Friday, August 19, 2011

Photography

I'm actually not sure if anyone checks this blog anymore considering our lives are boring and Canadian now (not really but I do miss Vietnam) BUT I have news. I have finally uploaded Vietnam/Cambodia pictures onto my photography website. It took roughly 27 hours. But, its done. Anywho, here is the link:
http://www.wix.com/kp_photography89/pictures#!

I hope they were worth the wait.

Friday, August 12, 2011

And now for a brief pause

It looks as though we probably won't update this blog again until at least September. If we do post again before then we will post the link on facebook. In the meantime I hope you are all enjoying your summer!!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Now what?

Kim and I have talked about what to do with this blog now that we are home and the truth is we haven't really decided yet. It might be fun to chronicle our year and a half of education studies here or we may get very busy and totally forget about it. We might also have a hiatus and start up again next summer if we decide to travel again. At any rate stay tuned for an announcement sometime this week.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Goodmorning Canadaaaaa! (See what I did there?)

It is 5:45 in the morning Canadian time. I have been awake and just hanging out since 2:30 this morning. I'm not so down on this time change business. I have many a thing I have to do today! This just will not do. I am not sure who to contact with this complaint, but I feel as though a very long letter outlining the ridiculousness of time differences will be drafted as soon as this blog post is done. Does Ho Chi Minh have an address?
Returning home has been pretty wonderful. I gave all my family their presents. They all loved them, so that was pleasing. The air here feels different. Lighter, and cleaner. But I think that has more to do with the fact that we lived in a very large city rather than a Vietnam thing. Also, it is really quite cold. I wore jeans yesterday because I didn't want to catch a Canadian chill.
Coming back to the Island in the middle of summer is pretty fantastic though. The skies are blue, the grass is green and the birds are... being birds. I can't really say they are all singing, considering I have a colony of herrons that live by my house. They do not sing, they scream. Anyways, that is besides the point. I am happy to be home. I hugged my cat and gave my stinky dog a loving... look. She smells quite bad.
I forgot to mention how wonderful it is that I don't fear for my life when I cross the road.
So, this luggage business I was ranting about in my last post. The luggage people at the airport forgot to unload one of the containers. So, we waited for our stuff for an hour. We (of course) imagined the worse, thinking our Vietnam swag was lost somewhere in Hong Kong. But no, it was simply an oversight by the people on the other side of the conveyor belt. I was as patient as possible, but if you ask Naomi she will tell you a different story. If you ask her in person she might even do an imitation of me after 45 minutes staring at where our luggage was supposed to come through. If you see said impersonation, please note that it is NOT true to life.
Oh, the sun is rising. Yippee.
My Dad and brother waited for us at the airport for a very long time. This was partially their fault as they arrived at 12pm.... When I told them we probably wouldn't be out of customs until 2. They were just so dang excited to see me I guess. Who could blame them? But then, it was our fault too because we actually weren't out until like 4pm. I met my brother in the greeting area, hugged him and he said "You almost gave our Dad a heart attack". Such love.
My Dad was very happy to see me. He got all teary eyed, which got me all weepy. It was just a big emotional airport reunion, just like in the movies.
So, now the task of getting ready to go back to school in September is looming. But already I've started contemplating what I will do next summer. Will I go back to Vietnam? Naomi and I were offered a job. And it would be mighty nice if some of our teacher friends decided they wanted to have a go at CIS summer school. Ah, the fun that would be had, the blogposts that would be written....
I can't say for sure that this will be my last post, as I'm sure boredom will strike and I will need a space to reflect upon the summer... But I do want to say a brief goodbye (not so good at those) to those readers that have been faithful to Naomi and I over the past month and a half. It has been swell attempting to entertain you. We laughed, we cried, we killed a dog with a Tuk Tuk.... It has been pretty amazing. I have a wealth of experience now and I'm so grateful to all the people who made it possible.
So, just as I said to Vietnam I will say to you.... I'll be seeing you again, as I'm not quite done with you yet. Whether you like it or not.
Tootles!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Brief but Important Update From Kim #3

Home is where my heart is, and my bed. I must shower because I stink real bad. The flights were long, but pretty painless. Except there was a certain luggage incident that I will elaborate on later.... and you all thought this blog would end when we got home. Heh.

HK Baby

We are currently sitting and waiting for our flight home from Hong Kong. The airport is really open and you can see the beautiful scenery off in the distance but Kim and I are both on our laptops enjoying the freedom to use facebook without having to use ridiculous proxy pages or sketchy downloads. Valerie has just started reading the last of the books I bought her. I have mixed feelings about coming home. There is a part of me that would like to just keep on trucking and to go off and explore other parts of Asia. There is another part of me that totally wants a chicken burger and yam fries from White spot and to visit with friends at home. It will be nice to indulge that latter part.

Things I will miss about Vietnam:
1) The FOOD glorious wonderful yummy food.
2) Some of our students
3) The warmth
4) The prices, everything is so inexpensive.
5) The scenery
6) The really kind and contentious care I received at the Diamond Plaza Medical Center
7) The FOOD

Things I will not miss
1) The traffic
2) The traffic
3) The traffic
4) The traffic
5) The trouble it took to get on facebook