Leaving Tomorrow

Can you see me grinning from ear to ear.  I am SO excited to finally be able to say, we are leaving tomorrow!!! Today was a hot one, it has been the hottest day that we have had since I have arrived in Hanoi, think of a hot Summer day in Vancouver, that's what it was like here.  A perfect day to end our trip.  I spent the morning doing some last minute shopping with Mary.  Mary's husband Wade offered to look after the girls for a couple of hours.  That really was a wonderful gift from him!! Unfortunatley poor little Loc wasnt feeling very good so we didnt want to spend too much time away so we did what we had to do and went back to the Hotel.  I picked up Jayda, which was now around 1:00 pm and I thought instead of heading back to the Hotel that we would walk down to the lake and enjoy the beautiful warm weather, as we walked Jayda fell asleep so I decided to make a quick stop at the Supermarket that I had wanted to check out before our flight home to see if I could find a few things to take for our trip home.  Because Jayda, loves Soup, rice noodles and Congee I wanted to see if I could find something in that category to feed her in case she didnt like what they offered on the plane (and really, who does like Airplane food??)  I wandered the aisles just to see what sort of things they had to offer and I was thrilled to find Instant Pho' and Instant Congee so I stocked up (I will have to go back and pick up more tomorrow before our flight  because it turned out that when I tried it with her she loved it and that  1 package of Instant Congee was like a snack for her and I had only purchased 4 packages) By this time Jayda had woken up so we wandered down to the lake which was directly across from the Supermarket.  I had purchased a little coconut Ice-Cream bar to see if she would like it so we found a bench to enjoy the sun,  The verdict was a big fat no, she refused to try it in the beginning, but she eventually gave in when she saw me eating it, but nope, it wasnt a big hit.  I have to say it absolutley fascinates me to see the things that she likes and dislikes.  At 2 years old, she has already developed her tastes so its interesting to see the foods and drinks she chooses.
As we were sitting on the bench, people watching,  I was approached by 3 young men, 2 of them were in University and they said as a project they wanted to interview me, since I was a visitor to Vietnam, the other young man was just a straggler that saw these 2 young men talking to me and thought he would join in.  I humored them, they asked a few questions, at the end, it was harmless fun and I enjoyed speaking to them.  I ended up talking longer to the 3rd young man , he wanted to practise his English so we had a nice conversation and than we parted ways.

Of course, pictures were part of their project, so I decided to take one of all us too!

By this time it was getting later in the afternoon so I thought I would start heading back as we were meeting Mary and Wade for dinner.  On the way, I decided to stop at the little Vietnamese Cafe that I had been at before for a nice cold glass of Vietnamese Coffee.  Once again, because I'm still trying to see what sort of things Jayda likes, and I am pushing the boundaries a little, I gave her a little taste of my very very strong Vietnamese Coffee (think of a glass of Espresso mixed with a little Condensed Milk).  To my very big surprise, my little Vietnamese Girl, loves Vietnamese Coffee,!!!  who would have thought???    It clearly wont be something she will be enjoying on a regular basis, but I find it so interesting some of the things she likes and dislikes  (anything sweet is still not popular AT ALL, now, that I find interesting, considering both Shae-Lee and I have a big sweet tooth).

Enjoying a yummy glass of Vietnamese Coffee

We finished up our coffee and headed back to the Hotel.  Loc still was not feeling well so Mary and Wade decided to stay in and Jayda and I went to the Gecko for dinner and than we wandered around for a bit afterwards.  We talked to alot of people tonight, alot of them that recognized us from our daily walks,  and than I met the most most facinating couple.  They own a organization called Little Kidz Foundation.  They travel internationally and teach the caregivers that work in Orphanages as well as caregivers of children with special needs, whether hospitals, clinics etc on the benefits of infant massage.  This couple are based out of  Los Angeles and travel worldwide for there organization to offer this program in countries that are lacking resources.  In further conversation, I find out that the husband actually was born and raised in Richmond, seriously what are the odds, he was a couple of years younger than me so we compared High Schools and tried to figure out if we had known each other through school etc.  After talking for awhile, we parted ways and I made one last stop before our Hotel. I had heard that Bao Yen was a famous singer, so I thought I couldnt possibly leave Vietnam without a copy of her CD, so we made our purchase and headed back.  Now, I am looking at the time, which is now after Midnight, and realizing that I really need to pack and  put a plan in place to ensure that I can get everything to fit into our 2 little suitcases.  I'm definitley leaving with alot more than what we brought. So Ciao for now,  I will try to write one last time before we leave tomorrow night