Áo Dài photo shoot

Gianna and I decided to model our new traditional Vietnamese áo dài dresses before our vacation tans completely fade away. We bought them in Saigon at the Bến Thành market. The áo dài is traditionally worn for celebrating Tết and other formal occasions, but I'm thinking they will be a little too drafty for Tết (Feb 14, 2010) in Frankfurt.























Gianna wanted a shot with the dog; he put a hole in her pants with his claw >:-(

Nha Trang

Nha Trang is located on the coast of South Central Vietnam facing the South China Sea. In contrast to sleepy Phu Quoc, there was a big hotel strip and the beach had giant waves. Gianna commented, "the water is too loud", but she still enjoyed making sand castles away from the water.

On Christmas Eve, we got dressed up for the hotel's Christmas gala. The whole strip was alive with Santas on motorbikes and little kids all dressed up to get their pictures taken. Santa was at the hotel handing out presents to the kids and two guys with a violin and guitar were playing Christmas carols with Frank Sinatra's "I did it my way" thrown in for good measure. The buffet was excellent with fresh seafood grilled to order and a large dessert table featuring a Bûche de Noël. The best part, we got to meet other adoptive families on vacation just like us.

We wanted Christmas Day to be special, so we booked a trip to Monkey Island. After all, what says Christmas more than a monkey circus and hand feeding a bunch of wild monkeys? We had a personal tour guide and driver for the whole day. First stop was Monkey Island, where Gianna commented "Monkeys do not ride bikes". We didn't feed any of the wild monkeys, especially since we had a small child with us. The monkeys came very close and were quite interested in my camera. It was all a little unnerving since we were highly outnumbered. We spent a little time at the Monkey Island beach with the monkeys watching us from lounge chairs. Then we went back to the mainland for lunch at a Vietnamese family restaurant, which Dan described as, "the best meal I've ever had". After lunch we hiked up a mountain to a waterfall. The spring-fed creek was much warmer than any I've ever swam in, still quite refreshing in the tropical heat. On the way back to the hotel, a huge funeral procession passed our car. At the center, there was a temple on wheels with women riding on the back throwing out paper money. Our guide explained all the intricacies of Vietnamese death and funeral customs.

The rest of our time in Nha Trang was spent on the beach and sampling local cuisine; then we headed back to Saigon. Before hopping on the flight home, we picked up a few áo dài, saw a lion/dragon dance, did a little sightseeing, and took advantage of the New World Hotel Saigon pool. It was a wonderful trip, probably the best vacation we've ever taken, especially since it was with our beautiful daughter Gianna.

Phu Quoc

When I was looking for a warm beach to spend Christmas holiday, I came across a travel site reviewing beaches in SE Asia. According to Travelfish, Phu Quoc "gets almost none of the press of those islands over in Thailand -- and yet with its rugged jungle, squeaking white sands and sparkling cobalt waters, it can more than match them." The resorts were dirt cheap but highly acclaimed, so I decided to find out for myself.

Our hosts at Mango Bay met us at the airport with a four wheel drive vehicle. The ride to the resort took us though winding dirt roads, reminiscent of my parent's cabin in North Central PA. Mango Bay is a working mango plantation, as the name implies, with rustic bungalows along the beach and cows and chickens roaming the premises. Our bungalow had a king bed with mosquito netting (no AC, just fans!), a beach facing porch, and an attached outdoor bathroom that became a house of horrors at night. The food at Mango Bay was second to none, most everything they served was grown right at the plantation or caught off shore. They made the best Bánh xèo I've ever tasted and I could not get enough papaya smoothies.

After we checked in, I ran out to the ocean to get a glimpse of this paradise that I had read about on the internet. At first, I was a bit disappointed. Where were all the coconut palms and white sand beach? There were more pines than palms and the sand was more brown than white. But once Gianna woke up from her nap and saw the ocean, the look on her face made me realize this was the perfect place. The waters were clear and calm, so she could sit in the surf without us worrying about her getting washed out to sea. The rocks off shore offered tropical fish and crab sightings, and there were plenty of seashells for collecting.

The only down side was the wildlife that came alive at night. There were 35cm long Tokay geckos everywhere. Once Gianna and I encountered one on the wall of a cramped bathroom stall and Dan got a good picture of one hanging on the wall over our bed. These guys have a vicious bite, which I only found out after we got home. There were also tropical spiders the size of my palm, and lots of mosquitoes. Even with our DEET and permethrin, we still got quite a few bites. Thankfully so far, nobody got sick :-) During the day we battled black flies, especially during meal time. The only place the flies wouldn't go was out over the ocean, so we spent a lot of time in the water.

Despite the creepy crawlies, our time on Phu Quoc was tranquil and relaxing, a real paradise. But for Christmas Day, we wanted something a little more glitzy and festive, so we headed for the beach town of Nha Trang.

Saigon and the Mekong

After deciding that it was too expensive to spend 2 weeks in the US over Christmas, and too cold to spend it in Europe, I found some cheap flights to Bangkok with a connection to Saigon. The flight to Bangkok is only 1 hr longer than NYC, then it was another hour to Saigon. We got to the hotel right around dinner time. The hotel pool was warm and stayed open late. So we ate some noodles and took a dip, along with about a dozen bats! They were swooping down into the pool to take a drink, so cool.

The next day a van picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the Mekong river for a day long boat trip. We hopped on a Sampan that took us past the Cai Be floating market to a rice paper/candy making "factory". The factory was just a large hut with some locals hard at work. We sampled a variety of Vietnamese candies and snake wine. Next stop was a brick making operation, which I found less interesting since there were no treats to sample. We visited a French Colonial Home (potty break!) and then headed out to a point in the Mekong where it was several km wide. That was scary being on such a small boat. We ate lunch at a beautiful French Colonial establishment overlooking a plantation. The lunch must have been 6 courses, one being a set of large elephant ear fish artfully displayed.

We headed back to Saigon, had some phở at Phở 24, hit the pool for some more swimming with the bats, then called it a night. The next morning, we hopped in a taxi to the airport for our short flight to Phu Quoc.

Celebrate!

One year ago, I held my baby girl in my arms for the first time. Sure, she didn't like me very much back then, but she eventually came around :-) Last night after dinner, I unveiled my surprise DVD project called Gotcha Day 2009. It was touching; there were tears, smiles, laughs, group hugs, with Gianna saying "I wuv you guys". The festivities continue with our weekend trip to Berlin to see the polar bear Knut and his Italian girlfriend Gianna.

Tết Trung Thu, Mid-Autumn Festival

Otherwise known as the Moon Festival, Tết Trung Thu celebrates the full moon at the end of the harvest season. There are many traditions during this holiday that vary throughout Asia. Most often, families celebrate together by eating mooncakes while admiring the full moon and children light paper lanterns to show Chang'e (Cuội) and Jade Rabbit the way back to earth.

We celebrated with dinner at Mai Viên, a local Vietnamese restaurant. The feast included steamed rice dumplings (bánh cuốn), spicy Huế noodle soup (bún bò Huế), caramelized claypot chicken (gà kho gừng), and Vietnamese fried noodles with prawns (mì xào tôm). At the end of dinner, Gianna gave us a rare demonstration of her chopstick prowess. She puts me to shame.

The celebration continued at home with the lighting of a paper moon lantern. Gianna took it out on the balcony and called for Jade Rabbit.
Then we cut into the white lotus seed mooncakes. I almost bought the durian variety (authentic Vietnamese), which would have been a huge mistake in the taste department, but thankfully, the shopkeeper warned me at the checkout. Mooncakes are very rich; you can only eat about a quarter of a cake at one sitting, maybe half if you are really hungry.When we tucked Gianna into bed, she was chattering on about Jade Rabbit and the moon palace, wondering if he will find his way back to earth.

US trip part 1: Vietnam picnic

We had a great trip to the US this past week. One of the highlights was a picnic with the kids from Gianna's orphanage. This is the first time she saw Morgan Chau outside of Vietnam. It took the kids a bit to warm up to each other. Gianna shared her love of shrimp chips and rock collecting to break the ice. Eventually, they were all running around, having a great time. Gianna looks like the tallest one even though she is one of the youngest. There were two more boys adopted from the same orphanage that couldn't be there, one due to illness and the other resides in Utah. It will be at least another 9 months until we see them again. Here are a few of the highlights and you can see the whole album by clicking here. Now that we are back in Germany, Gianna really misses everyone. This morning she wanted to watch "more Chau" videos and got a pretend phone call on her cell from Thuy during which she said "missing you really much" followed by a Vietnamese song and dance routine. Breaks my heart.






This video was taken when Ryan arrived with his family. Watch Gianna's reaction when Chau tries to hold Dan's hand ;-) That's my Bố, here you can have a shrimp chip instead.

Vietnam pride day

This is international week at summer camp and today was Vietnam/rest of Asia day. I gave the teacher one of Gianna's Vietnamese song books with CD and provided lychee and mango puddings for snacks. Gianna wore her traditional Vietnamese dress, the áo dài, and traditional Vietnamese hat, the non la. I sent along another more elaborate áo dài for the kids to see. Gianna was so proud to be wearing her dress. Once we got to school, my ordinarily shy child was showing it off everybody that would listen. One of her Indonesian teachers made fried noodles and each of the kids constructed a non la from paper and painted it with water colors.

I have been reading about the Áo Dài Association, a charity that was recently formed to provide educational scholarships, training courses, and other social assistance to poor girls in Hue, Vietnam. As their name implies, they also provide áo dài dresses to girls who would otherwise never have the opportunity to wear this symbol of national pride. During our trip to Vietnam, we realized how a new dress, something we take for granted, is treasured as if it was made of gold. Some of this sentiment has worn off on Gianna as she adapts to her Western lifestyle of plenty, but it is awesome to see that sense of cultural pride in her eyes when she wears the áo dài!

Mẹ's Vietnamese Kitchen: Bun Cha and Che Chuoi

Disclaimer: I am not Vietnamese, but impersonate one in the kitchen to suite my Vietnamese daughter's discerning palate.

Like any two year old, Gianna can be a picky eater. For breakfast this morning, she wanted fried egg with Nutella. She will turn down cookies and cupcakes in favor of green beans if it suits her whim. Soon she will be starting summer camp where she has to bring a lunch that requires neither refrigeration or heating up. Help! She won't touch sandwiches, so I've been investigating some new Vietnamese dishes that can be eaten at room temp. We went down to the red light district today to stock up on Vietnamese ingredients for my experiments. Usually we eat dinner too fast to photograph, but the camera happened to be laying on the dinner table when I set out the plates. Here's Bun Cha over rice noodles and Che Chuoi, semi homemade (I really must try to make this one from scratch).

Too bad I couldn't find all the fresh herbs that are supposed to accompany this dish. There are only so many hours in the day to track down specialty foods in Frankfurt.

This might look gross, but it tasted delicious. The can of Che Chuoi contained pearl tapioca and banana in a coconut sauce. The red thing that Gianna mistook for hotdog is the banana that came in the can. I just added fresh yellow banana. Also, she insisted I photograph her plate of Bun Cha before she hoofed it down. Here it is:

Everything tastes better from a SpongeBob Squarepants plate.

Old Mẹ

We have started planning a trip to the US and it has me thinking about our old life. I went into a gourmet kitchen store yesterday and almost broke down in tears. Everything was so beautiful; wow do I miss all my nice kitchen stuff. This time of the year I also miss going to the shore every weekend. But I'm not the only one missing my old life. Gianna has started talking about "old Mẹ". At first I wasn't sure what she was saying, as she often wants to put on my make-up and I tell her it's only for old hags like Mẹ. But today it became clear, she is talking about her old house mothers from the orphanage in Vietnam. She drew a picture and I asked her what it was. She replied "old Mẹ". Then she said "Gianna like old Mẹ". I asked her if she also liked new Mẹ and thankfully she replied yes! Then she said she misses old Mẹ and misses Vietnam. I just got some Vietnam photos delivered from Snapfish, so we pulled out any picture that had a house mother. Then I asked her which one was her old Mẹ? She pointed to every one of the caretakers in the photos, but never pointed to me. Then I asked her which photos she wanted to put in her photo album. She only picked out photos of one particular house mother that she had a special bond with. This is hard for me, as one of my deepest fears is that we will never really bond and she will grow up saying "you're not my real mom!" But I want her to cherish the memories of the women who were mother to her for her first two years. So we filled the rest of her photo album with photos of all the Vietnamese Mẹ pictures we could find. Now it is full of her friends from Vietnam, caretakers from Vietnam, and a few pictures of her new Mẹ and Bố (who, as she informs me, is neither new or old since she never had a Bố before this Bố).

US trip part 3

For the last leg of the trip, we were in my hometown, Quakertown, PA staying with Dan's sister, Cori. Gianna had a doctor appointment at CHoP where she saw developmental specialists that only work with kids that were adopted internationally. She was having trouble walking, which was the main reason for the visit. They did some imaging and it turns out she has hip dysplasia, like a German Shepherd. As long as she doesn't start barking or leading blind people across the street, she should be OK ;-) In all seriousness, they did not recommend any treatment at this time. It sounds like they will just watch it, see how things develop after she gets a little more muscle tone. The small fry has dropped to the 5th percentile for weight, but I'm just happy she's on the charts. We need to take her to more Chinese buffets. You should see how much food she eats and the best part is, kids her age usually eat for free.

After the long day at CHoP, Gianna played with her cousin Nathan and I got to see my other pregnant sister-in-law, Christina. She is looking healthy in her 8th month of pregnancy, expecting Hunter Cole sometime the end of May. The following day we did some more shopping for Bố and spent the afternoon playing with her other cousins Grant and Cayden (pictured left). Although Cayden is only 6 months younger than Gianna, she spent most of her time playing with Grant, who is over a year her elder. Cayden just blazes his own trails as his mom says. That evening, Cara and Matt, Dan's cousins that are expats in Jordan, came over for dinner. It was really nice to see them again and exchange a few expat experiences.

The big highlight of the trip was getting together with Gianna's Vietnamese sister Jada and brother Ryan. We went to Ag Field Day at Rutgers where the kids got to see cows, horses, pigs, puppies, and play on some inflatables. The weather was hot and we finished off the play date with lunch at Huong Que, a local Vietnamese restaurant. Joe remarked that watching the kids play together is like watching the end of Schindler's List and I can't agree more. To see these little kids that spent the first two years of their lives together in baby concentration camp now liberated and rejoicing together sent chills up my spine and tears down my face. Gianna doesn't look at any other kids that way or laugh that sincerely. Jada and Ryan are very special to her and to us as well. I can't wait to see them again when we are in the US this summer.

Now we are home in Frankfurt catching up with Dan and Bruno, looking at the pictures from the trip. There are some things and people I miss back in the States, but I am going to enjoy Germany and Europe while we have the chance because the time will go fast. Then I will be back in NJ longing for a good pastry and strong cup of espresso. Speaking of espresso, I have a hot pot waiting for me in the kitchen.

Mummy!

My little devil/angel was sitting in the bath tonight mumbling something over and over again. I asked her what she was saying and she pronounced "Mummy!". Gianna has never called me mom, mommy or anything of the sort. It has always been Mẹ. So I asked her "Mummy, what's that?" She raised her sudsy finger and pointed at me, "Mummy! Mẹ!" This was very endearing and sent chills up my spine. She knows we like it when she speaks English. If I only had a nickel for every time I've said "say it in English; tiếng Anh, tiếng Viet không (speak English, don't speak Vietnamese)" Don't get me wrong, I will be happy if she calls me Mẹ for the rest of her life. But it was the thought that she was trying to please me by calling me by my English title that put a smile on my face.