visit brings to us its own charm and specialties.




As usual, Graeme had the entire staff as well as guests at the lodge transfixed.  It happens everywhere we go and I still cannot put my finger on it.  I know Erin and I adore him and think he is special but there is a gift he has and people pick up on it.  He instantly becomes long lost friends with everyone.  Language doesn't even come into play.  If they don't speak English and he doesn't speak their language it doesn't even matter.  It's an absolute pleasure and makes our visits to places that much more special, helping us really get to know other travelers and the locals, making friendships versus just having a passing "hello" once in a while.  Remarkable.

Graeme and Le sittin' in a tree...

Best Sugar Cane Juice maker in the biz...

Which way is his head??

Goin' swimmin' !!

This is a "good" burn...helps the soil.

Me and my boy.

adult Red-Wattled Lapwing

Boys love sticks!

It's raining men!

Willy Wonka's inspiration...

Flying the flag

Coconut buddies...

Sufficed to say, we had a great time.  It was awesome getting outside again.  Watching Graeme being able to get "attacked" by butterflies, deafened by monkey's singing, pick fruit off trees and eat it, meet new people, learn some more Vietnamese (he's just about proficient counting up to ten now), play with other 3 year olds who don't speak English and not have it matter, eat new foods we never knew existed......a true joy.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from the trip CLICK HERE.

With the lack of "outside" time back here in HCMC we do get a little stir crazy from time to time...so I will leave you with a video from an impromptu "dance party" that Graeme and I had...all I can say is that his Momma is from the Delta so add this trait as more evidence that Erin's genes run deep in this boy.  Honestly, aside from his distaste for chocolate and his admiration for an afternoon nap, I am not sure what, if any, traits of mine have carried over!

Well, 5 weeks until we come back to the USA for a visit.  There are no more school breaks until then.  What will we do??? 5 whole weeks with no trips???  I will have to sneak that trip up to Dalat in one weekend ;)

Thank you so much for reading and all of the support.  We love to hear from everyone back home and these blogs usually help stir up some conversations with Family and Friends that we miss...

 Hòa Bình,
The Hawken's in HCMC
#thetaoofgraeme