tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247953342009-07-08T16:07:23.844-07:00Stream-of-consciousness tales of a single mom and her two kids as we embark on a life-altering adventure.Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.comBlogger321125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-31428489018807677622009-07-08T15:45:00.002-07:002009-07-08T16:01:23.932-07:00

Last Thursday, a monkey tried to attack me. One of my evening students, Nam, and his wife took the kids and I out for a delicious meal of bun cha and then over to an enormous coffee shop/resort that is tucked away behind the city. The expansive grounds are covered with umbrella-covered tables interspersed with play structures, primarily metal swings in the animal shapes. We meandered through and

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-20610202501539321512009-07-07T20:44:00.000-07:002009-07-08T16:03:22.387-07:00

There’s nothing like a lot of work to keep you from being social, whether it’s stateside or abroad. And while my social life these days consists mostly of spending time with my kids and posting on this blog, both have been neglected the past few days. Due to the national exams this week, the company was not able to find a Vietnamese national to teach the Reading and Writing segments of the course

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-88948297951860575762009-06-29T15:56:00.000-07:002009-06-29T16:09:24.145-07:00

Since we moved last week from room 211 to 213, our mosquito population has been near zero in our room. Nary a bite for any of us. It's been wonderful. But outside our room, there are openings in the sidewalk, close 3 feet by 3 feet wide, where the water sits. Why they are uncovered or where that water is going (or is from), I don't know. What I do know is that they've been a breeding ground for

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-5379278698226139012009-06-28T16:24:00.002-07:002009-06-28T16:35:09.747-07:00

It's all the kids have these days--hours and hours to do as they please. Of course, this often resorts to playing video games, but not always. On Saturday evening, Audrey and I went swimming with some students (past and present) while Stuart rested. He's had a cold for the past few days. I managed to press through the embarrassment of a bathing suit, just for my daughter's sake, and enjoyed

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-28131965680654222712009-06-25T20:51:00.002-07:002009-06-25T21:12:47.672-07:00

Thursday was test day for the students. In the big picture, it's actually a test for me--a way to have a control against which they will compare the students at the end of my teaching term. So I found a test in a book that I've yet to see here (in hopes of avoiding them knowing anything about it) and proceeded with listening and speaking tests. The listening portion started off the test period

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-91506591669586968462009-06-23T05:41:00.006-07:002009-06-23T21:37:19.192-07:00

Saturday morning we headed north with Mr. Bruce, another foreign teacher here at Hong Duc (though not for long). He was going to the airport, and we weren't, so his driver dropped off on the west side of Ha Noi where we grabbed a taxi and headed off to Old Faithful (aka the Hanoi Holidays Hotel). Unfortunately, on arrival we were moved to another hotel. While this may seem odd, it's probably

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-3325927128798136942009-06-19T05:08:00.003-07:002009-06-19T05:27:22.871-07:00

Dai came by tonight, around 6pm, to ask if the kids could come out and play badminton with him and some other students. Neither Stuart nor Audrey were super eager to hang out with students eager to practice English, but I pushed them to head out. The weather has been lovely the last couple of days and I know that as summer progresses the evenings, like this, that dip into the 80s will be

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-60928881724910037392009-06-17T15:58:00.003-07:002009-06-17T16:19:49.652-07:00

Yesterday evening Audrey and I headed over to the supermarket, while Stuart got some much needed time alone, to do some shopping. We picked up some more water, some plastic cups (after breaking a glass one on the tile floor) and some snack foods: Lemongrass Chicken Potato Chips, Brazil BBQ Potato Chips, milk (the yellow package), some yogurt gellies and some cream wafers. And all together, it

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-66746197113736193492009-06-16T16:28:00.002-07:002009-06-16T16:38:08.187-07:00

It's very similar to beef. We were invited to Mr. Ben's going away party last night at a restaurant with a name that translates as "The Most Goat." There were, as you could guess, few meat choices. We did manage to get a boiled chicken, but it showed on the table--head and feet, too-- on its belly and chopped into two-inch pieces. The only way to eat it was to pick it up, pull of the skin and

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-84670670361128397752009-06-15T16:07:00.004-07:002009-06-18T05:09:28.584-07:00

My apologies for the delay in posting, it's been a wild few days. We arrived in Hanoi mid-morning on Saturday after 26 hours of travel, including a three-hour layover in San Francisco. My methodology seemed to work, though, and traveling through the night rather than during the day (as we did last time) helped us to get some sleep on the long flight and has definitely helped with the jet lag. I'd

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-6817437306308090842009-06-11T05:06:00.003-07:002009-06-11T05:11:39.397-07:00

Marked on my calendar for less than two months, the date still seemed so far in the future, but now it's here. I'd like to say that I'm simply putting the finishing touches on the house before we leave, just packing up those few last things. What I am really doing is rushing madly around the rooms, trying to get it to a point that I won't be ashamed to leave. And won't be so depressed when we

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-18037318584572757012009-06-10T00:40:00.002-07:002009-06-10T00:49:55.606-07:00

Saturday morning I flew down to Sacramento and took a mini-vacation with my aunt, visiting family that day and spending the next day in San Francisco. Sunday evening we joined up with Reenita Malhotra and Samantha Ducloux Waltz at the Urban Tavern. After dinner, we headed up to Cafe Royale to read our pieces from "Ask Me About My Divorce." It was a great experience and I was so grateful to have

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-86042316994057711652009-06-08T14:12:00.001-07:002009-06-08T14:13:58.239-07:00

I can see how people lose their minds sometimes. If I weren't so tired...

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-41834318865033117282009-06-05T09:28:00.002-07:002009-06-05T09:42:29.822-07:00

My ex-husband used to accuse me of being a martyr and I consistently rebuked the term: I don't purposefully look for suffering . But this morning my mother, after listening to me whine about the chaos of these last few days, asked me, "Why do you do this to yourself?" and I didn't really have an answer. Some of it is inescapable. I have two papers for my online ED291 class due today, an earlier

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-13770946778119473202009-05-21T11:49:00.004-07:002009-05-21T15:06:00.608-07:00

We're lucky enough to have received a ton of support from friends and strangers alike over the past few weeks and I'm incredibly grateful. And in the wave of support, we've been requested to help out in various ways. I'm happy to do so. We'll be bringing photos of adopted children back to the orphanages that cared for them. Some purchases are being sent to us to transport to Hanoi. Our bags are

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-20248384000922468422009-05-17T09:27:00.003-07:002009-05-18T20:17:43.085-07:00

That's all we've got here before we split. Stuart mentioned how last time it was so much longer before departure that we actually celebrated our "100 days before we leave" day. This time we won't have to wait even half that long. Things are progressing nicely, though. I bought tickets to Vietnam (fly out June 11). Then tickets from Hanoi to Bangkok (fly out September 20). I'll buy tickets home

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-35600273937367838882009-05-07T07:12:00.003-07:002009-05-18T20:16:07.114-07:00

We've got our one-way tickets again (someday I'll be able to afford round-trip, but probably after the kids are grown!) and we officially leave at 7:50pm after a full day of work on June 11. Today we are off to get our new visa pics and send off the applications asap. There are some differences of opinion between what IIG is telling me to send and what the Embassy is telling me is the cost of the

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-9502406188729693222009-05-02T09:13:00.002-07:002009-05-02T09:23:53.921-07:00

It's official: We are going back to Vietnam! I will be teaching at Hong Duc University again starting June 15 and we're thrilled at this turn of events (to say the least). Plans are to live in Thanh Hoa and make visits to several of our places, including the Baby Orphanage and the Home of Affection in Tam Ky. Right now we're working on getting visas and making arrangements to take care of things

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-10694555447686905252009-04-25T10:17:00.002-07:002009-04-25T10:23:09.916-07:00

Audrey participated in the PPS 5th Grade Spelling Bee on Thursday, which was quite interesting. She lost out when she was asked to re-spell earnest. She assumed they were saying that she spelled it wrong (she hadn't) and when she spelled it the second time she changed the last vowel. It was a shame, but watching was as much fun as participating. The funniest moment came during the preliminary

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-10798440899138785832009-01-01T12:48:00.000-08:002009-01-01T12:49:24.046-08:00

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-59692396104950721152008-12-22T08:36:00.002-08:002008-12-22T08:52:43.378-08:00

As it continues to snow, the isolation is starting to wear on us, especially confronted with the biggest holiday of the year. Poor Audrey was so upset last night about (probably) missing Christmas with family and thinking we're going to freeze or starve to death "way out here." The novelty has surely worn off. But today, the kids are going to make a fake fireplace, a la Julie's family. It'll give

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-78461052570015635962008-12-21T07:59:00.002-08:002008-12-21T08:13:11.594-08:00

It's been a week of snow here and I'm getting a bit tired of it, though I must say that it's been nice to catch up on some things. I've been able to do a bit of writing and finished several Christmas gifts. Of course, my to-do list still has a couple dozen things that I was supposed to get finished, but oh well. I've got two more weeks of Winter Break to cross off to-do items. The snow has been

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-54661689938188105812008-08-19T08:12:00.003-07:002008-08-19T08:35:18.956-07:00

I finally uploaded the pictures from our family trip to the beach. My two younger sisters, plus all our kids, spent several days at a friend's beach house. We had a great time at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, visiting several other area attractions, as well. I'm still working on web stuff, but at the same time I've had one essay accepted and another essay query accepted. So I've been busy writing

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-31756556601965373292008-08-04T16:08:00.002-07:002008-08-04T16:14:13.068-07:00

Our lives are busy, but not in the way they used to be. I'm in the midst of changing things around and making teresaandkids.com's blog a personal/family blog and moving the weblog into a better system to be able to search for various topics. I'll be breaking it into essays more and less diary-style entries. Meanwhile, I'm plodding away on the book about our adventures in Vietnam (and a few in

Teresa, Stuart and Audreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07906720281204468635tlcpdx@mac.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24795334.post-58977583492060076822008-06-11T20:41:00.002-07:002008-06-11T20:45:59.823-07:00

It was cold and rainy during the all-school picnic on Monday, but the flowers that were in bloom were beautiful. You can see them all on Flickr.

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