New Family Tea/No Potholders

The school hosted a new family tea this morning. We met parents from Japan, Australia, Germany and Paupau New Guinea. Did you know Paupau New Guinea is a country all to itself? There is also a Paupau in New Guinea, which is the other half of the island. I'll have to ask my new friend Lydia how that all works out with the postal system. Wickipedia is a wonderful tool. Anyway, at the open house we toured the new auditorium and gymnasium and learned about the Cambridge Academic Program (lower grades) and the International Baccalaureate Program (upper grades). The IB program is developed using input from teachers, administrators, and curriculum from over 120 countries. Sounds to me like something the whole world could use and agree upon, though nothing could ever be that easy. I met a few women who live a few blocks away from our apartment and made plans to attend the "ILV" - International Ladies of Vietnam" tea with them after Tet. Such a formal name - I feel I should get my hair and nails done beforehand.

The kids are settling in pretty well. They are on target or ahead in their subjects. A little catch up in math and a lot of catch up in Chinese but nothing they can't handle. Silas came home yesterday and casually mentioned that he had dissected a pig heart in science class!

I should have some new pictures to post after the weekend. We are taking a car out to Phan Thiet for the weekend to the Blue Ocean Resort - here is a link if you want to see what it looks like:

http://www.life-resorts.com/index.php?nav1=gallery&gallery_id=3

Hal is relaxed and ready to go - he had a massage at lunchtime at a place recommended to him by one of his writers here. It was so reasonable and made his back feel so good that I believe he should treat himself every week!

Conversion charts come in very handy here: dollars to dong; cups to ml; Farenheit to Celsius. More things I should have retained from grade school! Next time your child asks you why they need to know those things you can tell them it is so they will understand everything better when they grow up and travel out of the country. The oven is coded in Celsius, with symbols indicating three different settings. Oh, and there are no potholders to be found anywhere. I ventured out to a local store called The Metro that we had heard is like a BJs or Costco. I thought for sure they would have them, but no. What an adventure that was too! Turns out you need your passport to get a membership card. I did not have my passport with me, and when I left the store to take a taxi back to our apartment to get it, I couldn't find a taxi! All in all it took me a good two hours to get it all in order and I didn't end up buying a single thing.

Thanks to everyone for their comments on our posts. It's nice to know we're on the right track with the blog.