GECKOS and GUSTAV

I thought that Geckos a.k.a. nasty little see thru alien lizards...were over populating Texas and Louisiana...but then they were everywhere in Dubai...and they are everywhere in Vietnam as well. I can not escape them! And I really find them disgusting (grey's word) People here like to save energy and turn their AC off and open all of the windows...windows here do not have screens...so I apologize to the earth now because I will not invite the creatures to come and go as they please!
I hope all of our family and friends stay safe during Hurricane Gustav! Especially those of you in the New Orleans area! Please say an extra prayer for the Rougeou Family since they are at Children's Hospital with their new baby girl.
I promise to have new pics posted this week. I have not been taking many pictures...I am trying to learn my surroundings with my eyes instead of the camera lens!!! We miss you all...

$$$

Grey was in serious need for a hair cut so we went to the place next door to the hotel and it cost so much money...only kidding...It was $1.20 and Natalie HAD to have her fingernails and toenails painted and they charged me $0.60 Today while we were walking around the city I found several spas that charge $7-10 for massage and facials. So tomorrow while the kids are in school will be MOMMY"S DAY!!! I hope everyone is well...

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First Day of School

The first day of school in a foreign country can make one very nervous. As you can see Grey chewing away at his fingernails waiting for our driver. Once he got there we met the teacher and started making fish...a distraction so I could make a run for it! He did very well with no crying. Now today was a little different. He was fine until I had to pry away my fingers from the death grip they were in....But we all know what happens once mom is gone...the show is over and the crying stops! On Mondays and Fridays they wear the same uniform. The rest of the days Natalie wears the cute little dress. They match the colors of the school...blue, white and orange! So far so good!!!

Well it has been a few days since I last told some stories. I will post the pics later. We have been furniture shopping the past few days and it is nothing like shopping in the states! There was 1 store that was pretty big but they just had a bunch of leather couches...in different colors. Then the next place we went to did not have anything that we would even think about...then another place and another place....you get the picture. The stores other than the 1 big one, were very small...like smaller than your living room small. We then found a place near our house that was very pleasant...with hand made furniture. We managed to find a bedroom set for Natalie and we will get more stuff down the road. So we are still on the hunt for a few more things.
We went out to eat at a Vietnamese BBQ place. We sat at a table that has a burner in the middle and a propane tank under the table. We had a great time. We had a local with us so she took care of the ordering. We cooked our own food that was already seasoned! We also had some steamed clams that Natalie was slurping out of the shell. The shrimp came out on wooden skewers and they were still moving. (Please no one get mad at us...the kids had a good time) Well I guess you can guess what happened next....We had several little bowls of different seasonings and sauces. My favorite was the salt pepper and lime juice! Very yummy!
Today was the first day of school for Natalie and Grey. Natalie was excited but Grey did not want to put on his uniform and kept shouting that he was not going!!! Well once we got his clothes on and his book sack on his back...he was fine. He had a great day and wants to go back...so I guess he had a great time with Ms Emily. Natalie also had a great day. She only has 12 kids in her class and 1 other girl. So I am sure she will get more attention than necessary! We had the option of packing a lunch from home every day or pay the restaurant that caters. Of course we took the easy route. They have an awesome menu! I wish I was having lunch with them!
It has been raining every day! Today a lot of the streets were flooded. I don't think they have a very good drainage system. I felt really sorry for the people on motorbikes. They were getting soaked! There are soooo many vendors on the streets selling ponchos...They have all colors if anyone wants to place an order!!! We are hoping for no rain tomorrow because we are out of fruit and the best place to get it is on the side streets from the little ladies on their bikes. I will take pics tomorrow if it is not raining. Well I hope everyone is doing well. We are having a great time learning about this different culture!!!

Does anyone need any bricks delivered to their house? I found a guy that will do it for pretty cheap! Or does anyone need to transport their family anywhere? This vehicle will take groups of 6 and higher!!! (I think there were 7 or 8 people in there)

China Town

We decided to take a ride to Chinatown. It is one of the districts here. LOTS of people in the streets. There are hundreds of little shops lining all of the main streets and alleys. They seem to have different sections because we saw a lot of fruit in one area and a lot of art in another area and a whole street of fabric. And a lot of junk in between! Kinh Do is a cake that is very popular. They have these big stands on almost every corner. With the sweet tooth we all have I am sure it will not be long before we try it. I did not want to get out and walk without Danny because there were a lot of people and I would rather get lost with him than by myself with 2 kids. It was a neat place to see!

Ho Chi Minh City

This is Notre Dame Cathedral. It was built in the 18th century and still has service on Sunday. We will have to make a visit there this weekend. (say some prayers for Grey starting school)

Our First Sites when we arrived

The bowl of soup is what they call Pho. They have a few places in Houston that have it...I have not seen it in Lafayette. Anyway...you get a huge bowl of noodle soup with chicken or beef and then they give you things on the side to add to it (spices, herbs, bean sprouts...) It was very good. The best place to eat Pho is on the back street of the hotel we are in so I will try it today and let you guys know the outcome. The little brown fruits are a local fruit that Natalie can not get enough of. They have a weird texture once they are peeled but taste like grapes..sweet ones! There are several other local fruits we did not find at the grocery store but can be found at the market. So we will try to go there today if weather permits. The high has been around 88 degrees...so a big change from the states and Dubai!!! It has been raining here for 30 days straight but we have not seen any since we have been here. This is getting close to the end of rainy season...lucky us! I can not imagine what a typhoon looks like! Hope you guys are enjoying the scenery!!!

The first picture is the little supermarket down the street from our house...the next one is of a gas station on the corner of the street you turn on to get to our house. Notice the power lines...and these look good compared to the rest of the city where there are 100 power lines forced together. The next pics are of Natalies school and this lady must be the street cleaner!!! I am sure we will get hats like hers the first place we see them for sale!!!

Our new casa

So here are some more pictures of the house. The kids have found a few hiding places inside...which may not be such a good thing! We got to meet the gardener yesterday. He is going to be working every day except for Sunday. He comes to our house in the morning and the neighbors house in the afternoon. I think our house has a total of 7 bathrooms! And we have a steam room by the pool. The other houses are the neighbors. The Chinese house is right in front ours and the other one is across from the side of our house. We live on a corner so we can see several houses looking out of the side. The stone walkway goes all around the house with lots of flowers and plants. The sign with the silver letters is the entrance sign to our little neighborhood. Most of the roads are gravel but they are suppose to make them black top roads soon. We will get to move there in a few weeks. We were told that the port is backed up! nice. The picture of the blue/green box is the box I spoke of in my last blog. This is our generator if the electricity goes out. Everyone has one since it is common for the lights to go out here. The power lines look like a nightmare to me! But this place is considered 3rd world so they get what they can take!!!

HO CHI MINH CITY

Today I am considering to be our first real day here. Yesterday..due to all of the traveling was a blur to us all. We started the day by getting in our Toyota mini van with our driver Hao . I will never attempt to drive on these streets! As soon as I get my pictures downloaded you will know just what I am talking about. We got to see Natalie and Greys school first and Grey still insist that he is not going to school. Then we went to our house. The gardener was there and he seems to be very nice. (We do not know his name) The flowers and plants look amazing so I guess we will keep him. In the garage there was this huge blue box with a bunch of Vietnamese writing except for the all caps bold word : DIESEL...When I asked what this was for...well it is a generator for when the electricity goes out. Apparently this is a common thing here. I mean, there are only 10 million people here soaking up every ounce of electricity offered. The lights even went out at the hotel for a minute today...and so did the street lights but no one seemed to care...everyone just kept driving in 1 million directions...next was our grocery store visit. Nothing was in English!!!! we had to guess at things and we recognized a few brands so that helped. The bill was $1,676,872.00 The exchange rate is $1 = 16,580.00 dong. So it was around $100.00 We needed some basic things and also got some new things to try. It was hot in there so we tried to hurry. We did manage to get some Tiger Beer and some wine!!! We picked up Pizza Hut on the way home! The pizza was the same but they also have some shrimp things wrapped in potato strings...I can't explain it but they were very good. We took the kids for a walk and there are so many places to eat it is hard to choose one. We had our first experience with a vendor. She was an older lady with some kind of fruit (looked like a brown potato on a branch) and the kids stopped to look at what she had. Well she peeled one and Natalie was the first to try it..(Danny tried them on his last visit here in July) Of course she liked them very much and we had to buy the bundle from her. It was $2 for the whole bundle. I took a picture and will post it later when I locate my cord for my camera. Oh we also met a guy from California who loved the LSU shirt I had on! He is retired and has been here for 6 years... (he must have had some voodoo put on him) SO...I guess we have survived our first real day here in Vietnam. I cant wait to show pictures so you can see all of these things I speak of. Signing off for now!