Travel | Daily life of the life of Benoit Trudel in Vietnam in 2011

Daily life in Vietnam 2009

This page contains daily life snippets which were originally in the section This Week but have become "old news". I choose to keep them here since these stories really reflect our experience of living and working as a volunteer in Nepal. Hopefully, some of you will find these interesting in some ways and perhaps even relate to them...

January 5, 2011

That was then, this is now...

I was going thru the digital photos of our last trip to Thailand in 2006. At that time I had just adopted Rémi and this was our first vacation together. He was 3 years old. We headed to Kho Samet beach not too far from Bangkok at also did a little sightseeing of Bangkok, tho Rémi did not like this so much. I remember I had to carry him on my shoulders a lot! But I look back at photos of him then and now and see how in just 4 years he has grown a lot. I have updated the Thailand 2006 photo album and added a lot of photos of him and us. So check it out, and compare with the recent Thailand 2010 album. How he has changed...!

January 14, 2011

Brrrr, it's cold in Hanoi!

I know I will not get any sympathy from our fellow Canadians when I mention that it is now cold in Hanoi at around 10-14 C. Canada is much colder, right? But at least we heat there! Here it is difficult to heat most places much like it was when I lived in Japan simply because buildings are not air tight. Why means that there are drafts coming thru windows and doors. And there are no heating systems but merely small portable heaters which are not very efficient. Still, we manage and I don't mind the cold. We get to wear warm clothes, watch TV with a blanket and sleep under a nice comforter. Roxy also gets cold and now sleeps in my bed under the covers, all night.

Rémi has had exam week with English reading, listening, writing, Math and Science. So we've been studying hard every night and even last weekend. And now we'll just see if the work paid off and if he gets higher marks that the D of last year. I hope so as this would be good for his confidence. Now only 2 more weeks and we fall into the lunar new year celebration of Tet. Our office will be closed for 4 days and with the weekend, that gives us a nice 6 days. Happy New Year of the Rabbit...!

January 23, 2011

Our first week with Simon...

Rémi and I picked up Simon at the orphanage Saturday Jan. 15th and were allowed to take him back to Hanoi with us. I fully expected him to cry since he's only known the orphanage for the past 4 years. But no, Simon took to me and Rémi really quickly and it went really well. Back home, again I was worried about how he would react but he seems so easygoing - he plays with the toys and Rémi is thrilled to now have a little brother. I have put a double bed in his room so both boys sleep together, which works out great. Usually at around 6 am Simon wakes up and starts crying, so then I take him to my bed and Rémi insists on coming as well. We then sleep another hour or so in my bed before getting up. On Tuesday January 18 I went back to Viet Tri with Simon for the Adoption Ceremony. Now we have the adoption paper so Nguyen Sinh Hung is now officially my son. The various adoption documents are now being translated and notarized, and then we'll send his application for Canadian Citizenship.

It has been going so well with Simon and it looks and feels like he's been with us for years. Last week I tried to use mainly Vietnamese and called him Hung, but slowly I am switching to French and calling him Simon. He goes to pee every 3 minutes so I bought a potty and put it right in the livingroom so he can go on his own. I think that at the orphanage he was left alone a lot and fed so now he needs to learn to do these things on his own. Feeding him was tough at first because he wouldn't even eat plain rice. He seemed to gag and not know how to chew. I got my housekeeper to call the orphanage and they said that they had given him only rice soup 4 times/day. So now I slowly teach him how to chew and eat a little on his own. Already in one week, he has started eating rice and noodles. He is really skinny and malnourished so I really want to feed him well. For now I stay home during the week in mornings and then I go to work in the afternoons. We are so busy with our year end report writing that I just cannot take 2 weeks off in one block. He is already registered at the Canadian Kindergarten Maple Bear and should start after Tet in mid-February.

Last night we went for dinner to our Quebec friends' house and I did not know what to expect of Simon. I thought he might stay with me all evening but it was not so. He just walked in and started playing and watching the other kids and had fun all evening. We travel the 3 of us on my tiny electric motorcycle which is actually too small for all of us. So I might soon look for a bigger model to accomodate our family expanssion!

January 31, 2011

Things are going well...

Wow, we're making progress so quickly it is unbelievable. Now Simon can eat and chew pretty good, which is a great comfort to me. Slowly I am introducing him new food like cheese, bananas, oranges, lasagna, fish, mashed potatoes, chicken - and so far so good. I am now steering away from rice soup and going for whole food. When I tried to brush his teeth the first time, he looked at me like "what the hell..." but now we're good and can brush his teeth twice a day. Rémi is generally pretty good and I guess he will slowly learn how to be a big brother. For now, it is a lot of "me, me, me" which makes it harder to manage him than Simon. Simon is an early riser tho and I must admit that after years of good training with Rém i, I enjoy being able to get up on weekends after 8 am, not 5:30! So Simon and Rémi come to my bed before the crack of dawn and the challenge is for me to keep Simon quiet in bed till 7. The peeing every 3 minutes is getting better now and pretty soon, there will be a step-up on the regular toilet and no more potty for him. He's also starting to eat more on his own, which is great. So all is good and we are a happy family.... Happy New Year of the rabbit - Lunar New Year's Day is February 2nd. Cheerios! I finally got Simon to smile for pictures...!

This past week was so busy at home and running errands with Simon in the morning. He just loves to ride around with me on my electric motorcycle - with a safety belt around our waist of course! We had to buy many huge gift baskets for all the people who helped in the adoption. With my little scooter, I could only buy 2 at a time and had to make many trips to the supermarket. Then I scheduled all the meetings to drop by with Simon and wish a happy new year. In the middle of all this, I had to get the adoption documents translated, make it to the Ministry of External Affairs for a stamp so they can be recognized overseas, then was told after waiting 2 hours in a line-up than I needed a stamp first from another agency and 100$ later I came back, submitted the documents and now I have to wait till Feb. 11th to pick them up. Then I will send the application for Canadian citizenship for Simon, and this for sure will take some time. And every afternoon, I rushed to the office to work on the all-so-important annual report 2010. Ouff. Really having to take in this new boy and hit the ground running....

February 5, 2011

We're on vacation...

I was able to finish the Annual Report at work by Tuesday Feb. 1st which was quite a relief. So I was then able to begin the long holiday of the lunar new year like everyone else starting Wednesday. We went to visit some friends who hadn't yet left for their trip to Australia, and it was nice to sit outside and chat. On Thursday and Friday we just took it easy, going for a walk by the lake but with everything closed, there was not much for us to do. Friday evening we were invited to Mrs. Hop's house for New Year dinner with her family and that was lovely. Then today Saturday I found out that the amusement park was open so we went there and Simon (and Rémi) had a great time. The weather has warmed up and today it was 25 C instead of the usual low 10-14 C. I am probably the only one in Hanoi who feels disappointed that the mercury is rising again....Things are going quite well at home tho these days Simon cries a lot - it's his way of communicating when he's not happy. And both him and Rémi and learning to get to know each other, how to play together and what are each other's limits. Not a quiet business but part of the process nonetheless. Slowly Simon will learn to express himself with words but that will take some time. Already he does understand some basic French things I say to him and has started saying Papa instead of Bo...

February 7, 2011

The lunar new year vacation is over...snif

We have really enjoyed our time at home as a family to get adjusted to our new reality. However for the past 2 days Simon has been sick with fever and cough. His body has been so hot, and of course all pharmacies have been closed. And since Rémi is never sick, the medicine I had with me had expired many years ago. So I managed to get in touch with one of my neighbor who is French and she gave me some Paracetamol and a thermometer, which helped. He had up to 40 C of fever, and not eating much. Our neighbor was having a new year lunch and invited us, and at first I wanted to refuse and stay home. But Simon seemed better after taking the medicine, and since they are just next door, we went. They had other friends come over, and the food was lovely. Last night again Simon's fever went up so I gave him medicine again, but this morning he seemed better. Still coughing and little appetite, but better. He's now back to crying and fighting with Rémi....Tomorrow Simon should be starting at the daycare, if he is feeling ok. But Rémi will go to the babysitter since he does not start school again until next week. Technically, I am now supposed to be taking paternal leave all this week, but work is calling me back for at least 1 day to handle urgent matters...

February 11, 2011

Sick all week...

Ouff, this was a tough week with all 3 of us sick on and off. Last weekend Simon had fever but Monday he was fine. Then Tuesday his fever came back with a cough and runny nose, so he was bonkers and had little appetite. Rémi started to cough but managed not to get too sick - he's always been so strong and healthy! On Tuesday I started to cough and it just got worse. Thursday and Friday I felt so weak and awful that I stayed in bed and rested. Now Simon seemed to be completely out of it, smiling and laughing today like never before, and his appetite is back. I am also starting to slowly feel better, tho not eating much. Through all this Simon still went to school at MapleBear and tho he was not in full form, he loved it and wanted to go back everyday. The teachers - Robbie, Phuong and Huong - say he's good but sulks a lot and cries when he doesn't get his way. Rémi was so bored this week because his school is still closed for a combination lunar new year and end of term 2 break. He starts again next Monday with school... and our 1 hour of homework per night! We manage to get around for now on my tiny electric motorcycle but I have to think about buying a bigger one because we are a bit squished. Well, for sure I can't gain any more weight otherwise we won't fit! And don't worry, I wear a waist belt around me and Simon when we go on the road. So now the weekend is upon us and we'll take it easy at home and rest some more. Technically I still get next week off as paternal leave which I will use to take care of some paperwork regarding the adoption. Today I sent the application for Canadian Citizenship for Simon to Singapore, and hopefully we'll hear soon...

February 18, 2011

Visit from our friend Luis from Canada

Simon overcame his cold and got his appetite and top form back, with the whining and laughing. I, on the other hand, kept coughing hard and had a tough time sleeping. I tried going to a local doctor but it did not turn out so good. The "clinic" was dark and had a TV on, and I saw no diplomas/credentials anywhere. The "doctor" prescribed allergy pills to me tho I had no symptoms and 40$ later, I walked out feeling like this visit was probably not going to help much, and it didn't. So then I went for a Reiki treatment and to an acupuncturist. After getting the "hard treatment" with semi-permanent needles under the skin which are supposed to dissolve in 2 weeks, I started to slowly feel better.

On Monday we had a friend from Canada come by to visit us for 6 days, Luis. He'd been working in India for a few months coordinating a team of translators for movie sub-titles. And on his way back to Quebec, he is doing a bit of traveling namely Vietnam and Cambodia. So we spent last Sunday with the boys at the amusement park and had a lovely dinner with Steve, Kenny and Zach at a great Vietnamese restaurant called Sen (Lotus Flower). Since I had this week as paternity leave, on Monday we walked around downtown. Tuesday and Wednesday he went to Halong Bay on a boat overnight, but he was lucky because the next day a boat there sank killing 11 tourists! In the meantime, I was busy going to doctors, taking my Reiki 1 course and taking adoption documents around for translation and notarization. The boys really LOVED Luis and were both suckers for his attention, which he gave generously. On Friday we went to the museum of ethnology, and then he left us for the airport to head for Cambodia. It was a lovely visit and I wish more people came to see us from Canada...

February 25, 2011

Maid in Vietnam

I finally took the opportunity of the long lunar new year holiday to.... let our housekeeper/cook Ms. Uyen go (photo left). I was not happy with her since I hired her 1 year ago but I was told to "give her a chance" and explain to her what I wanted. And then time just went by and it became hard to let her go. In the end her cleaning was always minimal and I had to teach her how to cook. I would sometimes come home during the day and find her sleeping on the couch or watching TV, and come by in the afternoon and she still had not started cleaning. Then she would do the whole house quickly in 20 minutes. Rémi also had an accident recently and cut his forehead. When I came home she said nothing but when I took off the band-aid, I saw that it was serious and he ended up getting 2 stitches at the clinic. Uyen was a nice woman but she really did the bare minimum when in fact, I paid her more than any of my expat friends pay their househelp. Regardless, it was still difficult for me to make the decision and give her 2 week notice. I then put an ad on the Hanoi community web site and got many calls. Some of them came by and were no match for xyz reasons. I got one woman named Ms. Mai who was top notch so I decided to try her out. She demanded that I buy a vacuum cleaner and many cleaning tools which I agreed to. She would only work 6 hours instead of the usual 8 and I say ok. But when I commented on a few things like to put less salt in cooking, or to put things back in the kitchen where I want them, she freaked out and said nobody ever told her what to do. She then went on to say how she didn't like my dog, or my son, how dirty our house was (it isn't I swear!), and how her back hurt from working so hard. I said "thank you - goodbye". Then I tried a 2nd woman named Ms Ha and she was so sweet, worked non-stop 8 hours and did the best cleaning ever, but she speaks no English and cannot cook (photo right). I decided to try another woman, Ms Hong Anh and wow, she's great (photo left). She laughs like a school girl, is always deep down happy, speaks good English, her cleaning is good and her cooking also. She doesn't complain, she likes Roxy and seems committed to doing a good job. She even sends text messages in the evening to see if we liked her cooking! In the end I decided to ask Ms. Ha to come in Saturday and Sunday, mainly because I want to keep her and have her stay overnight when I go to the field. So now we are set with 2 pearls, and I am thrilled with the result! Being a single guy, I really need to have good and trustworthy househelp to help me out. I think we're all set now...!

March 6, 2011

Babysitting and sleep-over...

I realized last weekend that I still need a few hours on the weekend away from the kids to relax on my own and run some errands. And I don't want to leave the 2 boys with Ms. Ha who comes in for 5 hours on Saturday and Sunday because then she will have to keep an eye on them and won't be able to do the cleaning. When it was just Rémi, I could leave him alone with TV, toys and the computer but now with Simon, this is no longer possible. They play, fight, scream and tear down the house so supervision is a must. So now we are back to sending them to our ex-neighbor Dung who has 2 sons and this works out well. They get to play in the street with many other kids and both love it. This gives me a 5 hour break on Saturday. Saturday night we had Rémi's classmate Antonio who lives near to our house come for dinner and stay for the night. The 3 boys just had a ball and I got to play police to set some limits as best I could. In the morning the had fun playing soccer outside in our yard. Ouff, a good but tiring weekend....

March 20, 2011

Let's go bowling....

There is only one bowling alley in Hanoi and its installations date back to the 80s. We got an invitation from our friends to join them along with others for a kids' bowling morning. The balls are huge and somehow we could never find out which were lighter (5kg) since they are not marked. Still, the kids threw the balls in a way that would have gotten us kicked out of a bowling alley back home but here this did not seem to bother anyone. Rémi was actually very good and often got strikes hitting all pins. Simon gave it a try but the balls were as heavy as him so I had to give him a hand. Then we went back to our friend's place for lunch with pizza and the boys had fun running around and playing.

Last weekend we went to Caroline and Stéphane's place for a fabulous BBQ with lamb chops and lovely merguez sausages. They had only invited francophones with kids so parents had a great time chatting while the kids tore down the house. This weekend we went to a Vietnamese restaurant named Sen (Lotus Flower) again with Caroline and family, and it was just great. It's an all-you-can-eat restaurant with grilled meats and a fabulous buffet. They are leaving us to return to Qc at the end of April, so we are pretty sad about this and want to enjoy them while they are still around...With our other family from Qc, Isabelle and kids, we all get along really well and the kids do too...

March 26, 2011

Going to the field again....

I have not been to the field in a long time, actually pretty close to 3 months now. Mostly because of Xmas, then we fell into our annual reporting period in January, then the lunar new year, the adoption of Simon, and here we are now. Even tho we are late, we are just in the process of planning our 2011 program with partners, field teams and farmers. But with the fact that there has been no Belgian government now for almost 1 year, we have been on hold wondering how to proceed with our program (and spending). This week we went to meet with tea farmers in 3 new villages where we want to expand, so we presented to them our program to see if they are interested. With the success of the first 4 tea groups, they now know about us and it is an easy sell. Getting to the villages was not so easy tho, and the car could not make it on the muddy road. So we bought some long rubber boots and walked 4-5 km to get to the last village...

We also meet our friends Caroline and family almost every weekend. We are trying to make the most of it since they will soon be leaving us at the end of April. They are also from Quebec and so friendly - we'll miss them so much when they go. This weekend we all went to UNIS school spring fair and they had many booths with all kinds of things for sale including food. Way too many people tho but it was fun still since there is not so much to do in Hanoi with a family. We are planning a nice weekend away with friends to say goodbye to them on April 8-9th. Should be fun. And Simon's 4th birthday is just around the corner on April 7th - I think I will get him a small bicycle... he's been looking at other kids who have one, and I see wonder and desire in his eyes....

April 2, 2011

Single dads with 5 kids...!

Last weekend we met a nice man who is here with his partner of 18 years and their 5 kids - 5 year old twins, another 5 year old boy and two 10 year old boys. One 10 year old was adopted in Vietnam as a baby whereas the other 4 were conceived through a surrogate mother. So the kids have 2 dads! And when one of them travels due to work like now, Harry has the 5 of them under his wing. He seems such a patient man and a good father. We met with them this weekend and went to the nearby amusement park which was a big hit with all kids. Then we went out for lunch at Jafa and that was great too. Hard to have a conversation with 7 kids talking, playing, fighting and crying one after the other tho... Unfortunately they are here for a short term contract and will be leaving in 3 weeks. Darn! We also had Caroline and her family over on Saturday night for pizza, again making the most of them before they leave us as well in 2 weeks to return to Qc.

Now that the family is getting bigger, our small, orange color mini electric moto simply couldn't fit the 3 of us anymore (comfortably). And after more than 2 years, it was getting to be in bad shape. The battery only lasted 10-15 km so every time I went downtown I worried about having enough juice to get back home. So I bought a new, bigger and better electric moto which can go 50-60 km and can fit us 3 nicely - price tag on this baby... a mere 500$! I should have bought a new one a long time ago... and this one is just wonderful for the whole family! Viva electric power....!

April 7, 2011

Happy birthday Simon...

Already this week on April 7th we celebrated Simon 4th birthday. Since it fell on a Thursday we did it nice and quiet at home. Our cook baked a super cake with all the decorations. I invited our Saturday babysitter and ex-neighbor with her 2 boys, and a friend from Rémi's school who lives nearby. We sang Happy Birthday then ate some lovely cake and that was it. The next day, April 8th, I went to his school and they had a cake and snacks ready with all of Simon's classmates. Funny thing - Vietnamese kids don't really like/eat cake but feasted on the shrimp flavored chips. At home, Simon got a nice bicycle which he just drives around and around the living room and dining room. Thank God we have the space for it!

April 10, 2011

A great weekend among Quebec friends...

This weekend we had decided to get away from Hanoi with our 2 families from Quebec, one of them I have said is leaving us in 2 weeks. We had planned to go to the "mountains" of Tam Dao and rented a minibus to take all 5 adults and 9 children on Saturday morning at 9:30 am. TD is only about 1.5 hour from Hanoi and we stopped on the way to visit a temple on a hill top. At the parking lot, hoards of people came to offer us to either carry our children or take us to the temple on motorcycle. We refused all. We simply walked and then bumped into a nice baker along the way who had just made a warm batch of baguette bread. We feasted on many of them as we walked along the way. We then came across a small stream/river and the water was so nice, something I have NEVER seen in VN, that we couldn't resist dipping our feet in the water - to the amazement of walking by Vietnamese who would never do this. We walked on and had Vietnamese ladies following us and finally I gave in a got her to carry Simon who was getting tired of walking. A bit further, we stopped at one of many little shacks along the way and had drinks - soft drinks for the kids and yep, beers for the adults. Needless to say that we never made it to the temple, and that was just fine with everyone...

We took it easy and simply walked back to the minibus. By then it was 1 pm, and at 2 pm we got to the Belvedere Resort. Our friends checked in while me and the boys just ran to the restaurant to get sustenance. They joined us and we had a late lunch, then I went with Simon for a nice nap, and later we met again for drinks and dinner. I had brought a bottle of Chardonnay which we had at our room on the balcony, then an early night for all. The next day, after a late breakfast we headed up to the famous Tam Dao waterfall, many steps down the hill and then back up. And then we hit the road back to Hanoi, stopped half way at Vinh Yen for a great lunch. The restaurant had a lovely pond with crocodiles to the amazement of all children. And finally we made it back to Hanoi. All in all a fabulous weekend with 3 families on the same slow and relaxed beat. A great weekend and wonderful memories no doubt...

April 17, 2011

A nice Sunday for a birthday

When I woke up and came downstairs, the boys were already up and watching cartoons. I asked Rémi if he remembered what day it was and he said: "Of course - Happy birthday Dad!", which was nice of course. But I was having Harry over for brunch with his 5 kids and his partner Will whom I had not yet met. So after drinking my 2 large cups of coffee, I set out to cook and prepare food - fruit salad, vegetable salad, Greek omelet with feta and bacon, fried potatoes with bacon and onions, homemade yoghourt, cheese, toast with homemade mango/passion fruit jam. It was nice. The adults got a chance to get to know each other while the kids played and screamed away (they loved the fooseball table!). By 2:30, the younger ones were getting cranky and Simon seemed sleepy as well (not to mention papa) so our friend left and we took a nice nap. This will likely be the last time we meet since they return to Canada this week to live in Toronto. Then at 4:30, off to Isabelle who had surprised me with a dinner invitation. When I got there Caroline and her kids were there as well as Isabelle's French neighbors whom I had met before. We had a lovely raclette with melted cheese on veggies and meats, which was just delicious. 2 very sweet store bought bday chocolate cakes and we were done for the night. All in all a lovely bday to usher in 42 years of living life to the fullest, in the company of friends and kids. Cheers.

April 22, 2011

Harry Potter and a new bicycle...

I got Simon a nice little bicycle with the side wheels for his birthday. They come in all prices - quite a few at 100$ - but I went cheap and got the one at 25$. I want to make sure he uses it before investing too much. I got a cheap one for Rémi and it has been pretty solid but he hardly ever uses it. Well, the one we got for Simon just broke to pieces from day 1 - first the pedals and then the seat broke off. I have had to replace and repair it since we bought it, and I hope that now we are good to go. Simon seems quite happy to have a new bicycle, if only he can use it for more than 5 minutes! We take it to the babysitter on Saturday and Rémi brings his bicycle as well - then they have fun in the streets riding away with other kids...

Rémi has finally grown out of his cartoon only phase. It has been great to now get kid's "real" movies and watch with him - we have now watched all 7 Harry Potter and enjoyed them tremendously. It's a little scary but good fun and nice to see one movie after the other. And now we are starting with the trilogy of Pirates of the Caribbeans, and that has been fun too. Lots of great action and wonderfully funny characters. Captain Spirro is just great! My older boy is growing up... which is great to see!

April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!

I now can sleep in on the weekend, which is nice. Rémi now is able to take off Simon's diaper, then they go down and watch TV. I leave 2 small mini box milks on the coffee table which the boys can drink. This usually gives me until about 8 am, then I get up. Then I have my coffee, prepare breakfast and put the boys in the bath where they play for awhile. At around noon I take them to the babysitter where they have fun with the kids and play in the street till 5 pm. During that time I run errands and do some shopping. On Saturday evening I had a goodbye dinner for our Quebec friends Caroline and also Harry - we had agreed to have a kids-free evening so everyone got a babysitter. We went to the Hot Rock Café where they serve raw meat on a very hot and flat rock and it's up to you to turn the meat over until it is cooked. Then we went for drinks at a Canadian place called Don's but I couldn't stay for long. We eventually said our goodbyes and for sure we'll see Caroline this summer when we go home.

The next day was Easter Sunday so I took the boys to the 5 star hotel Daewoo which had a special Easter brunch - the best buffet ever with beef/lamb filet hot grill, smoked salmon, sushi, sashimi, all kinds of dishes and desserts galore. All this for a mere 28$ for me which included a free flow of beer, and it was free of charge for kids under 1.2 meter (Remi is 1.19 so we were close!). They had a big kids' corner with large screen TV playing cartoons, a play area with loads of Lego, coloring stuff and of course an Easter egg hunt in the hotel gardens. Unfortunately Asian parents saw this as a serious competition and helped their kids snatch as many eggs as possible, while many kids including Simon had none. In the end both Rémi and Simon got 2 each (while others had 30). It was a nice day and a great way to spend Easter with great food and fun times for the boys with other kids...

April 29, 2011

Here comes the royal bride...

I may not be a huge fan of royalty and the fact that Canada is still a parliamentary monarchy - with the Queen as Head of our country and on our money, and the fact that one needs to swear allegiance to the Queen to become Canadian or work for the governement (which of course doesn't make sense if you think about it for once second). But, I am curious and did not plan on missing the royal wedding. I explained to Rémi about Queen Elizabeth, her son Prince Charles, his son Prince William who is now getting married to Catherine Middleton who will become a Princess once she marries her Prince. On Friday April 29th, the wedding was aired live at 5 pm our time so it was easy for us to watch. I thought it was a lovely ceremony and yes, the kiss was nice. I hope that this new couple can make royalty contemporary like Lady Diana was able to do...only time will tell, right?

May 1, 2011

Going to Halong Bay with the boys...

I hummed and haaad about whether to go to Sapa in the Eastern Mountains of Vietnam where I have never been or going to Halong Bay where I have been 4 times already. In the end I decided for Halong since I thought the boys would like it better and also it it much cheaper - 700$ for 3 days/2 nights to Sapa including food, train and hotel compared to 158$ for 2 days/1 night). I even decided this time to go for the luxury cruise. The good part was that I think the boys enjoyed it and Rémi liked kayaking. The less up part was that the tour was a rip-off and frustrating in many ways - I mentioned 5 times that I needed 2 children life jackets since there is a back landing to the boat and no railing but only after getting angry did we finally get them; everyone who has been to Halong will say the food is great and plentiful but this time it wasn't. It was lame and few so thank God we had snack along to eat; the room with the regular cruise was nice and large whereas this one was no bigger than a closet; and finally the boat was unfortunately equipped with top of the line sound system and party folks who shouted Karaoke in the restaurant just above our room from 8:30 to midnight. The ride to Halong and back was also 4 hours so playing referee between the boys was no fun. When I got home, I really needed a rest and was happy to be back. In hindsight, maybe we should have gone to Sapa....

May 2, 2011

Pool season is officially open!

Rémi has been dying to go swimming for ages now but it has been grey and cloudy for 5 months now. Even when we went to Halong we didn't get a chance to swim. But we still have Monday and Tuesday May 2-3 off as national holiday and finally, today the sun came out full blast - along with 34 C. So I took the boys to Jafa pool and Rémi was thrilled. For Simon, this was his first time ever in a swimming pool so he was scared. I took him into the deep pool with his floaters on and he managed to relax a little. Then I took him to the kid's shallow pool and there he had fun with other kids throwing each other the ball. Of course he swallowed a few liters of chlorinated water but that is normal. Well, with temperatures now soaring we will go swimming every weekend and surely Simon will get used to it - one step at a time, right?

May 15, 2011

Home sweet home...

After 8 days of being away in the field in Indonesia, often getting up as early as 5:30 and working also on weekends, I was tired and happy to be home. This was my first time in Indonesia so for sure it was nice, and I was impressed by all the green nature, the fresh air and the kindness of people. I missed the boys very much and this was my first time to leave Simon. So I had decided to hire an expat French woman, Rémi's French tutor, to babysit them. In the end everything worked out fine and I was able to call home almost everyday and get news by sms. But it was still a lot of coordination with a different babysitter on weekends and Mrs. Hop to take both kids to and from school.

I always enjoy meeting with farmers and learning about how their livelihood is for them, whether they are part of a farmer organization or not, challenges to production and marketing. So this time our team in VN went to visit our colleagues in Indonesia to learn about their program. It was a very packed schedules with 2 groups - one more focused on chain development and the other on advocacy and consumer awareness. I got to visit rice farmers in Boyolali on Java Island and then cacao farmers all the way in the East on Flores Island. Both visits were very interesting and the people are so friendly. We had to fly each time so it was a busy schedule. Now glad to be home back to our life here, our routine and my boys...

Being away from home and in the field so intensively up early and working late even on weekends gets tiring for sure. On Java the temperature was quite hot and most farmers and partners did not have fans. We also had to sit for many meetings on the cement floor covered with a weaved mat. Flores was a bit cooler and when we visited the cacao farmers, they held a cacao tree planting ceremony so each one of us from VN now have a tree with our name on it. Our hotel in Bali was lovely right on a beach with nice restaurants and shops all around. For sure a nice trip and perhaps a good destination for our next beach vacation...

May 17, 2011

Simon is changing everyday

It has now been 4 months since the adoption of Simon came thru and we are very blessed to have him with us. I have finally written the story of the adoption process so that one day he can read and find out how he came to join our family. Lately he is changing so quickly, slowly able to saw words in English and French here and there. He can now pee standing up which is new and he no longer uses a baby spoon - my friends will know that I favor the large soup spoon, right? He is now able to eat on his own (with a little help) and put on his clothes himself as well. He is changing quickly and shines like a sunshine in our lives...and Simon loves his big brother Rémi already. The good news is that we just got his Canadian Citizenship card which took only 1 month instead of the expected 1 year. So now Simon is 100% Canadian.

June 4, 2011

Looking forward to going home for the summer...

We have just booked our flight to Canada from July 3 to August 9 and we can't wait to go! The suitcase is already on the guest room bed to build up the anticipation and start slowly to put things in. And we are already booking weekends with friend's to make sure that we can see everyone. This year again, Rémi will be happy to return to the summer camp and Simon will be going to a kindergarten. So one month to go... in the meantime, we will study hard next week to prepare Remi for his final exams, hoping that he will do well. Last weekend, there was a party organized by a woman from Quebec for Quebequers so it was nice to meet some people and talk in "normal " French. This weekend, we went to a new indoor playground called Kinder Park which just opened 3 weeks ago. It has a large climbing structure for kids and even a climbing wall, in an air con environment. With heat coming on strong in Hanoi, this will be a good alternative to the swimming pool. The beautiful lotus flowers are in full bloom in Hanoi....! Rémi now has a soccer coach in an effort to get him to do more sports and spend some of his energy constructively. I got a friend of mine Chau to come get Rémi on Sunday morning, and he takes him to a field for 2 hours to teach him how to play soccer (guy with light blue shirt). We just started, but so far so good... Both boys love Chau who often comes to our house to play with them and have dinner with us.

We've had a very cool winter and spring in sharp contrast to last year when it was hot throughout. Temperature lately have been in the mid to high 20 C, which is not bad at all. But yesterday and today, the sizzling hot and humid Hanoi that I know and remember came through with almost 40 C. So now swimming is the only thing on the agenda and so far we have been a few times to the fun Water Park near our place. There's a wave pool, a "river" that goes around the whole park and people can hop on inflated round tubes, high slides for the bigger kids and fun water play areas for the little ones. For a whole 10.00$ for the 3 of us, this is a cheap and fun activity....We went June 5 and compared to 2 weeks before, there were a lot more people pushing around, and the water of the pool was yellow with urine. So not sure we'll go again soon...

June 19, 2011

Studying for Rémi's exams

Most parents here agree that it is a bit young when students are 7 years old and even worse last year when they were 6 - for them to sit for over one hour and write school exams. At Rémi's school, there are no marks given to school work - the midterm is worth 40% and the final exam counts for 60%. So a student like Rémi who is hyper active and finds it hard to sit still and work through an exam - gets very low marks. This for sure is not a system which I agree with, but for now this is what we have. So I spent 2 hours every evening for 2 weeks reviewing and doing mock exams with Rémi. I am not sure if it helped but that was the best we could do for now. He was a trooper and worked hard tho, so today we went to the cinema to see the new adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean 4. We have already seen the first 3 movies on DVD at home and they were wonderful! But I must admit the fourth one was a big disappointment. Last weekend we had fun going to our Quebec friend's house for dinner. The summer holidays are just around the corner, and I can't wait to take the boys home to Canada!

June 26, 2011

Going to Kinder Park... again

This weekend was a bit quiet, staying home on Saturday and running errands while the boys were with the babysitter. Then on Sunday we had Rémi's friend Antonio come over and we all went to Kinder Park which has a large indoor playground and climbing wall. The boys had a blast and Rémi climbed the wall for the first time. I was amazed that he made it quite high all the way to the top without any problem. His friend Antonio found it harder. We had lunch, then came home. Now the countdown is definitely on with only 1 week to go till we leave for Canada. Youppiiiii. Can't wait to get home and spend time with friends and family. We saw on DVD the movie Free Willy (the story of a killer whale) and now I got E.T. and the Lord of the Rings. I think Rémi will like them....

June 27-28, 2011

VECO Vietnam's team building event...

After 2 years of restructuring and seeing colleagues leave, we have recently re-hired again and now have a full team on board. This is a huge relief to know that we now have enough staff to deliver a good program. Up to now I had been alone with 1 assistant, but now there is a new Field Coordinator, a Communication and Monitoring Advisor, an Advocacy and Consumer Awareness Coordinator and my assistant became Project Officer. So this week we had our first ever Program Team Meeting (now that there is a team) and just a few days before we all went 1 hour from Hanoi to Song Hong Hotel in Vinh Yen town. There I presented to all staff our new program 2011 and we had many team building exercises including VECO Idol (Karaoke), a cooking contest and other games. It was a nice 2 days and a good opportunity to develop our team spirit!

June 30, 2011

Way to go Rémi!

Today was the parent-teacher interview meeting and she also gave us the final report card. I was hoping that Rémi did ok because I know he worked so hard, and he did good. He got a final mark of 70% which is superb for him, and in general he went from C and D in the first semester to A and B in the second one - 67% in English, 71% in Math and 72% in Science. His teacher also really stressed how he has improved over the year, academically and with his behavior. So this is great news for a little guy who has too much energy to sit still for very long in class... upward and onward to Grade 3 in August!

July 1, 2011

Happy Canada Day

Well this year the Canada-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and the Embassy organized a Canada Day event at one of the biggest hotel, the Intercontinental. But the price tag for VN was quite high at 50$, and in fact the food was not that great at all. There was supposed to be lobster but I never saw any. The theme of the event was First Nations and the only sign of this all evening was an ice sculpture at the entrance of the hall. There was no Canadian music, the national anthem sung in English only, and speeches one after the other with Miss Vietnam as MC. Not exactly a Canadian feeling to it but still we enjoyed ourselves - Isabelle was there with Denis and we met a few people as well. To celebrate Canada day at work, I made a simple quiz on Canadian facts and had a contest for the staff to answer them in teams of 2. They were able to use Internet to help them out and it was a lot of fun. Then we all ate maple cookies and I gave them small Canadiana presents.

August 21, 2011

We're back in our things...

Last weekend I decided to take it nice and quiet so I had the boys babysat on both days. This gave me a chance after a busy time in Canada to unwind a little and rest. This weekend, the boys went to the babysitter on Saturday as usual while I caught up on grocery shopping. Saturday evening we went to our Quebec friend's place for dinner and caught up on each other's summer while the kids played. Today Sunday I gave Roxy a hair cut and went to our Costco (here called Metro) for some more shopping. Then at 3 pm Rémi went to his friend Philipp for his 8th birthday party while I returned home and baked my first amazing moussaka - with ground lamb, eggplant, potatoes and a cheese custard. It turned out better than if I had eaten one in Greece itself! On the video front, we finished the 6 episodes of Star Wars and now we are starting the Lord of the Rings. Everyone says it is too violent for Rémi (and Simon of course) but we still watch it. Bad parent I guess I am....

August 24, 2011

That was then, this is now...

I know this phrase is very cliché, but it still is appropriate. I love seeing how Rémi is growing up into a tall young boy. And in just 2 years, I see a big difference. Here is a picture of Rémi when he first started Grade 1 at Singapore International School in 2009, and here is the one taken this week, as he starts Grade 3. His new teacher Ms Terry seems very nice and Rémi knows her from interacting with her last year. He lost of few of his friends who made a jump to the no 1 school here in Hanoi - UNIS (United Nations International School), but tuition fee there is almost double. He continues in Grade 3 with a few friends from last year, and even made a new best friend named Edward. My boy is growing up....

August 28, 2011

Karate for the boys...

I saw a road sign near our house for Tae Kwon Do and decided, with the help of our housekeeper, to contact them for info. It turned out that they were closed but the nearby community center offers karate to children. I also did a search on the Hanoi Community Website and found another place that we checked out on Thursday. The coach speaks perfect English and they practice in a "real" gym but the days are no good with Thursday, Saturday and Sunday evening. It is also a bit far from our house. So we checked out the other center near our house on Friday - the coach speaks no English, they practice outside in the parking lot as cars come in and out BUT, the kids were so happy to have English speaking/Vietnamese looking newcomers that both Simon and Rémi felt at home. And they meet on Monday and Friday evenings, which is better for me, and only costs 8% per month per kid. I stayed for a little bit and found it so funny to watch both boys try to follow, sometimes doing sit-ups, push-ups and having to scream out chants in Vietnamese while pushing their arms and fist forward. I had a good laugh. This will be great for them to have a totally Vietnamese activity.

I think that Rémi matured a lot this summer and I pinch myself to make sure I am not sleeping. He's been more calm and autonomous. All week he did ALL his homework alone and I only had to check afterwards. This would have been unthinkable just last June. He's also being more attentive and careful which is a shock to me. So I heap with congratulations all the time to encourage him to continue. And I have 2 lists that I keep now during the week - one for the things he does well, and the other for the things he needs to improve. And the good list is very long, which is boosting his confidence. I would really love to have an easier relationship with him so that we can relax and enjoy each other more. So keeping my fingers crossed because we are on the right track!

September 4, 2011

This and that...

This week on Wednesday Rémi had over 2 hours of homework and by the time we were done, we were both so tired and frustrated. So I visited his teacher the next day and basically said I was willing to do no more than 1 hour of homework per night, and she agreed. I have also decided to take it upon myself to teach Rémi from the French textbook a little bit each day instead of getting a tutor like I had done so far. So this gives us pretty busy evenings and I really want it to go well. On Thursday night it went smoothly and that was encouraging for both Rémi and me.

Rémi said he wanted an iPad for Xmas. I answered that it was a bit expensive and I don't think I have the money to buy one. He responded: "Dad, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I said for Xmas so Santa will get it and you don't have to pay any money!" Right, now what?

As a way to deal with and improve Rémi's behavior, we now have 2 sheets on which I write what he does well, and another on which I put what he does not do well. Each day we review both sheets and on Sunday I give him between 25 cents to 1$ depending on how he did. So far he has done so well and improved so much I am very impressed. He now has the patience to spend 2 hours to make a complex pirate boat following closely the instructions. Last night we went to new friends' house but Rémi was so hyper that the boys didn't want to play with him anymore and I had to ask him to calm down many times. On the way home we talked about it and for once he didn't freak out. He listened and said "sorry papa, I will do better next time". I almost started to cry. Something good is happening here...

Friday September 2 was a national holiday here which gave us a nice long weekend. So we took it easy and relaxed at home. On Saturday they went as usual for babysitting as I met with my Mac coach and then worked on my CV to look for a new job (which I have been doing for a long time now). My current contract is up at the end of June 2012 which may seem far. But most international expat recruitments take at least 6 to 8 months to happen, so time is already tight. I really hope I can find a challenging job in a country not to hot and safe, with a good salary. Cross my fingers and send that great CV out baby! Wish me luck... On Sunday we went yet again swimming at Jafa so nothing new.

September 10, 2011

Busy weekends now...

I am thrilled that now both Rémi and Simon are signed up for Saturday soccer at UNIS (United Nations International School). Simon is first at 8 am which means I have to get up at 6 am. All parents are pretty much coaches since the kids are so young and need a lot of nudging along in various languages in order to keep up (I heard parents speak Spanish, French, German). Simon did pretty good for the first time but was tired by the end at 9:30. At that time it was Rémi's turn to start with his group and he did great. He just loves being a goalie. Then we went to one of Rémi's school friend's birthday party, then came home. At 5 pm, another of Rémi's friend Antonio came by to play and have pizza dinner with us. So now with karate on Mon and Fri, then soccer on Saturdays, I think the boys are good and booked. So is Dad...

September 20, 2011

Going to KinderPark with Thanh

We are now all set with the weekend routine with getting up at 6 am to get ready so that we are at the soccer field for 8 am for Simon. Rémi then hangs around and waits as I coach Simon who is new (like most kids in his group) and has a hard time following all the exercises. Then at 9:30 it is Rémi's turn to play and I usually return home for a bit then come back at 11 pm. We then come home for lunch and after, the kids go to the babysitter for the afternoon so I can run errands. On Sunday we asked Rémi's friend Thanh (they were in Grade 1 together but now he goes to UNIS school) to come over and play. We then all went to the indoor playground KinderPark where they had fun for over 2 hours. Rémi and Thanh both agreed that they are each other's best friend, which was great to hear since it has not been easy for Rémi to make friends. Rémi was on his best behavior which was also a relief - part of making friends is being a good friend and that is not an easy lesson to learn. We will be back at KinderPark next weekend since it is a popular place to hold kid's birthday parties and we have a friend who has invited us to join them there.

October 2, 2011

Early Thanksgiving in Hanoi...

Last weekend we had fun going to Isabelle's house and welcoming Stéphane who was coming thru Hanoi for his job for a few days. We had dinner with duck roast, lots of wine and some catching up on news. This weekend was the early Thanksgiving lunch where we met Stéphane and his family last year. At 50$ a ticket (10$ for kids), it was a good event and a chance to meet other Canadians and chat. Turkey, Alberta beef and some good food (chocolate fundue) with all you can drink cocktails were nice and enjoyable. They had a kids' room so they could play while parents talked. Rémi is doing great now and behaving so much better which brings us closer. I can't stop hugging him now and saying how much I love him. He likes that and now seems more open. This week I leave home for 3 days to go to the field and hope all goes well. It's the countdown now to Rémi's birthday which is next Saturday. All is ready and it should be lots of fun. Rémi is counting down the days...

October 8, 2011

Happy birthday Rémi

Wow, what a fantastic party! I outdid myself again this time! I had chosen a nice Vietnamese style restaurant and everything went well. And the food was great. I was a bit worried tho because it has been raining straight for 2 months now and today was no exception. It has also been cool so the small swimming pool was drained (when in fact it is often 30 C in October in VN). When I arrived all the staff was also busy getting ready for a huge wedding party and I feared that our bday party was not a priority for them. 1 hour before everyone arrived nothing had been prepared. But being the leader that I am I quickly pulled in some staff who spoke no English and ordered them around placing tables and setting up decorations. Then my friend Trung came along and that helped as well. By 12:00, all was ready and I just had enough time to drive home in the rain on my moto to pick up the boys, the gifts and the cake. When we got back people started to arrive and we had a great turn out with about 16 kids. We started by having lunch and everyone enjoyed the great Vietnamese food. Then I rallied the kids for the games - throwing marbles in bamboo baskets (see photo left), darts board, a treasure hunt and a drawing contest. All kids participated so fully that we all had a great time. I had also brought some disco music which Rémi had asked for. Then we had the amazing cake made by our cook with only the best ingredients - real chocolate, real cream and lots of love. It was no doubt the best cake in Hanoi. Then when Rémi could not stand it anymore he opened his presents and was thrilled with all of them. It was truly his day. We ended the party by giving each kid a party bag which I had prepared with snacks and small gifts. Ouff, I am tired but happy it was such a great success! Happy birthday Rémi...! For all bday photos, have a look at the updated Vietnam 2011 album.

October 23, 2011

This and that....

We've had so much rain lately I thought I was going to grow flippers. But now it seems like we may finally be out of the rainy season. The boy's soccer got cancelled a few times because of weather, then there was a holiday, so finally they got back to kicking the balls today after a 3 week break. Same with karate that got cancelled each time it rained since they do all their sleek moves out in the parking lot of the community center. Last weekend I went to Thailand for a job interview as Program Manager in Myanmar. The written exam and panel interview both went so well but in the end the salary and benefits they were offering were too low so I had to refuse. I was disappointed but it may be for the best since Myanmar would have been a very interesting but tough country to live in because of its military system and hard access to modern services (internet, phone, etc.). So I continue sending my CV but there hasn't been any interesting openings in the past 2 weeks. Today we went to a friend's bday party and the boys had a blast with a super great water fight with adults thrown in to fend for themselves. Tomorrow I take a follow-up one-day course on Reiki, which should be nice and help me develop more technique in this healing art.

October 31, 2011

Trick or treat in Hanoi!

Last weekend I found 2 nice costumes for the boys, Rémi as a warrior and Simon as an elf. Then last Friday both went to school dressed up and were very excited about it. At Simon's school, there was even a nice kids in costume parade for parents to come and watch. However they did warn us not to dress them up in scary costumes to avoid kids crying. So I guess the bloody vampire will be for next year! Sunday was Halloween at KinderPark for 2 hours and it was ok but a bit expensive with nothing much special. But we got to see friends and chat while the kids were playing.

Rémi is staying home this week because of school break so he's watching a lot of TV and spending too much time on the computer. But he was quite excited to know that in the evening we would be going trick-or-treating in the expat neighborhood of Ciputra. So we got there at 6 pm and met up with friends Isabelle and her gang as well as others. Then we slowly made it down the streets to the few houses which participated. It was fun and relaxed plus there were loads of kids out for the event. After 1 hour Simon was pooped so we made it back and came home. Now we need to ration candy over the week so they don't have a severe sugar overdose. It was Simon's first Halloween and he seemed to really love it. I remembered last year when we also came there with Caroline and our 2 boys dressed as Spiderman. OK, so now we're good till next year and we will have the costume ready!

November 17, 2011

Rice workshop in Bali

It was really a good workshop in Indonesia with other VECO colleagues but quite a run around from Bali to Solo to Yogyakarta to Bali again. First a rice workshop for 5 days, then a 2 day workshop on chain development. As always, the highlight for me was to exchange with other chain development program managers like me and pick their brains on how they do their program - credit, building capacity of farmers, marketing, etc. So I come back to our program with a fresh perspective, which is always a good thing. And it seems that all went relatively well at home, except that Rémi threw a rock at Simon's face which caused bleeding, but he swears it was an accident. 12 days away from the boys was long tho and not something I want to do often. Anyhow, I am now happy to be home again with my boys and our life here...

November 20, 2011

Making dried duck breast

I got back home right into the routine of running early Saturday morning to bring the boys to soccer. I would have loved to sleep in but no, gotta keep the boys busy it seems. And on Sunday I met with Isabelle and Denis who showed me how to take magret de canard (duck breast) and dry it with salt and spices. Now I leave it in the fridge for 12 days and it should be quite yummy. They had some ready to eat and it was just delicious. Then we went for lunch and then swimming with the kids but it is getting a bit chilly so the boys did not stay long in the pool. Then we came home and relaxed. They boys are now watching all 3 Spiderman movies and like them a lot. They now think that they can easily walk on wall and go from building to building! In the end, it was a quiet weekend cocooning and enjoying being back home with the boys.

November 25, 2011

Going to the field...

I had a busy week since we now have colleagues from head office visiting us from Belgium. So we organized a 3 day field visit to all our project areas, something we never do. We usually visit only half since the 2 provinces are so far away from each other. Hence there was a lot of driving around - over 12 hours in 3 days - and many meetings with partners and farmers of tea and safe vegetable chains. All in all it went well of course but when I came home last night I was completely exhausted and happy to be back. I realize that I do find it hard now spending extended time in the field...

December 4, 2011

Charity bazaar and 50th bday party...

Last weekend we went to Unis (United Nations International School) for the annual charity bazaar, a big fair with lotsa food and things for sale. All expats in Hanoi were there no doubt, along with some Vietnamese. The boys had fun running around and we bumped into Steve and Zach whom we hadn't seen since last January! But we didn't stay too long because it was a hot day with about 30 C in the sun and both boys were complaining that it was too hot for them (not only Dad). Rémi played the game of Angry Bird where you have to throw a stuffed bird at a set of blocks to get them to fall down. He didn't succeed but gave it his best shot. That evening we also went to Isabelle's house because our friend Stéphane was in town so we all had dinner together.

This weekend we are taking it easy and staying home. Rémi has been a bit crazy lately so I said we would not have friends over or go anywhere this weekend. I really work hard with him with lots of positive feedback to get him to improve his behaviour, but sometimes like now - enough is enough. Last night I went to a Quebec friend's place for her 50th bday party (France in blue dress - doesn't she look great?). They had hired a DJ who played great music so everyone danced a lot. It was also a costume party - you had to dress as something with the letter F like fairy, French, etc. I did not have time to get any costume together so I was chosen to be the judge and select the best costumes. It was a lot of fun, and by 11 pm I returned home before my carriage turned back into a pumpkin...

December 6, 2011

Here comes the bride...

Tuesday Dec. 6th was a big day for my colleague Nhung who tied the knot with her boyfriend, altho he was nowhere to be found when we arrived at the wedding reception! Vietnamese traditional wedding are for sure different from our own. All VECO staff, friends of the bride and neighbours from her community came for a big lunch. A large tent had been set up and we were showed to a table with lots of great food - deep fried shrimps, salad, fish, etc, with beer and rice wine as well. Nhung greeted everyone who came and by 1 pm, the lunch was over. Her groom and his family were not part of the festivities. We went to Nhung's house for tea and snacks, and looked at the wedding album which was ready a few days before the wedding. Then later on, the grooms showed up to pick up the bride and take her to his family where they will begin their life as a married couple. I wish her all the happiness in the world and a nice family! Congratulations Nhung!!!

December 11, 2011

Francophone Xmas dinner at my place....

Last night I had a big dinner party with 15 people - 8 adults (Isabelle/Denis, Emma/William, Julien/Maite, Karen and me - and 7 kids. I had made a nice big turkey (I now have a bigger oven so it's not a problem like last year) and stuffing, Isabelle brought a Tourtière du Lac St-Jean (meat pie), William was credited with 2 bûches de Noël (Xmas cake) and Julien with the lovely cheeses. I had also made a large Fruit Cake with my Aunt Denise's recipe and it turned out delicious. So for sure we ate well and way too much, sipping nice wine and chatting away. We sang a few Xmas carols tho the kids didn't seem so much into it. All in all a nice Xmas dinner with French speaking friends. Joyeux Noël chers amis et famille....

December 14, 2011

Letter to Santa...

Dear Santa, I wish that you can give me a Lego Star Wars Death Star and Simon wants a big car for Christmas, he says. I know that you are nice and I like you. I was nice all year long and I did a big puppet show today for Simon and Papa. Can you tell me how good I was this year? Please let me know soon. We are going to Thailand for Christmas so I hope you can bring our presents to our hotel room. There is no snow in Thailand so we will go to the beach and swim every day. Does the reindeer know the way to Dolphin Bay Resort? I sure hope so. We will leave chocolate cookies and milk for you on Christmas Eve, I promise. From Rémi and Simon.