Under 30

We're at 29 days until lift-off, er, departure for our volunteer stint in Viet Nam. Things are slowly coming together (in haphazard fashion, but together nonetheless). My parents, aunt and sister all came over yesterday for hours of packing, cleaning and delivering. My photos are 90% organized by years (and labelled!) thanks to my sister. The big art dresser is no longer overflowing with pens, crayons, papers, or the myriad other craft supplies that filled it just yesterday morning. Instead they are boxed up and ready for another use. The crayons will be melted down and made into new shapes for Christmas gifts for my nieces and nephews. Most of the other stuff will be donated to the child care center at the kids' school, while the rest will be stored away at my folks' house until we return.

I asked S if he was a bit nervous about the trip and he said no, he still doesn't really believe it's going to happen. We'll see if the nerves kick in by the time we get on the plane. As for me, the nerves are already buzzing. I have only 4 weeks to tie up all the loose ends and there are enough to strangle me right now.

second minute

Almost forgot... Okay, I did forget, but now I remembered that I had wanted to post about this book: Nhật ký Đặng Thùy Trâm (Đặng Thùy Trâm's Diary). I haven't read much about the VietNam/American War because, quite simply, I hate war. Hate the inhumane acts of killing others simply because they are "other." I try to keep my politics to myself and will do so for now.

But the point of this post is to point you in the direction of this diary: written by a doctor, fresh out of medical school, and her struggles (emotionally, physically and spiritually) as she tried to save as many people as she could. She died a month after I was born, in June 1970. She was "enemy" but by reading her words, it's clear that the term enemy is meaningless in this situation. She was a woman trying to do her best in a war that ripped lives apart, both figuratively and literally. The Vietnamese version is scanned in .pdf format on the Texas Tech website and in book form throughout VietNam, but the English version won't be available in print until next fall.

Read the NPR story:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6492819

Read the VietNam Net story: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2005/08/479223/

back for a minute or two

So I like to worry. Okay, maybe like isn't the word for it, but I am very skilled at worrying. I think I pretty well perfected it when it came to applying for our visas-worry, put if off, worry, mail them, worry. As could be expected, it was all for naught. The passports showed up in the mail on Friday; each with a visa to enter Viet Nam (and stay for three months). We're set.

The only major hurdle before departure, which is my own darn fault, is to get rid of our stuff. I've been packing for a while now, trying to fit it in when possible. The kids' rooms are nearly packed: everything out of the closets, off the bookshelves and most of the toyboxes weeded out and donated or stored away. My room hasn't even been touched. Too much to do and I'm quite sure it will wait for me.

S.'s digital camera came back the day we got the visas, which made for another big sigh of relief. Grandma H bought him a memory card for his birthday two weeks ago, so now there's no excuse not to take a ton of photos while we are gone. It works as well as new and with the added memory can take almost an hour of video, too. So, if I can figure out a way to bribe the kids into doing it, I will have them do weekly video blogs. We'll make our own little movie for YouTube. Sounds to me like a good "homeschool" project for S.

A. celebrated turning 9 on Sunday with lots of cash gifts, movie tickets, and (from her brother and I) an iPod shuffle. I know, I know...."what does a kid her age need one for?!" My reasoning: She needs one so I don't have listen to the Beatles all the time (yes, I like them; no, it's not all I want to hear), she can listen to audiobooks during the flight and it'll fill time when I'm teaching and the kids just have to hang out in the back of the room. So, there's a Christmas gift idea for you family members...iTunes gift cards. -smile-


So, yeah, it was a nice birthday with a slumber party of 8 little girls, birthday cake, special breakfast and gifts. Then it was over to Grandma C's house for the traditional birthday dinner. Thing is, we didn't get there unscathed. Some fellow didn't seem to think he needed to look for oncoming traffic before pulling into the lane. He wasn't terribly bright (or clean, if I might add). The end result was a banged up car, a bit of a sore neck for me and a memorable moment for the kids ("Did we just get hit?") Of course, I could only open the door about 10 inches and had to slither in and out until my mechanic (aka Dad) popped the dent a bit. Now it opens freely, but the fender still has a lovely concave curve to it. C'est la vie.

34 days. The reality is setting in and I'm trying not to panic.

-insert sad face here-

No internet at home makes Teresa sad. I didn't have the money to pay the DSL part of the bill, so they shut it off. So I went downtown and sold some books at Powell's and made a whopping $27. I'll likely take some other books down there tomorrow, plus take a couple of nice vintage coats to Red Light and see if I can get anything for them. At this rate, it's going to take me a few days to get up enough cash to pay the bill (about $100), so I don't expect that I'll be back online to post until next week sometime.

This week is crazy enough with three papers due, two quizzes, a sewing job that entail two dresses, plus events for A.'s birthday on Friday (cupcakes at school), Saturday (sleepover with friends) and Sunday (birthday dinner). I wouldn't have the time to post anyway. Right?

In the news...

Not us, but a subject which relates quite closely to this blog: volunteering abroad. There's an interesting article in the New York Times today about the topic that you should read. It was nice to see another parent/child combo mentioned. That was one of the sticklers for me--finding an organization that would take me with kids. Luckily I did with GVN. Here are another few links for you:
International Volunteer Programs Association: a searchable database for volunteer groups, though, by no means, comprehensive.
Cross-Cultural Solutions: accepts families, too! (Their program was way out of my price range, but I have heard good things about them.)
Serve Your World: a hub of sort with scads of articles on volunteering hows, whys and wheres.
Peace Corps: heard good things about this one, too, but they don't take anyone with dependents.

There's a big ol' world out there and plenty more organizations (both non- and for-profit) that set up these sort of things. Think about it. You don't have to dump everything, really, unless you're a little poor like us. Then it might just be the only way. I'll let you know if it's worth it.

Living in the wet Northwest

It's been raining every single day for the past couple of weeks, with storm after storm coming through. The prediction for today goes like this: "[A] potentially very strong and very windy low pressure system will approach the coast later today and move through the forecast area tonight and early Monday. The weather will remain unsettled with additional systems through next week." (courtesy kgw.com, emphasis added) Doesn't that sound like fun?

It's really been horrible for a number of people with rivers re-routing themselves and taking out homes in the process. One fellow had to quickly cut down part of his forest property and move the house as the river carved a new path toward his home. Another couple had cancelled their flood insurance only six months ago (after 20 years of never needing it), only to have the entire side of their house torn off by the newly-widened Sandy River(that's the river in the photo, but a different house). It really is tragic. Luckily, we live up on a hill and the only area flooded is our beloved 'farm' at the end of the road. Technically, it's a wetlands area, so it's supposed to be soggy. But my heart (and a few dollars in donations) goes out to those families so dramatically affected by these storms.


44 days till departure.

visas and birthdays

Seven weeks left. And I finally got the visa applications into the mail. I know, I know; I've been talking about doing it for ages. First I didn't know how much they'd cost. Then I found out and didn't have the money. Then I had to make copies of our passport photos. I gathered the money, then filled out the applications this weekend and hope I did it right. Then today I made the trip to the post office, bought the money orders, filled out the paperwork necessary there and mailed those bad boys off to the Viet Nam Embassy in Washington, D.C. My nerves surprised even me and I'm not quite sure why it makes me so anxious, except that it is the last real hoop to jump through before we can get on the plane. There are little things left, (okay a lot of little things left) but none of those will keep us here. Our visas, or rather our lack of them, would keep us stateside with no home, no money.

This past weekend was packed with birthday fun for S: shopping and sleepover at Grandma's on Friday, breakfast with just the kids and grandparents, movie and popcorn, then birthday dinner with the other set of grandparents, cousins, etc. This next weekend is a joint, cousins birthday party. The next weekend is A's birthday and the next week is Thanksgiving. No time to breathe, but (to be honest) that's probably for the best.

with a little help from my friend

My kitchen table was saved from the modern-day equivalent of the auction block (aka Craigslist) today by my dear friend in Kansas and I can never thank her enough for her generosity. Here's a public shout-out to her: You have shown me time and again just how kind, supportive, fashionable and devious people can be and I love you for every bit of it. I thank you. My kids thank you. My kitchen table, lovingly refinished with my own hands (and a bit of assistance from my dad) thanks you. Your kindness will not be forgotten.

In other news, got a couple more things crossed off the to-do list:
-made copies of passports
-made copies of passport size photos
-sent off digital camera for repair

And I got presents (oh-so-useful ones, too) for S.'s 14th birthday tomorrow. Geez... how'd that happen?! We'll celebrate by going to see "Flushed Away" and, as requested, plum galette in lieu of birthday cake. (He's got good taste--he requested chicken cordon bleu for birthday dinner, too!).

Location! Location! Location!

It's settled. After some mad international emailing, it has been settled. The kids and I are assigned to Tam Ky, a city about an hour's drive south of Da Nang. We had been hoping to go to Hue, but our newfound friends from New Zealand were assigned there. I'm quite happy with the placement from what I've been able to read from the info provided by GVN. Yeah, I think it is going to be good and is certain to be a 'cultural immersion.'

We had our second Vietnamese lesson today and Vy is a great teacher. A. is picking up the sounds well, S. is being a little grumpy about it, but doing pretty well. Me? I think I'm a lost cause, but I keep trying. At least I can say that I'm American and I don't understand Vietnamese in Vietnamese. I have a feeling it will come in handy.