Game Night

Last night our quickly dwindling group of friends hosted yet another good-bye party for the latest people to have to say a sudden goodbye to HCMC.  We all gathered for some drinks, buffet dinner, and to play some "Celebrity."  After our delicious dinner of fresh fruit, fried rice, meat pies, and of course, peanut-butter and Nutella sandwiches, we were ready for some serious game-playing competition.  The score was close but in the end, team White&Yellow ended up dominating the DREAM TEAM (Complete with fake knuckle tattoos) with a last minute score tying challenge -- if Heidi could get her team to accurately guess the final two clues and a full beer could be chugged within a 30 second window, her team would win.  Let's just say that team White&Yellow was celebrating their victory with 14 seconds to spare!  That's some quick beer drinking!).

Then, the night of games continued with another challenge:  How quickly could one carry two 21L water jugs up 4 flights of stairs.  After much discussion and practice on how to best carry two filled water jugs at once, the competition began.  Despite running 10 miles earlier in the day, Adam completed the challenge in just 1:14 seconds.  Unfortunately, though, no winner could be crowned because one 21L jug met it's end when being dropped, creating a flood on floor 13 which quickly had to be abandoned before being yelled at in Vietnamese.  Ah, we will miss our friends and game nights.  Thank goodness we still have Yahtzee for two!

Heidi acting out "Justin Timberlake."  Obviously!

Julia doing her part to help team White&Yellow win the game.  Jimmy coaching her along and Heidi just looking intense.

Our team's victory shot.  Sorry DREAM TEAM -- you've got nothing.

Practice to determine how to most successfully carry two filled water jugs at the same time.

Adam post his run, discussing strategy and re-hydrating with a cold Tiger!

Photo Shoot

Last night we went out with some friends to celebrate making it to another Friday. On our way to dinner we came across a beautiful old school Vespa scooter which inspired an impromptu photo shoot.

This super nice bike was parked outside of a gold shop. Coincidence???

Yes, that is a open beer in the plastic bag Heidi is holding. She keep it classy.

Things in Trees

The Elementary school where Heidi works got a new addition to their campus. The principal of the school brought his pet pigeon (actually a healthy looking pigeon) to work so "that the bird could get new views and more fresh air." While this may seem very nice in theory, the poor bird's new views are abruptly ruined as a dodgeball slams into it's cage. See, to maximize the views for said pigeon, the bird was placed in a tree right in the middle of the sports court. Hopefully the bird lasts long enough to enjoy that fresh air and views before a wild day of recess ends it all.

Just enjoying the view and all the fresh air HCMC has to offer.

Pretty bird on the lookout for a rouge dodgeball.

Beans of the Dragon

We love vegetables.  We crave them.  In fact, we have always said that we are yet to meet a vegetable that we do not like.  One of the greatest things about coming to Vietnam is how abundant and affordable vegetables are.  Every week, we get enough vegetables and tofu at our local market to make meals for 6 days of the week -- not just a veggie side, mind you, but the vegetables are the main -- and the grand total is around 6 dollars.

Since moving to Vietnam we have been exposed to a variety of new, delicious vegetables that previously, we did not even know exisited.  Su su, opo, snake beans, and bitter gourd have become regular household additions.  One of our most favorite "new" veggies is called the dau rong which is translated to "Dragon Bean."  It is prolific is hot, humid climates and can be found at every corner market.  We are not sure where to hunt down such delights as the Dragon Bean once we return home

We love vegetables.  We crave them.  In fact, we have always said that we are yet to meet a vegetable that we do not like.  One of the greatest things about coming to Vietnam is how abundant and affordable vegetables are.  Every week, we get enough vegetables and tofu at our local market to make meals for 6 days of the week -- not just a veggie side, mind you, but the vegetables are the main -- and the grand total is around 6 dollars.

Since moving to Vietnam we have been exposed to a variety of new, delicious vegetables that previously, we did not even know existed.  Su su, opo, snake beans, and bitter gourd have become regular household additions.  One of our most favorite "new" veggies is called the dau rong which is translated to "Dragon Bean."  It is prolific is hot, humid climates and can be found at every corner market.  We are not sure where to hunt down such delights as the Dragon Bean once we return home so we will continue to consume as much of the dau rong as we can (without needing a constant supply of Pepto)!

A whole pile of delicious dau rong just waiting to be sauteed with garlic.

The dragon bean has 4 distinct sides and fringe down the sides (like a dragon).

We picked up this pile of beans at a grocery store which, mind you, is the expensive place to buy your vegetables.  This whole bag was 6,888 dong -- about 40 cents.

Easter Sunday

Easter is not really a holiday celebrated in Vietnam.  Something about a Christian minority ...  In fact, we did not even realize that Easter was upon us until this afternoon when, at our new favorite cafe, we ordered a Carrot Cake Cupcake.  There, lodged in the cream cheese frosting, were two sugar-candy bunny ears.  As we sipped our delicious lattes and enjoyed the afternoon cupcake treat we realized we don't need a Easter basket or a giant slab of ham with mint jelly, we just need each other and a little sugar indulgence every now and again.

Best cupcakes we have had in Saigon.  (Only cupcakes we have had in Saigon).

We got two to split ... this one is a S'more Cupcake complete with graham cracker crust and marshmallow frosting.  Adam is so excited he can barely contain himself.

Cupcakes, lattes, and vacation planning -- a true triple threat!

Breakfast Club

We came to the harsh realization that our time in Vietnam for this school year is quickly wrapping up. With so many things in the city that we still want to do (and eat) we made a commitment to ourselves to get out and experience all of the things that we would "maybe do next week. Enter Friday Breakfast Club.

Every Friday, instead of eating breakfast in like we normally do, we have committed to going out to try new dishes and new restaurants. Yesterday was the third meeting of the breakfast club, and it was another delicious way to start the day as we enjoyed a excellent bowl of Banh Uot. In the words of Rebecca Black, "everybody is looking forward to the weekend, weekend, yeah!."

The giant pot of steaming noodles.

Banh Uot in all of it's glory

Another happy customer. This is a great way to start of Friday.

Baby Boom

Vietnam is a young country. When you drive around our city, it is incredibly noticable how young the population is. Within this young population, it feels like there is a abnormally high percentage of pregnant ladies. Literally, pregnant ladies are everywhere. They serve pho, they work at banks, they ride side saddle on mopeds. They are everywhere.

This year Vietnam welcomed the year of the dragon. Evidently the year of the dragon is a fantastic year to have a baby. If you are blessed enough to be born in the year of the dragon you can look forward to a prosperous and lucky life. So between the year of the Dragon and a young population, Vietnam is experiencing a baby boom. Here are some stats to highlight our point.
-Nearly 13,500 babies were born in Vietnam during the first two days of the year of the Dragon.
-In HCMC there were 1,000 births just on the first day of the year of the Dragon.
-In the first hour after midnight, there were five babies born in the hospital right by our house.

Dang, babies are everywhere!

In no way do we plan on participating in this baby boom, but it is a crazy thing to witness.