Itadakimasu

Lately we have been trying to practice gratefulness and using "Itadakimasu" properly before every meal. Afterwards, Hana now happily exclaims "...maten!" every time I try a "tack för...?" and after having examined the rice-corns in detail also Kai seems to realize there is a great deal of work behind every bowl of rice, and that it, really, shouldnt be wasted.

Gochisousama deshita.

Mai Chai III

So we went back again. Drove four hours to spend a weekend in relaxing Mai Chau, this time with Hana's little friends Robbie and Ayla, and their parents. It was as wonderful and refreshing as always, just "slightly" hotter than last time. We walked the village, did some shopping, had tea, had a huge amount of good food, some wine; excelled in the art of doing nothing.

And, this time we also went for a bicycle tour around the villages and rice field backroads, more or less passable.

Hana and me, Robbie behind Davide and Ayla behind Paco.
And, who cares about gavelled roads when this is the view you get!

Sheeta transformation.

Freedom!

(the bicycle, by the way, is supposed to be Hana's)

Routine

Few things out of the ordinary happen these days. Today has been Hana's and mine morning-of-our-own, as every Thursday lately and in the afternoons kids play with little friends here and there. Tonight Keisuke and I will meet with a Japanese couple for drinks and later dinner at our place and tomorrow, it seems, we are off to Mai Chau for the weekend!

And, beautiful lotus and juicy lyche season is here, Hana eating lyche non-stop and loves to destroy the delicate flowers...

Swimming

My new favourite excersise. Morning swim in the pool around the corner and I have promised myself it will be a regular thing, at least until its time for summer holiday... coming up in less than three weeks!

The best thing is I generally get the whole pool for myself. On my way right now!

Lang Yen Phu

This weekend we went for a stroll around Lang Yen Phu, a really small neighborhood within the Tay Ho area, like a village in the village. We had coffee and coconut and icecream by the lake and Kai went bicycling around the tranquil streets. Hana, a bit upset, repeating "Hana also bicycle", got special treatment on daddy's shoulders, and was also promised a bike on her own. Fair enough.
And, it was one of those fresh and cloudy days, the temperature probably closer to 30 than 40, how wonderful!

Art Expo and Hanoi Opera

Last weekend included the yearly art expo at Kai's and Hana's school. A huge amount of great stuff where set up all around school but as all other parents we focused on our own little artist's stuff...

Butterfly, by Hana.

A rainy day, by Kai.

Last week little Duckling class also went for excursion to the Hanoi Opera, to see the dress rehersal of Verdi's Requiem. They sure were fascinated by all the instruments and the beautiful singing, enjoyed from the VIP lounges, and also enjoyed running around the corridors and having snack in an elegant hall.

Taking a break, with Sille.

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Snack time coming up. Waiting with Theo, dandy-style.

One hundred persons in the choire, seventy in the orchestra and even accompanying mums and dads enjoyed.

My little Japanese

This week has been one of those tremendously luxurious ones, where I have divided my time between afternoons by the pool with the kids, having morning coffee with a friend at the local cafe, evening out with the girls, a lazy morning at home with Hana etc. We also had Hana's birthday party and even Keisuke and I had time to sneak out one evening for coctails at a new place down the street. Great food and as it is being run by a friend of ours it included quite some complimentary rice wine tasting...
Thursday morning I spent at home with Hana, and for lunch we tried the new sushi bar just around the corner.

Waiting...

Drinks arrive.

Tucking in!

Ah, yesterday we finally got my new Japanese text book (with Japanese characters...) that I ordered in December. Now, gotta go have coffee and start studying. The fact that Hana learned more Japanese in two weeks - while I was in China - than I have managed to learn in five years is embarrasing!

New Zealand news

Every week the kids in Kai's class draw and tell the latest news; what they did during the weekend, if someone came visit, if something they thought especially important happend. Anything they want to share with their friends. This is, apparently, what Kai told his friends about our New Zealand trip:

"Camping in New Zealand, many camping. I camped here and here and camping here. The door and the door here, camping everywhere - just camping always. All the family camped, always camping all the time. One had a trampoline and I jumped so high - boing boing boing. Then no more camping and we go to a house."

Ok, maybe we overdid it a little, but it was nice, and we will do it again.

Happy birthday, Hana!

Yesterday we celebrated Hana's second birthday, from early morning till late at night. As she nowadays refuses to go to bed before 9.30 or even later, she has become a true late riser and we could actually wake her up with candles and presents and beautiful singing...
She was then celebrated at school, mummy brought yummy fruitsallad with chocolate sticks, and in the afternoon a bunch of little friends came to play and have cake. Theo and his parents, Jenny and Khanh, even stayed for dinner.

Doll house interior. A great success, but as mummy went birthday shopping only yesterday, to noone's surprise the doll house shop had run completely out of doll houses - only huge amounts of furniture left... - the house itself will have to be added later. "Come back next month", they said. Anything to get me out of the store, I say.

School celebrations.

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Afternoon party.

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Cool princesses. With best friend Sille.

Scandinavian

We started out all Swedish, but then invited Norwegian Sondre to join us as well, for a garden snack and some after school play. After the morning thunder storm, all is back to normal again: Hot.

Sondre, Viggo, Hannes, Kai & Hana, apple juice and Oreo in the shadow on the terrace.

In the evening, Hana decided to rearrange our shoe collection a little...

Summer and weekend

Summer is coming, its getting hot again. Still below thirty at night, but definitely humid enough.
For the weekend, Saturday afternoon we took the kids to the yearly C.A.M.A. music festival - big event in Hanoi where anything alternative, especially if it has to do with music or dancing or other suspicious arty kind of things, is still "social evil" - and then handed them over to our nanny and went back to enjoy the later concerts and a few drinks ourselves. Sunday - swimming pool, to hot for anything else.

Festival boys. Kai and best friend Hosea.

Now Monday and will defy the heavy rain and take the motorbike across town to Vincom tower tremendous shopping mall, as tomorrow is another big day in Taketani family...

Panjiayuan Market & the Forbidden City

At Panjiayuan Weekend Market, you could buy almost anything; old coins and more or less fake pearls, antique ceramics and furniture, fabric and clothes from all kinds of minority groups, ink and stuff for calligraphy painting, huge marble sculputure, about anything old and new one can think of. My kind of heaven!

Then, after two failed attempts, I finally managed to get in to have a look at the Forbidden City. A huge amount of buildings, courtyards, more building, cortyards, Chinese-looking roofs and gold. Enormous and very impressing.

In other places, the sign would probably read "no graffity" or so. On the imperial grounds, they are obviously a little more poetic than that.