First Day of School (Then and Now)

These are our first day of school photos in front of our house. Notice the worried, slightly forced smiles in the first one and the top-button-unbuttoned, more relaxed look in the second. What a difference a year makes!

August 2010

August 2011

Lauren looks a little older in the second shot I know, but I can guarantee we were all much more at peace. Oh, I jest: The beautiful woman in the second shot is our amazing housekeeper, Ms. Quay. Gotcha!

We have enjoyed the start of this school year so much more being as settled as we are. Vietnam will always pose challenges and it will be a continuous adventure for us, but this year so many things were in place as we began the year (our house, good friends and colleagues, favorite restaurants, an understanding of transportation, etc.) that we were able to enjoy the start of this school year much more. 

Should be another exciting year as we welcome another great group of visitors throughout the year. We'll keep you posted. Thanks for following us.

Three Nights in Bangkok

We flew from Seattle to HCMC, spent one night at home then flew to Bangkok, Thailand to meet up with our good friends, the O'Briens. We spent three busy days there getting over jet-lag and touring around one of our favorite cities in the world.

We started at the lush, shaded, beautiful Jim Thompson House.

Something for everyone: Colin feeding a turtle. In background you can see O'Briens and family shopping for beautiful Jim Thompson silk products.

The boys following our tour.

We then went to the Grand Palace. There were somewhere around 14 million people there and it was hot, hot, hot. Turns out, the princess had died recently and the entire country was invited to pay their respects AT THE EXACT TIME WE ARRIVED.  It was crazy but still very impressive.

At one point, we came across people dipping lotus flowers into
bowls of water and sprinkling them on their heads.
Some sort of blessing I imagine but we were participating more for the cooling factor. 

The boys had their own room and took full advantage of this luxury.

It was so good to have a best friend in town.
We all loved our exciting trip on the Chao Phraya.

This was the kind of boat we were on. River Taxis.

After our busy time in Bangkok we were all ready to slow down. So we headed south to Hua Hin and some much needed relaxation time on the beach. The resort was incredible. Is this real?

The grounds were beautiful with fountains and beautiful plants everywhere.
The boys had a great time. Especially in the colossal pool that meandered all over the resort:

The water slide was used continuously.
"I slid down that thing 780 times a day," said Trevor.

Just beyond the pool was the beach. It was rather cloudy much of the time
but that didn't stop us from playing in the warm water.

No matter where we are in the world, Colin will find the beach and
discover amazing critters. This is Colin at his happiest.

On the beach there were thousands of tiny crabs that would scurry into their holes when you came near.
The beach was covered in the tiny balls of sand they constantly made.
Throw in a couple tropical flowers and you've got a screen-saver shot. Nice work Lauren.

It was a fantastic trip with fantastic people. Life is good.

My Phat Summer

With well-deserved props to my brother-in-law and his impressive fitness post, this will not be like that, and certainly will not contain any topless photos of myself. This is the back story of how I gained 12 pounds this summer. And I'd do it all again. In fact, I find my real motivation now to run each morning is the hope that I can repeat this next summer.

I flew to the US with the goal of trying as many excellent beers as possible. After a year of Tiger, Heineken and 333, I was ready for real beer and I was not disappointed. My hoppy journey began with the three best beers of the summer:

An IPA my brother had brewed this past year. 

Incredible and so good with Copper River Salmon to celebrate Lauren's birthday.

An Amber, which went so well with my ham sandwich

 on mom's homemade bread (Dad's recipe) and cracked pepper Kettle chips.

...and a solid Pale Ale that went so well with the summer meal of corn on

the cob, grilled hamburgers and a salad from Molly's p-patch.

Don't you wish Ben were your brother? Of course you do.

While in Seattle I visited my favorite watering hole, the Wedgewood Ale House with my brother and enjoyed a delicious Reel Amber from the Port Townsend Brewing Company and a Regrade pale ale from the Schooner Exact Brewing Company. Yep, I met a beer I didn't like. The Regrade was yucky.

Then it was off to see what the east coast could bring to the table. The Hennessys

offered a Burning River from the Great Lakes Brewing Company. Nice after the

flight across the country and went so well with my wife's amazing salsa.

With my brother-in-law Graham, I enjoyed a Dortmunder Gold, also from the Great Lakes Brewing Company. Yeah, that's a Heineken mug, but not like the kind I get here in Vietnam. The classy, folksy kind. Also enjoyed from Gr. Lakes: an Edmund Fitzgerald Porter and an Elliot Ness Amber...or two.

Later, at Paige and Jeff's new place, we had a great meal of pulled pork with a Dirty Bastard Scottish Ale from the Founders Brewing Company in Michigan. Very Nice.

Then it was off to the Penn Brewing Company for some local Pittsburgh brew.

Lauren & Dave

 We each ordered a beer. Not sure what Dave and Lauren had (Lauren ordered a

beer with fruit in it...always a bad idea). Mine was called Penn Marzen and was

possibly the best beer I had outside of my brother's this summer. It was, after all,

one of beer critic Michael Jackson's (save it) "Top 24 Favorite American Beers."

Incredible...

 ...and even better when the second one arrived with a Philly cheese steak sandwich.

Oh man. I'm wearing that right above my belt as I type.

By the time we were done, it was dark and the building reminded me

of a set out of that great film, Strange Brew.

What would summer be without baseball?

Yep, we were there as the Pirates embarked on a remarkable and

rare winning season. I enjoyed our great seats Paige and Jeff
treated us to with a beer from America's Oldest Brewery: Yuengling.

It was divine with the bucket of wings we ordered.

Then it was back to Seattle. 

My bother does not only make great beer, he also buys it. He stocked his fridge with

these three from Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon. I have always loved their

Black Butte Porter but almost anything they make is incredible. I did not drink all these,

but I helped. With these in hand and some cool, cloudy weather, I was at peace.

Sorry. I know it is not beer but I like this picture of my mom and her dog in their

beautiful home and this delicious raspberry cocktail our friend Barb mixed up.

We spent a peaceful, wonderful weekend on Whidbey Island at a friends amazing house,

just hanging out with family: hiking, laughing, sleeping in, playing on the beach,
and drinking a few beers. I have always loved Redhook ESB. Classic.
And is anything better than beer and pizza?

Well my wife of course, is better.

(I only had sips of this Blue Moon as it was my wife's beer.

With orange in it, it is something I only drink in private.)

Double Happiness:

My beautiful wife and a Fat Tire from New Belgium in Colorado.

All that and a bowl of chips.

There were many more beers consumed at times when I did not have my camera. At Lauren's cousin Matt's wedding I tried some beers I can't remember. I'm sure they were good. I realized I don't like Corona with lime as much as I used to.  I enjoyed the incredible Perspective IPA from Big Time Brewing, a mediocre Hodgsons IPA from Leavenworth Brewery,  and the really tasty Total Domination IPA from Ninkasi in Eugene, OR. that my good friend, Wallace introduced me to. I was fortunate to spend an evening with a great group of friends in West Seattle at The Beverage Place Pub, where I enjoyed a couple pints of my staple NW beer: Manny's Pale Ale from Georgetown Brewery.

It was an incredible summer. 

(And yeah, I'm sort of new to the joy of hyper linking. Sorry about that.)

How it Happens

When I was a teenager I wondered how perfectly normal, often stylish men turned into fashion-clueless, somewhat embarrassing men. My dad's dad did. Old pictures of him show a fit, well-dressed ladies man. My dad did. Mom has shown me photos of him as a younger man and he was smoooooth. But, somehow he became a man who seemed to not care about how he dressed and would even flaunt this fact much to my embarrassment. He was certainly fit, but still had that little belly all men his age seem to sport.

Well, this summer was the year I joined these men. Now,  I am not professing to have ever been all that stylish or nearly as smooth as my predecessors were, but I did care how I looked and was likely not teased about it, up until this summer.

Here is how it happens and how it will happen to all of you out there who think it won't:

First, you'll get skin cancer. No, really, you will. If you don't it will be more unusual than if you do. Sorry. It likely won't be the scary kind but enough that it will change how you view the sky. Because of it, you will find yourself lurking in the shade while all the 39-year-old dads are in the sun with their kids. You'll also buy a large, dorky hat and wear it all the time. It will become your trademark. It will be khaki.

Then you'll get plantar fascitiis. You see, one of the reasons you were so cool is that you worked out, maybe too hard or incorrectly and now your feet hurt all the time. So, off to the store to buy some sandals that feel SO good. Away go your cool-dad flip-flops and on go the orthopedic sandals.

Here's the kicker: You like your new sandals so much you want to wear them when it is cold out. So, yep, you put on socks. And why not pull 'em up to protect more of your skin while you're at it!?

Then you spend the summer sitting around because you are recovering from your skin cancer removal and your feet still hurt. Because you live in Vietnam and can't get good beer, you decide to try all the beer your homeland makes so well--and they make a lot well (including your brother who makes the best beer of all). The results of all these wonderful beverages is a cute little belly you did not have before. You're not overweight really, but you are rounder in the middle and you see why things you own might not always fit.

So, the summer ends and you show up and work and your teaching assistant says: "You look older and fatter." (which she means as a compliment by the way). And you are.

THAT is when your sense of humor becomes really important. You can: a) become bitter or b) use it as a way to embarrass your kids to the delight of others your age. "b" is much more fun as it brings smiles and laughter. "a" is just someone nobody wants to hang with.

My father was an awesome man and any steps I can take that bring me closer to being like him, I'm all for. The funky hat, sandals with socks and small beer belly I'm nurturing however will need attention this coming year, just to see if I can put this chapter off a few more months.

Ben Song (River Restaurant)

Last weekend we had one final staff happy-hour. We decided to head to a place that opened up across the river from the school. We had all seen it from the windows of our classroom but did not know what it was nor really how to get there. So, we headed out Friday afternoon and went to the banks of the river.

Lauren in backpack. Restaurant in background.

We then waved and whistled and they sent a boat across the water. One, mind you, that they were working on: the sound of hammering meeting us across the water before the boat arrived. When it arrived, they pulled up on the oposite side of a barbed wire fence, removed some of the barbed wire and helped us into the boat.

We then took the 60 second trip across the river to the new Ben Song restaurant.

The restaurant was actually really beautiful and it was neat to look back across the river to the school and Phu My Hung, drinking Tiger beers with no chance of passing students. Felt, actually, like we were on vacation for a minute there.  And, of course, I need to end with a snapshot of the menu...always good for some entertaining reading.

UB40

Last weekend, Lauren turned 4 decades old. The boys and I made her a cake (and some cupcakes for her to take to work), we went out to dinner and then we took her to a surprise brunch with 25 friends at a favorite restaurant in town.

Turns out there were eight other staff members celebrating decades so we invited the entire staff to our house for a decades party.

Seven of the eight guests of honor:

I'll admit I was a bit stressed about inviting the entire staff to our house but the perfect number showed up (maybe 50) and we mixed crazy drinks, enjoyed a little limbo, played amazing music from the 70s and 80s and danced 'till 1:00am.  Now we are cleaning up from it all and on our way to a goodbye brunch for some dear friends. These are busy times but so much fun.

PS. It was also at this party that we were, for the first time, "shambushed" by a fellow teacher. Not to the extreme detailed here in the Urban Dictionary as I was not a stranger and he did not leave naked, but a shambush nonetheless. Well done Anton.

Still Crazy After This Year

I predicted that this place would soon be less surprising as the unusual became normal and we settled in. I am finding, however, that Vietnam continues to surprise us. Here are a couple from last week:

Or this...

Sorry about the blurry photo.
I'd had a couple Tiger beers on ice at this point which might help explain this...

We did indeed order the "Crispy Fried Pig Fallopian Tupe".  Went down like popcorn chicken.

We are very excited to be heading back to the familiar in a couple weeks but we also look forward to what surprises VN has in store for us next year!