tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16953452724332156862024-03-13T08:00:53.445-04:00Zhe shi wo yingAwesomeCloud, Rick and I are living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and posting our adventures in pictures.AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.comBlogger445125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-53940085504257223582014-12-09T08:08:00.001-05:002014-12-09T08:08:20.956-05:005 Vietnamese Things I will still do when I get back to the USWe're coming home to the US this summer, from June 19 to July 15 (or thereabouts). I've heard that when you go home again, you may experience culture shock. It doesn't take long for the culture you live in, even briefly, to normalize. So while your old culture is still familiar, you need a period of reintroduction before you settle back in.<br />
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So here are five things I anticipate doing the Vietnamese way, initially at least, when I go back.<br />
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1) Step into traffic, while saying, "What traffic? This isn't traffic!"<br />
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2) Use two hands to pass things to people. Even small things. Especially money.<br />
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3) Faint at the price of everything. (Except chocolate.)<br />
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4) Save all the 'disposable' bottles and cups I get that are of any halfway decent quality. I used to do this anyway, sometimes; now I do it even more regularly.<br />
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5) Get the urge to go grocery shopping every two days, and then only buy as much as I can carry a km.<br />
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There will probably be additional little things, like mentally converting prices from USD to VND, or craving unsweetened iced tea and referring to it as "trà đá." I'll know when I get there.<br />
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I hope you all have patience with me. Especially with the traffic thing.AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-51205748622238856592014-11-25T05:54:00.006-05:002014-11-25T05:54:51.837-05:00Tiếng Việt Tuesday - snow!I was joking with a friend on Facebook that the Vietnamese have no word for 'snow', but many words for 'summer'.<br />
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But there is a word for snow! It's <b><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps">tuyết.</span></span></b><br />
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<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps"> Ice is </span></span><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps"><b>băng</b>, or <b>nước đá</b> which means 'water rock', or just <b>đá</b> if it's in your drink.</span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps"><br /></span></span>
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps">Summer is </span></span><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps"><b>mùa hè</b>, and even though all the seasons here are a type of summer, that's the only term in the phrasebook.</span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps"><br /></span></span>
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps">But then for 'hot', we get:</span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps"><br /></span></span>
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<i>adjective</i><br />
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dâm dục: lewd, bawdy, lustful, hot, libidinous, lubricous<br />
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dâm đãng: hot<br />
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nêm gia vị: hot<br />
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nóng: hot, warm, forward, heated<br />
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cay: hot, piquant, poignant<br />
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nóng nải: eager, hard up, headlong, hot, hotblooded<br />
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động cởn: hot<br />
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nồng: hot<br />
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hăng hái: eager, keen, buoyant, corky, dashing, hot<br />
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nồng nhiệt: warm, hot<br />
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kịch liệt: intense, vehement, furious, exquisite, fiendish, hot<br />
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nứng: hot<br />
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sắc tươi quá: hot<br />
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I have never heard most of those terms. The one I'm most familiar with is <br />
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<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps"><b>nóng</b>, as in </span></span><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="vi"><span class="hps"><b>cà phê nóng</b>, 'hot coffee'.</span></span></div>
</div>
AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-49627200125292751952014-11-25T03:06:00.003-05:002014-11-25T03:06:54.511-05:00My Zazzle.com StoreWhat have I been doing lately? Lots of things. Wandering. Drawing. Studying Vietnamese. Adding products to my Zazzle store.<br />
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<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.zazzle.com/tiktaalik-149399144126033934?rf=238567541751181596"> <img alt="Tiktaalik" src="http://rlv.zcache.com/tiktaalik-r959a68d0972f456cadf72aac59d4bb17_v9w72_8byvr_325.jpg?bg=0xffffff" style="border: 0;" /> </a> <br />
<a href="http://www.zazzle.com/tiktaalik-149399144126033934?rf=238567541751181596">Tiktaalik</a> by <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/dandelionstudios*">dandelionstudios</a> <br />
View more <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/tiktaalik+tote+bags?rf=238567541751181596">Tiktaalik Bags</a> </div>
AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-72516232775571254832014-10-10T22:25:00.000-04:002014-10-10T22:25:07.196-04:00Early Saturday morning in pictures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fSAfmC6fp5o/VDiQzN_SGVI/AAAAAAAAAk8/_BxWFMNH5ZM/s1600/IMG_0097.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fSAfmC6fp5o/VDiQzN_SGVI/AAAAAAAAAk8/_BxWFMNH5ZM/s1600/IMG_0097.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
I went out at 6:30 AM on a Saturday morning to enjoy HCMC with sleepy, quiet streets and sparse traffic.<br />
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Ummm.... no.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ypc9-kVRXFM/VDiQ-xF1nVI/AAAAAAAAAlM/UggulYF6jmQ/s1600/IMG_0105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ypc9-kVRXFM/VDiQ-xF1nVI/AAAAAAAAAlM/UggulYF6jmQ/s1600/IMG_0105.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WZVc5DJEYiI/VDiRGGfSkRI/AAAAAAAAAlU/RZFtk6D0jWg/s1600/IMG_0106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WZVc5DJEYiI/VDiRGGfSkRI/AAAAAAAAAlU/RZFtk6D0jWg/s1600/IMG_0106.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
Across the river is HAGL, which stands for "<span class="st">Hoàng Anh Gia Lai</span>." I don't know what that means, but it's a landmark that people use frequently on the expat forums. It's near the bridge; I guess that's why.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z5b76DXY-5w/VDiRQzy2r0I/AAAAAAAAAlk/-e-4ak0Zch0/s1600/IMG_0108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z5b76DXY-5w/VDiRQzy2r0I/AAAAAAAAAlk/-e-4ak0Zch0/s1600/IMG_0108.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
An older couple on a boat. The wife is doing laundry off the side. I
love seeing how people here combine traditional and modern lifestyle
elements to carve out niches for themselves. Boat life is a time-honored
tradition around here.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QAERu9MyETU/VDiRO3i80MI/AAAAAAAAAlc/r2-SjUy9f8k/s1600/IMG_0110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QAERu9MyETU/VDiRO3i80MI/AAAAAAAAAlc/r2-SjUy9f8k/s1600/IMG_0110.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
A bigger boat getting ready to head off to get itself a load to carry. It will probably get filled up with sand or gravel and then go upriver to Cambodia, where land development is really taking off.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5oNMTY7drqQ/VDiRZuNVXTI/AAAAAAAAAls/SrXZdmN-Qio/s1600/IMG_0111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5oNMTY7drqQ/VDiRZuNVXTI/AAAAAAAAAls/SrXZdmN-Qio/s1600/IMG_0111.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
Blue uniform means security cop. He is headed off to work. At 6:30 AM only a few security cops have settled into their posts already.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aYhx2jXteTA/VDiRdO76AZI/AAAAAAAAAl0/0cMVtcrvjQc/s1600/IMG_0114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aYhx2jXteTA/VDiRdO76AZI/AAAAAAAAAl0/0cMVtcrvjQc/s1600/IMG_0114.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
A vendor selling breakfast from her motorbike. One of the security cops bought coffee from her. I don't know what else is on the menu.<br />
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I don't even know what kind of flowers these are.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l6HevDDsMmM/VDiR383Up0I/AAAAAAAAAmQ/fdIL3kvpy-M/s1600/IMG_0120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l6HevDDsMmM/VDiR383Up0I/AAAAAAAAAmQ/fdIL3kvpy-M/s1600/IMG_0120.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
An English sparrow on the path. English sparrows are actually native to Asia - but probably not to Vietnam.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CAV8sLQEEnI/VDiRvzVaNAI/AAAAAAAAAmE/opFonrNMC9w/s1600/IMG_0121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CAV8sLQEEnI/VDiRvzVaNAI/AAAAAAAAAmE/opFonrNMC9w/s1600/IMG_0121.JPG" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
Lovely coconut trees.<br />
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A tiny lizard hiding in a bush.AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-21988890082062524362014-10-09T04:11:00.002-04:002014-10-09T04:13:55.201-04:00My day in shopping picsToday I went down the street to the Korean pet boutique to get some of that gourmet cat food the kitties love so much. Just before I got there, it started to rain, and when I left I found a heavy downpour.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s2dbX2MaQYY/VDY98g_X7sI/AAAAAAAAAjI/9oHPbTc80N4/s1600/20141009_104042%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s2dbX2MaQYY/VDY98g_X7sI/AAAAAAAAAjI/9oHPbTc80N4/s1600/20141009_104042%5B1%5D.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
So I dashed across the street, through the narrow park, and across the other street to the Highlands Coffee on the other side, because I hadn't had lunch yet, and they sell a bành mí for only 19,000Ð.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SyCTiyCNKp4/VDY-585QRjI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/SbzhQnmf91o/s1600/20141009_110917%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SyCTiyCNKp4/VDY-585QRjI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/SbzhQnmf91o/s1600/20141009_110917%5B1%5D.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
I also got a cá phê sua ða (iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk), because, hey, it doubles as a dessert.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rVZTz3kLKf4/VDZAARwzTfI/AAAAAAAAAjc/Vjwks8UToeU/s1600/20141009_113135%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rVZTz3kLKf4/VDZAARwzTfI/AAAAAAAAAjc/Vjwks8UToeU/s1600/20141009_113135%5B1%5D.jpg" height="320" width="192" /></a></div>
Highlands Coffee has a pretty tame, Western-style menu, but it does<br />
have this one regional novelty:<br />
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A green tea jelly freeze. With real cubes of jelly floating around in it and real whipped cream on top. This thing is the very definition of Vietnamese fusion cuisine. Now, most Vietnamese cuisine is fusion cuisine. They top their rice dishes with Korean BBQ pork. Pho bò contains beef, which is not an animal easily raised in this terrain. But, yeah, I think the green tea jelly freeze is the coffee shop's way to bring in customers who don't have an emotional attachment to Starbuck's.<br />
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The American equivalent would be, say, Chinese chicken fingers, which is not a food that really exists in China.<br />
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Then, on my way home, I encountered a vendor selling mangoes from his motorbike. I asked for two mangoes. Just then an orange vendor pulled up, and I came home with this:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-csFc0JjObCg/VDZCvC7KLmI/AAAAAAAAAjo/os-xYGx7q7I/s1600/20141009_120636%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-csFc0JjObCg/VDZCvC7KLmI/AAAAAAAAAjo/os-xYGx7q7I/s1600/20141009_120636%5B1%5D.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
That's 7 mangoes and 6 oranges, all for $5.00 (or 100,000Ð).<br />
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Yeah, I'd say it's a good deal.<br />
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(But what am I going to do with seven mangoes?! I hope AwesomeCloud develops a taste for mango slices real soon.)<br />
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<br />AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-46884906212298494092014-10-07T03:00:00.002-04:002014-10-07T03:00:23.382-04:00Tiếng Việt Tuesday: ordering a banana coffee smoothieWe went to the Can Gio Mangrove reserve last weekend, where as soon as I got off the bus at Monkey Island, a monkey ripped my plastic bag out of my hand and ran off with it. The bag contained a water bottle, which fell out and got claimed by another monkey, and my Vietnamese phrasebook.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dy33er-H01c/VDOGaEJZGXI/AAAAAAAAAis/0UGoiKHuYRg/s1600/Can_Gio_0914_022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dy33er-H01c/VDOGaEJZGXI/AAAAAAAAAis/0UGoiKHuYRg/s1600/Can_Gio_0914_022.JPG" height="158" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Rick Silva</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GZROZRfd838/VDOIRF7gusI/AAAAAAAAAi4/DXgCV6T3LUI/s1600/monkeybook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GZROZRfd838/VDOIRF7gusI/AAAAAAAAAi4/DXgCV6T3LUI/s1600/monkeybook.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Christine</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The first monkey tore my phrasebook to shreds. So this week I went out and bought another phrasebook. A bigger one with more phrases and sentences in it. And I set about studying my new phrasebook, and studying and studying it, and watched some YouTube language lesson videos to help build up my vocabulary.<br />
<br />
But I don't think I really retained any of it. Not yet. Language acquisition is a long, hard road.<br />
<br />
So I decided to aim lower this morning. I went to Fun Fruit World, which makes excellent banana coffee smoothies. I often get one for breakfast. A banana coffee smoothie is the perfect food - all the nutrition of a banana, plus real Vietnamese coffee.<br />
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(If you don't like bananas or coffee, that doesn't make the banana coffee smoothie any less of a perfect food. It just means you are unfortunate enough to dislike the world's most perfect food, and I will pity you, but also be annoyed at you if you whine.) <br />
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There's a new guy who works at Fun Fruit World, who does not speak English. And even though I order the same thing every time I go there, he always struggles to figure out what I'm asking for. He has had plenty of time to just memorize the order of the white chick who keeps ordering in English every morning, but he has failed to do so. So my goal was to make it easy on him. By ordering in <span class="st">Tiếng Việt.</span><br />
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<span class="st">Coffee is </span><span class="st"><b>Cà phê.</b></span><br />
<span class="st">Banana is <b>chuối. </b></span><br />
<span class="st">Smoothie is <b>sinh tố. </b></span><br />
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<span class="st">I always have trouble remembering the pronunciation of "chuối." It's a lot like "joy" with a lift at the end like it's at the end of a question. "Joy?" But the emphasis is mostly on the u. And the ch sound is halfway between ch and j.</span><br />
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<span class="st">When I'm reading it, I can remember all that. But out on the street, I tend to mangle it and no one can understand me.</span><br />
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<span class="st">Oh, and the last phrase we need is the phrase that tells the server you are ordering something. In English, we say "I want..." or "I'd like..." But the Vietnamese come right out and say "Give me..."</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">Give me is <b>cho tôi.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span class="st"><b>Cho tôi một ly sinh tố cà phê và chuối.</b></span><br />
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<span class="st">Google translate reminds me that "</span><span class="st"><b>một ly" </b>is the modifier for one smoothie. I forgot that part this morning. But I successfully ordered without it.</span><br />
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<span class="st">("</span><span class="st"><b>và"</b> just means "and.")</span><br />
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<span class="st">One thing I did to help me along, though... especially to remind me of the tough, tough pronunciation of </span><span class="st"><b>chuối</b>... I found the banana coffee smoothie listing in the menu. :)</span>AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-20017321257351617352014-09-24T02:19:00.001-04:002014-09-24T02:19:39.577-04:00My neighborhood and the local parkI haven't done "Tieng Viet Tuesday" this week, and there are other posts I keep meaning to make, but for now, here's a photo collection of my neighborhood and the park, which I call "Wedding Shoot Park."<br />
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<br />AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-81132765325918344132014-09-16T07:10:00.002-04:002014-09-16T07:17:11.457-04:00Tiếng Việt Tuesday - the verbs "to want," "to need," and "to like."Today's <span class="st">Tiếng Việt lesson introduces three common verbs that allow us to play with the basic subject->verb->object sentence structure.</span><br />
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muốn = to want<br />
cần = to need<br />
thích = to like<br />
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I like these verbs because they are useful for studying nouns. One of the problems with learning a new language is that to practice verbs you need nouns, and to practice nouns you need verbs. So I start with a coupe of serviceable verbs, and then when I've built up a vocabulary of nouns, I can expand.<br />
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So let's do a few.<br />
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Tôi muốn sữa = I want milk.<br />
Tôi muốn gà = I want chicken.<br />
Tôi muốn ghế = I want the chair.<br />
Tôi muốn bút = I want the pen.<br />
Tôi muốn trà = I want tea.<br />
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Tôi cần chuối = I need the banana.<br />
Tôi cần xe buýt = I need the bus.<br />
Tôi cần chìa khóa = I need the key.<br />
Tôi cần nước = I need water.<br />
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Tôi thích mèo = I like cats.<br />
Tôi thích xe hơi = I like cars.<br />
Tôi thích trái cây = I like fruits.<br />
Tôi thích cà phê = I like coffee.<br />
Tôi thích những người = I like people.<br />
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If you keep doing this exercise, the nouns won't all stick in your memory, but the verbs hopefully will. Repetition is key.<br />
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<br />AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-74472915210911899192014-09-09T03:28:00.000-04:002014-09-09T03:28:01.434-04:00Tiếng Việt TuesdayThis is my new feature. Every Tuesday I will post something I've learned from my Vietnamese self-studies. Aside from the fact that I live in Vietnam, I'm not using any out-of-the-ordinary resources - just a pocket phrasebook and dictionary, and YouTube. I also have some Pimsleur files that I will occasionally tap into. Everything I use is for beginners. I'm hoping that after I squeeze everything I can from the beginner materials, the cultural immersion will take care of the rest.<br />
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Today I will address pronouns. Pronouns are hard. There are many of them, and they cover different age groups and combinations for speaker in relation to addressee. I'm a woman in my 40's, which means I don't have a lot of age groups above me, so it's a little simpler for me. Younger people have it tougher - they can't use the same pronoun for someone their mother's age and for a retiree, but I totally can.<br />
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There are also some little quirks, like the pronoun for one's mother, me, which you use to address your mother and which your mother uses for herself when talking to you.<br />
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To make it more complicated, North Vietnam and South Vietnam have different standards for whom each pronoun is used, and by which speaker. And different levels of forgiveness for using pronouns that are slightly off. Therefore, the tutorials each say something different about pronouns. For instance, Pimsleur uses "bá" for many of its exercises and claim that it is for a slightly older woman, up to the age of our parents. But I haven't seen much of "bá" beyond that. Foreign Language Institute loves to use "cô" for a woman about your age. My phrasebook, however, assures me that I can limit myself to "em" for anyone fairly young (not just a child) "chi" for a woman slightly younger to slightl older than me, and "anh" for a man slightly younger to slightly older than me. I'm going to go with that set.<br />
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This phrasebook also gives me a handy-dandy age-to-pronoun guide:<br />
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Youngest to oldest male: Em - Anh - Chú - Bác - Ông<br />
Youngest to oldest female: Em - Chi - Cô - Bác - Bá<br />
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I will try to remember to use the last two, Ông and Bá, for the elderly, and to address the very young like equals in appropriate situations, like a teenage waitress.<br />
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I can also 'cheat' when greeting people by just saying "Xin chào" which is a polite "hello" that does not contain any pronouns. Most times you say hello, according to all the study guides, you greet people using their pronouns, like "Chào em" to a child or "Chào anh" to a man your age.<br />
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You are also supposed to refer to yourself using the same pronoun that a person uses for you. I, as a woman in my 40's, could be expected to use "Cô" for "I". But because I am a beginner, and because my husband and son are learning from my example, I'm going to use the generic "Tôi" to mean "I."<br />
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It seems to be all right. The phrasebook uses "Tôi" in all its examples.<br />
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But because I'm only just beginning to learn the Vietnamese culture, my sense of appropriate pronouns is still very hazy. I probably won't get familiar with pronoun usage patterns in daily life until I speak well enough to have conversations with local people and can listen to what they say. And that's going to be awhile.AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-81081853957105431492014-09-03T22:02:00.001-04:002014-09-03T22:02:06.255-04:00Things I've noticed about my neighborhood<ul>
<li>There are a lot of gardeners and maintenance workers. The government pays a lot of people small salaries to keep the area looking nice. I wonder if they are livable salaries. I don't know what the unemployment rate is here, but it appears that Vietnam ensures that a large number of the poor are at least working poor, rather than desperately poor.</li>
<li>The greater neighborhood is called Phú Mỹ Hưng, owned and developed by a corporation called Phú Mỹ Hưng. Properties within Phú Mỹ Hưng seem to frequently have names that begin with "Mỹ." "Mỹ" means "fine" in <span class="st">Tiếng Việt</span> (Vietnamese language) as far as I can tell. Our apartment complex is called "Mỹ Phúc*" which means "fine-being".... I think...</li>
<li>There are four buildings under construction in my block. None of them seem to be progressing very far. They have doors with locks installed already, though, so they don't need night guards.</li>
<li>Some other homes under construction have night guards. Nice gig if you can get it.</li>
<li>Our restaurant-per-square-km ratio seems to be one of the highest in the city, rivaling only the tourist areas of District 1, AFAIK.</li>
<li>There's a Dunkin Donuts a few blocks from my home, but it doesn't sell anything novel aside from Boston cremes decorated like footballs (soccer balls). However, I found some very tasty red bean donuts at Tous Les Jours. They are only 14,000Ð ($.70) each.</li>
<li>It is almost not worthwhile to cook at home, because the kitchen gets so hot and hard to clean, and restaurant food (or street food) is real cheap if you know where to look. </li>
<li>The only real cheap cuisines seem to be Vietnamese and Chinese, although the other ethnic restaurants are still far cheaper than their US equivalents.</li>
<li>And anyway, with this heat, sometimes you only want a smoothie and maybe some crunchy rice paper snacks. I found a great place to get rice paper snacks - the Co-op - which is an easy walk through the quiet part of the neighborhood, but it's crowded and dingy so I tend to shop at Citimart (which is a small supermarket with some locations that are as small as a convenience store) instead.</li>
<li>Instead of starlings, we have mynah birds. I love mynah birds.</li>
</ul>
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*Because of course it is! Why wouldn't I move into a building called Mỹ Phúc? <br />
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AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-53139009842747366272014-08-22T02:34:00.002-04:002014-08-22T02:52:13.055-04:00Grocery shopping in VietnamSome people were curious about what grocery shopping is like here. There are many ways to shop, including Giant supermarket, convenience stores, fruit vendors on motorbikes, and the mall. I like to go to Citimart, a tiny grocery/department store, a short walk from my house. There are numerous Citimarts throughout District 7, of different sizes; mine is actually one of the bigger ones. They have a pharmacy, a produce section, a butcher, a wine department, clothing, housewares, and even toys. Everything is tiny tiny, but it's all in there.<br />
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I always try to limit my purchases to what I can carry home, although they are happy to lend a delivery guy on a motorbike for larger orders. and here's what I bought today:<br />
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I got a lot of produce this time. Nobody sells frozen vegetables, so I have to plan ahead and buy small portions of fresh veggies frequently. There are some familiar tomatoes and onions in there, a bag of what I think might be spinach, broccoli, an eggplant that I think might go well with the Korean barbecue sauce, and just for fun, I bought a dragonfruit. It's the bright pink thing with light green trim. It's a very cartoony-looking fruit.<br />
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I also bought some rice noodles, some Minute Maid orange soda, some packages of frozen chicken, and some Catsan Kitty Litter. The last two are for the cats.<br />
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I'll talk about the cats more in another post.AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-56373187990552199692014-08-16T07:53:00.000-04:002014-08-16T07:53:14.142-04:00Mekong River Delta tour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-2497681067157801072014-08-14T02:51:00.000-04:002014-08-14T02:51:01.483-04:00Wildlife of HCMC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Mynah birds. They are the Vietnamese equivalent of starlings, and although they don't speak in the wild, they do make a lot of very interesting noises.<br />
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This pieridae species has a broken wing, but is still pretty. IDing my butterflies and other organisms takes a while and I still have a lot to do.<br />
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The nearby park where I find most of my butterflies is also very popular with wedding photographers. In fact I have nicknamed the park "Wedding Shoot Park."<br />
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Here is one of my prime wildlife sighting spots. Decorative ponds are extremely popular here.<br />
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After sitting quiet and still for about 20 minutes, I managed to see this fellow show himself. I sure could hear him, though!<br />
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<br />AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-30780906442586004812014-08-10T21:16:00.001-04:002014-08-10T21:16:57.216-04:00First day of school, first big mistakeToday is the Kiddo's first day of school! They start early here in Vietnam. Early in the day, too - we set off to catch a 7:20 AM bus. Back home in Massachusetts, we always left the house at 8:45.<br />
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Aaaand... we caught the wrong bus.<br />
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We'd made arrangements for Kid to ride the faculty bus. Previously when we'd ridden the faculty bus, for pre-school-year faculty-and-family events, we boarded it on the Nguyễn Van Linh side of Sky Garden. This time, the faculty bus was going to be elsewhere, near the Sky Garden Skymart, but I don't know where that is exactly. And since we had to walk up Nguyễn Van Linh anyhow, we got to the old bus stop first.<br />
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At that bus stop were three AIS buses, but they all had students in them. All of a sudden a man started shouting at me. All I understood was, "Nhà bè? Nhà bè?" And all he understood was <i>nod nod nod.</i> So he whisked my son away from me and put him in the bus.<br />
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And I let it happen, because in the half-second I had to analyze the situation, it occurred to me that while this bus was the wrong bus, it was going to the right school. And the right bus was still at an unknown location. If I'd refused this bus and kept walking, I might have trouble finding the faculty bus and we might miss it, and we'd miss this one too. It seemed less of a risk to get the kid to the right location via the wrong bus than to possibly not get him there at all.<br />
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The problem is that the kid's name is not on the bus list, and we didn't pay for this service.<br />
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But somehow, out of the six AIS drivers and attendants present, plus two security guards who were probably employed by Sky Garden but were helping out, not one of them spoke English. So I couldn't explain my problem to them. I tried. I failed. So, with no other recourse, I raised my camera and tried to take the first day of school picture that I missed taking while my child was getting whisked.<br />
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He looks pretty distressed! Haha, actually he was grinning ear to ear most of the time he was in there. And chatting happily with any student who would speak English to him. I think he was just straining to see me out the window at that moment.<br />
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Here are the other pictures I took this morning:<br />
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<br />AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-8458845640207597962014-08-03T08:17:00.002-04:002014-08-03T08:17:59.117-04:00Aussie TV and cat food disastersWe have cable here, for the first time in years. It's so cheap, though - $10 per month! What a nice change from having to deal with Comcast. We're not big TV watchers, though, so we're giving it a try and if it turns out to be interesting but not disruptive (i.e. if the kid doesn't become obsessed with it) then we may keep it.<br />
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It is hypothetically a good language-learning tool.<br />
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But it can be hard to find something worth watching, nevermind something that specifically has subtitles in Vietnamese, and now I'm watching "Australia TV" which teaches me nothing about my new country or its language. But it's playing biopics of historical figures and thesbians, and it's better than "Gold Diggers" or the local soap operas where they talk too fast.<br />
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Today I was trying to boil some chicken to make cat food, and I burned it. This is the third time I've done that. I have a gas range top, and it burns really hot. Ridiculously hot. I can't simmer on it to save my life - everything burns withing 30 minutes. And I haven't even been cooking our own food on it. I use the rice cooker almost exclusively so far. We bought a 5 lb bag of rice, some fresh vegetables, and some frozen dim sum that, as far as I can read the cooking instructions, needs to be steamed. And besides cookies, that's all the food we have in the house so far.<br />
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I've just been advised to buy an induction cooker, though, so I will have to shop around for one. In the meantime, I'm out of dry food - I have about 10 kernels left - and Melody's gotta eat. I saw a bag of Whiskas at the co-op market down the street, so I'll have to buy that tomorrow.<br />
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Oh hey, enjoy this mynah bird who lives on my street.<br />
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I sure do. Early each morning, the mynahs twitter and sing in a most entertaining way.<br />
AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-24423635824783638372014-07-30T21:09:00.001-04:002014-07-30T21:22:09.872-04:00People of Ho Chi Minh City, as viewed from my balcony<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The recycling service. Yes, she is a sanitation employee and she is on a bicycle.</div>
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A couple enjoying some fresh air across the street.</div>
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Another recycler. This one was not in my neighborhood, but in District 1 outside our hotel.</div>
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Selling magazines, also in District 1.</div>
AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-18868656663101669782014-07-30T20:05:00.002-04:002014-07-30T20:05:43.909-04:00Looks more like a home nowWe've been busy setting up the apartment and getting to know the neighborhood. The apartment is furnished in only the most basic sense of the word - sofa, dining room set, washing machine, beds - so we've been looking around for places to buy towels, kitchenware, doormats, etc. And trying to add a little color to this slightly dingy beige and white apartment.<br />
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We have some food in the fridge now, and cooked our first full meal last night. Even though eating out here is cheap, and there are tons of restaurants (seriously, 50% of the storefronts are restaurants), we can't afford to eat out for literally every meal. We bought lots of plastic containers to keep out the bugs, and we have a rice cooker and a wok and will buy more cookware later.<br />
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The heat tempers our appetites anyway. We're consuming lots of fruits and vegetables, but it's hard to enjoy anything heavier, and Rick has been drinking lots of Coke. I boil a pot of water every evening and put it in the fridge overnight, because you can't drink it or brush your teeth with it straight out of the faucet. Laundry is another thing that requires pre-planning and multiple steps throughout the day, especially during the rainy season we're in right now. There are no dryers, so everything is about making sure your hanging laundry doesn't get rained on. That'll be better in the dry season, I bet.<br />
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I love having two balconies. Balconies make this apartment so much more livable! Even though we live on a quiet side street, there are still endless things to watch from the balcony. The landlord left us four plant pots, but two of them got shattered in a freak wind gust accident. Our street apparently functions as a wind tunnel.<br />
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Today is orientation at the school, and AwesomeCloud is invited along to meet the other faculty members' kids, so I have the day to myself. There's still so much to do; I won't be idle. Feels like it's going to be another muggy day. So I'll probably crank the A/C and clean clean clean.AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-57133862826158190312014-07-26T09:28:00.000-04:002014-07-26T09:28:44.767-04:00Notes from a new resident of HCM CityYesterday we went apartment-hunting. We saw eleven apartments, nearly identical in their basic layout, size, and price, and only distinguished by their location or their views. They were all in high-rise apartment complexes, some low, some high, some near the Saigon River, some near construction sites. I intended to piece together a video similar to House Hunters International, but the repetition makes it hardly worth the effort. Also, it's harder than you'd think to capture the essential parts of the HHI formula. Although we did have the initial conversations, the weighing of pros and cons, and the last decisive discussion, they did not neatly occur in little soundbites. And there's the matter of bandwidth - the hotel's wifi doesn't have very much.<br />
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Our decision was easy - we chose the one apartment on a quiet side street in District 7. It has trees all around and a swimming pool and garden courtyard and modest little indoor/outdoor gym. Instead of construction sites to look at, it has a lovely neighboring building with a French Colonial facade.<br />
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So here's the video clip featuring just the one apartment.<br />
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<br /><br />[I'll insert it later. Maybe our ew apartment will have better wifi.]</div>
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Rick made a movie, too. It captures the general feel of our first experiences traveling by taxi in HCM City.<br />
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<a href="http://www.magisto.com/album/video/OXt6UEBYFUosfH8GDmEwCXh5?fb_action_ids=10152568321162071&fb_action_types=magisto%3Acreate&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582" target="_blank">Ho Chi Minh in taxis</a><br />
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(It doesn't embed.)<br />
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I have also discovered the following:<br />
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<li>French bakeries are great for picnic lunches in a pinch, and a nice change from pho and spicy noodles. Awesomecloud is a brave eater for his age, but every kid wants bread instead of shrimp sometimes.</li>
<li>I'm already pretty competent at crossing HCM streets. It must be thanks to my time in NYC.</li>
<li>It's a bad idea to let your child carry anything while in a cab. Anything.</li>
<li>Local food is very, very good and very, very cheap. No need to seek out a Burger King or a KFC - just point to something on the local restaurant's menu, and if you don't care for what you get, keep trying. It'll grow on you.</li>
<li>No food poisoning or digestive ills, but we all have head colds - probably from the planes.</li>
<li>NYC isn't the only city that never sleeps. In the tropics, some of the best weather is at night. Why waste it?</li>
<li>Not everyone relies on A/C.</li>
<li>It's true what they say that greenery and fresh air are good for the sanity. We chose our home accordingly. No point in living in the crowded neighborhoods when there are neighborhoods with parks!</li>
<li>The Vietnamese are not fond of cats, but they're warming up to them. They like dogs a little better. As pets, not as food. Dogs and cats are not commonly on the menu, contrary to many rumors I've heard. They're not utterly taboo, either, though.</li>
</ul>
AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-44711983062536961622014-07-24T10:39:00.001-04:002014-07-24T10:39:51.151-04:00We made it!Well, here we are getting ready for bed after our first full day in Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived late last night, jet lagged and with a very unhappy cat, and were met by the very cheerful and helpful assistant principal and Mandarin teacher. The trip itself was largely uneventful, aside from a 3-hour delay right at the very beginning.<br />
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<a href="https://scontent-a-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/p417x417/10534133_10152403713443612_2621810533866957062_n.jpg?oh=1aa690e183095d5c2f781ea5d8c4adbc&oe=543BF50B" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://scontent-a-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/p417x417/10534133_10152403713443612_2621810533866957062_n.jpg?oh=1aa690e183095d5c2f781ea5d8c4adbc&oe=543BF50B" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Here's Melody being all chill in the waiting area in Logan Airport.</i></div>
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We did have to rush through Toronto, though, to make up for lost time. In Tokyo we were actually a little early, thanks in part by an employee who kindly took it upon himself to escort the cat and assist with her paperwork.<br />
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<a href="https://scontent-b-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t1.0-9/10524612_10152403713683612_8921918924582773346_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://scontent-b-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t1.0-9/10524612_10152403713683612_8921918924582773346_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>And in the plane from Tokyo to HCM City, Awesomecloud totally crashed.</i></div>
<br />
The hotel is awful about cats - they offered to put Melody in her carrier in the basement - but fortunately a teacher at the school offered to keep her in his apartment with his cat. I went for that. He invited us over to check on her tomorrow. No reports of problems so far.<br />
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This morning we had pho for breakfast and then set up to explore the neighborhood of the hotel. We saw busy streets and quiet parks.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qkq4ETX3IlU/U9EY_aTAMnI/AAAAAAAAAaY/B9E3eDxSiUc/s1600/IMG_0333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qkq4ETX3IlU/U9EY_aTAMnI/AAAAAAAAAaY/B9E3eDxSiUc/s1600/IMG_0333.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PkvsVqF4FX0/U9EZWjw5G3I/AAAAAAAAAag/gMm_LwA6cMA/s1600/IMG_0251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PkvsVqF4FX0/U9EZWjw5G3I/AAAAAAAAAag/gMm_LwA6cMA/s1600/IMG_0251.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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And just now we had a nice dinner at a makeshift street restaurant in <span class="userContent">Bến Thành Market.</span><br />
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<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/p403x403/10514685_10152404627633612_4626799671405696387_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/p403x403/10514685_10152404627633612_4626799671405696387_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Here's <span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">my coconut with a straw stuck in it and carefully held mini spring roll.</span></span></i></div>
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<span class="userContent">Tomorrow we have an epic house-hunting schedule, starting at 8:30 AM. That's 8:30 PM the previous day for all you East Coasters reading this. That's right - while you settle in for some prime time TV tonight or some internet surfing before bed, we will be in tomorrow morning already, seeing homes with a realtor in the outer neighborhoods of Ho Chi Minh City. </span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">And while you all start your day this morning, I'm going to turn in. My Thursday has already nearly ended. Good night!</span><br />
AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-28208845445976306362014-07-19T13:04:00.001-04:002014-07-19T13:04:46.684-04:003 daysThree days till departure! Are we ready? Hell no. Still way too much stuff to do. Rick is now having doubts about fitting our things into storage, and I'm in charge of so many odds and ends I'm tempted to scoop them all up and bring them all to the dump.<br />
<br />
Material acquisition is overrated.<br />
<br />
But, the rule is, whatever we get done before we leave is what we get done. Boarding the plane is like hitting a reset button. We leave our worries behind us... and embrace new worries. Like getting the cat through customs.<br />
<br />
It's nice and cool today. Good! I'm not dying of heat while I work. Okay, then, back to work.<br />
<br />
AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-53331800006337142502014-07-17T21:49:00.000-04:002014-07-17T21:49:25.015-04:00Goodbye Ban Lu<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
It was mostly good timing, I guess. Ban Lu, my cancer-prone cat, finally got diagnosed with the lymphoma we were expecting. We euthanized him last week. We had him for four years - 3.5 years more than we had originally expected.<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mbp9eC76VuY/U8g23PnIs8I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/53sqZ88U_F8/s1600/IMG_0065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mbp9eC76VuY/U8g23PnIs8I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/53sqZ88U_F8/s1600/IMG_0065.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k0ETsm7WY8c/U8g22jSGoYI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/aMBEyzk_Fns/s1600/IMG_0069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k0ETsm7WY8c/U8g22jSGoYI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/aMBEyzk_Fns/s1600/IMG_0069.JPG" height="292" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LZcnC8ungM0/U8g24Il0J4I/AAAAAAAAAaE/TQqdU4E4_a0/s1600/IMG_0082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LZcnC8ungM0/U8g24Il0J4I/AAAAAAAAAaE/TQqdU4E4_a0/s1600/IMG_0082.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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You were a good man, Ban Lu. We'll miss you.</div>
<br />AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-45730135966290266382014-07-16T00:09:00.000-04:002014-07-16T00:09:14.549-04:00One weekA week till we leave!<br />
<br />
Six days, actually, as it's almost midnight as I'm typing this.<br />
<br />
Four days to finish getting the house in order and tie up any loose ends we can't do over the internet.<br />
<br />
We're bringing one cat, had to euthanize one (cancer) and are leaving the last one with our new tenants.<br />
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We haven't been studying the language. Bad, bad, bad. Oh well. I'm sure we'll adapt.<br />
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We're not entirely sure what we're getting into. We try to do our research, but it's never quite enough.<br />
<br />
One thing I have learned is that the Vietnamese do not ravenously consume dogs. Dogs are a niche cuisine, and there are a lot of ethnic niches in Vietnamese culture. So people can relax a bit and stop trying to shock me with that. I will assume, then, that they are not big on eating cats, either.<br />
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Their flagrant disregard for environmental issues is probably true, though.AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-52366857880912239742014-05-24T15:46:00.000-04:002014-07-16T00:37:46.299-04:00Living in Vietnam reference postThis post is a collection of web links worth saving as we move to, and live in, Ho Chi Minh City.<br />
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Real estate <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.livinginvietnam.com/">Living in Vietnam Real Estate Pages</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/living/articles/livingabroadin-hochiminhcity-vietnam.shtml"><br /></a>
Blogs <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/living/articles/livingabroadin-hochiminhcity-vietnam.shtml">Transitions Abroad</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.expatsblog.com/portal/american/in/viet-nam/ho-chi-minh-city">Expats Blog </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://talltalesabroad.com/">Tall Tales Abroad</a><br />
<br />
Moving<br />
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<a href="http://www.expatarrivals.com/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/moving-to-ho-chi-minh-city">Moving to HCM City</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.expatexchange.com/vietnam/liveinvietnam.html">Expat Exchange - Message board</a><br />
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<a href="http://hochiminh.usconsulate.gov/">US Consulate </a><br />
<br />
Living<br />
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<a href="http://cookingclass.com.vn/news-events/living-abroad-learning-to-cook-vietnamese-food-in-saigon-ho-chi-minh-city.html">How to cook Vietnamese food in Vietnam </a><br />
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<a href="http://www.asialifemagazine.com/vietnam/">Asia Life Magazine </a><br />
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Nature<br />
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<a href="http://www.richard-seaman.com/Insects/Vietnam/Spiders/Highlights/index.html">Spiders of Vietnam </a><br />
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<a href="http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/vietnam/links.html">Vietnam Botanical Conservation Program</a><br />
<br />
AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-49461638065521001162014-05-22T23:02:00.002-04:002014-05-22T23:03:36.436-04:00Tieng Viet character reference postMy attempts to learn Tiếng Việt aren't going so well. One of the reasons, probably, is my inability to type. I don't have all the right characters. This post is an archive of all the non-English-standard characters I need. I'll add to it as I go.<br />
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Alt codes are included when I find them. Characters without an alt code can be C&P'ed. That's labor-intensive, but it'll have to do for now.<br />
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À 0192<br />
Á 0193<br />
 0194<br />
à 0195 <br />
à 0224<br />
á 0225<br />
â 0226<br />
ã 0227 <br />
ặ<br />
ắ ầ<br />
<br />
Ç 0199<br />
ç 0231<br />
<br />
Ð 0208<br />
ð 0240 (lower case crossed d)<br />
đ<br />
<br />
È 0200 <br />
É 0201<br />
Ê 0202<br />
è 0232<br />
é 0233<br />
ê 0234<br />
ế ệ ễ<br />
<br />
Ì 0204<br />
Í 0205<br />
Î 0206<br />
ì 0236<br />
í 0237<br />
î 0238 <br />
<br />
Ơ ơ<br />
ờ ớ<br />
<span style="color: #1b37a1; font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">ộ</span> <br />
ố ồ ọ<br />
<br />
Ư ư <br />
<span style="color: #1b37a1; font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">ự</span><br />
<span style="color: #1b37a1; font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">ữ </span><span style="color: #1b37a1; font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">ũ </span><br />
<br />AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695345272433215686.post-46770988757919026842014-03-05T19:57:00.001-05:002014-03-05T19:57:46.621-05:00Tieng Viet!This whole time, while I haven't been blogging, I've been teaching myself Mandarin Chinese. And I've been progressing steadily, in spite of the fact that it's really really hard to teach yourself a foreign language. I just hit a point where I got it, Mandarin clicked with me, and then I was just accumulating vocabulary and sorting out the more complex grammatical rules.<br />
<br />
I still couldn't speak it. But I could imagine a time in the near future when I could speak it. I could speak small phrases at appropriate moments.<br />
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I had no reason to doubt we'd end up in China. Whyever would I think about Vietnam? Life is full of unexpected twists and turns, and this one, unfortunately, makes us have to start over with a new language.<br />
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One of the very first things I did was complain about the frustration of starting over. We bought some phrasebooks and found some online tutorials, and while looking at them, I noted how much I missed the familiarity of Mandarin Chinese. The first stage is always so hard - when nothing looks familiar and none of it sticks in your memory and you can't possibly imagine yourself speaking this language.<br />
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But then I resolved myself to plow ahead until I got to the second stage - when you begin to see the beginnings of patterns, when you can utter a phrase or two, and suddenly the language seems penetrable. A light turns on; a door creaks open.<br />
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One of the school staff members assured me that Vietnamese, or Tieng Viet, is similar to Chinese in certain ways, and transitioning won't be so bad. Maybe it is similar. I've noticed a few suggestions of similarity already. But, I admit, it's been a month and I'm still discouraged.<br />
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There are some good things about Tieng Viet. It uses Roman letters, for instance. But it does not technically use the Roman alphabet. Much like Gaelic, it takes the letters we English-speakers are so accustomed to and it twists them around to its own devices. Sometimes unnecessarily so. Why does X sound like an s, but S sound like sh? In Chinese, it's the other way around. Also, why does G make a z sound? There's a Z already.<br />
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However, if I can get my brain to adapt to the similar-but-different Vietnamese alphabet, I can potentially learn to read signs and newspapers as my vocabulary grows. And I assume my vocabulary will grow, although I can't quite imagine such a thing yet. My current vocabulary is about four words, and they may or may not be understood correctly.<br />
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Also, pronouns are hard. I have not made much progress on pronouns. I don't understand the explanations the tutorials give. The Tieng Viet understanding of the purpose of pronouns is different from mine. I need a guide I can understand.AwesomeCloud and familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10627262861489434592noreply@blogger.com0