Summer holidays count down... two days to go!

Lately, this blog have been more or less abandoned. I've had to work. Actually work a lot. Fortunately yesterday saw the deadline of a number of final reports and I am now all free again and totally ready to escape Hanoi for a long - and very well deserved - summer holiday. On Sunday the kids and I are off to Sweden and although an occational post may appear here every now and then I wont promise anything!

Going off-line. But dont worry, only for a while. Back in wireless (?) Hanoi again August 8th!

New la Salsa and kids restaurant behaviour

Lately, the new la Salsa garden restaurant on our street is an all family favourite. Yesterday I went out again for a few drinks with some friends and this Saturday we tried it with the kids. Who approved - it is a great place.And as long as you bring along a couple of Bamse magazines and give them plenty of food and drinks they like, everyone normally behave quite well...

(Camera's been fixed!)

Ninh Thuan

And this week work took me down to southern Vietnam to the coastal province of Ninh Thuan. I didnt have time for a swim in the sea but for sure for all kinds of yummy street food - and some extremely fresh seafood, right on the beach. It was great to get out on the real countryside, travel on roads not lined with the traditional three storey tubehouses that make even Dutch houses seem wide...
One week to go and - summer holidays!

(and very soon I will complement this interesting post with some nice photos still only available in my phone)

When the cat's away...

When I got back this Thursday afternoon, I found Kai hanging out in the sofa watching yet another movie (probably already had gone through a bunch that day), a giant - the whole package at least - chewing gum in his mouth, on his way to the pool with some friend... Hana also had a friend over, a huge purple bruise on her cheek that noone knew where it came from as she never cries and - above all - very short and neatly cut bangs.

As it was too late to do anything about that anyway I told her I'd have to trim it a bit at the back as well and she immediately went off, grabbed a pair of paper scissors and cut a giant jack in the back. So, now she's got short hair. And it actually really suits her personality...

And, my camera is broken and I dont know how to get the pictures in my new phone into the computer yet.

Hai Phong

Last week work took me down to the big port town of Hai Phong, Vietnam's third largest city but actually not exciting at all. Work was interesting though and I met with a lot of people I would never ever meet with otherwise. And tomorrow I am off to Southern Vietnam for another week of work in the provinces.

Hai Phong from my hotel room.

Coffee break by the sea between clinics' visits.

Mum's night out

A pretty regular activit by now. Last time we tried out new la Salsa on our street and we'll definitely be back very soon. Wonderful that they finally opened a proper garden restaurant in the neighborhood - every day less reasons to leave it at all!

Yummy food. Great company.

Posing:
Hazel, Patricia, Soma, Michelle, Marta.
Lieve me, Pernille, Christina.

The pool, the pool, the pool...

Lately, above all the kids prefer to be in - if not under - water, so we go down to the Trade Union public pool a loooot. As long as you avoid it after four o'clock when the big crowds start to arrive it is actually not bad at all. Hana is the of them all, with a total lack of fear or respect of the fact that she actually cant swim yet and needs constant supervision as she just jumps in wherever - the deeper the better. Fortunately Kai kan make it all over the pool by now, which make the visits a tiny bit more relaxed for me. But of course, then there's the jumping...

The weekend was also full of social events, like "mum's dinner" on Thursday and a way to late fairwell party at the Swedish Compound on Friday. On Saturday some friends came over for barbeque and Sunday evening I had to go out on some jobrelated socializing.
And, only three weeks until summer holidays.

Kai

Five years and eight months now, incredible how fast those tiny little babies grow. Yesterday we went down to the pool after school and he could suddenly swim 25 meters (and probably more). And got a loose tooth. What a day - we celebrated with icecream.

The only flavours left were green bean and rice flake, but we will not try those again.

Lotus flowers

The most beautiful flower of all. Only lasts for a day or two and way too delicate to keep at home though. I keep buying them anyway.

End of Year Concert

Well what can I say but they all did a great job! There are a couple of hundred parents and siblings out there watching and after all, they are only five and three years old.
It is also good that all the parents of the three boys to the right kind of know eachother by now (Kai, second to the right...).

Waivin flag - the Sunshines



Hip hop - the Sunshines



Hana and the Caterpillars were a little softer, nevertheless very brave.

Airplane song - the Caterpillars

One more week in school

And another year will have passed by. As fast as ever. Kids love their little school and their many friends, and are already excited to move up to next classes next year. Several of their best friends will still be around, like Jordy and Lena, which is great.

And tomorrow is a big day for them all, performing on the big school stage at the end of year concert. Keisuke is still in Japan, hanging out with friends in Tokyo, so I will have to film it all!

Barbecue

While I was away Keisuke finally got us a barbeque, a real Vietnamese style one. This Friday Thoa helped us get it started and then some friends came over to try her wonderful shrimp skewers, with plenty of "tinto de verano". Very summery.

During the weekend we also had time for a fairwell party for some friends moving to Uzbekistan, and a dip in the Jafa pool in Ciputra.

The future?

My lines just never seem to be the same as on these kind of images...

The past. The future.

The future? Futuristic? But, why is he sitting there, when there is plenty of comfortable space in the waiting (not construction) area around the corner?

The Singapore - Holland - Belgium tour

Don't think I have even taken as few pictures when travelling. Maybe most of the places were just too familiar/boring? Or I actually had to work most of the time?

Swosch. Singapore highrises passing by in the taxi.

Absolutely no time for hiking. But nice view from the meeeting room.

And before I had time to say Singapore Sling I was on my way to next country. This kind of clouds must be soft to fall on.

Along the canal in Leiden, a small Dutch university town.

No time for this, but closed anyway...

In Brussels they really like big black glass buildings. Too many offices an too many bureaucrats for my taste.

And then... blue skies, puffy white clouds, fresh green leaves on healthy clean trees. In the middle of the city. Compared to Hanoi, European cities sure have a few advantages.

My family

Even greater than going away for a week or two every now and then, is coming home to my family again. Although today Keisuke took off for a week in Japan, to hang out with friends and for some administrative matter. He needed new passport photos of himself and the kids: