Friday, October 17, 2014

Introducing Jordie to Hải Phòng

Monday 11th:
It was disappointing to say the least to come home and find my bedroom still missing a bed last night. So first thing this morning I went down to reception and explained the stuff up to Kien, so he arranged for the second bed to be put back again. Trouble was, they didn't get very far before knocking off for a very early lunch break, leaving the room looking like this!



Hiếu and Tiên came over with their mate, Trưởng to take us for lunch. Jordan had her first motorbike ride in Việt Nam as pillion on Hiếu's bike. It didn't take her long to relax and begin to enjoy it!.... and lunch?? Bún Chả, of course!!

 
Jordie's a bikie chick too, now.

The bed was still in pieces, but the next thing on the agenda was a trip to Big C to stock up on supplies, since my cupboard is bare except for Isagenix products, haha.  We bought some basics like yoghurt, bacon, juice, beer, and of course hot bread and a barBQ chicken, so Jordie could experience chicken bánh mì 

After we got back, Lan and Đạt came to say hello... like me, Katie has known them for 4 years now...part of our original Hải Phòng family!

 
Đạt took one look at the bed and straight away started to put it back together... until we needed a wrench - then I phoned the desk and the young handyman appeared to finish off the job. So we were finally sorted. I am sleeping in what was my sitting room on that bed, while Katie and Jordan have my bedroom. Very handy having this double room suite!

In the evening, Katie and Jordan and I walked to 346 Lach Tray. Jordie had fried rice (cơm rang), I had phở xào, and Katie had mỳ xào, and we were all very happy. After we had eaten, Hiếu and Luyền Nelly arrived and took us to a snazzy coffee house nearby. Jordie and Nelly made friends right away.



It was lovely to see Xuân, too. He is so busy these days with work, that it's very hard to get to see him, so we were very glad to say hello on Katie's first day back.

Tuesday 14th
Today was a fairly quiet day, spent catching up on a pile of hand washing,  emails, Facebook and blogging. Jordie is writing a blog too, Katie has some Uni work with her and Jordie also has some homework, since she is missing a month of classes while she is here. Since we had been shopping yesterday, chicken bánh mì was the order of the day for lunch

Once again we walked to 346 Lach Tray for dinner and Jordie happily ordered the same as last night...cơm rang (fried rice). 



On the way home I stopped and got some whatever it's called...I can't spell it, but it sounds like cheya Hue.
The girls found it interesting, but weren't too fussed. I must admit, we weren't hungry either....but in 3 years, Katie had never tried it before!

Wednesday 15th
We met Gene at Texas BarBQ for lunch. The girls happily enjoyed Pizza, while I ordered my favourite...chicken fajitas 

Gene is busy organising a Halloween party for the kids at QSI, where she used to teach and she asked Katie to come and do face-painting, having been particularly impressed when Katie showed her pics of previous faces she's painted. We sat and talked for ages over lunch, Gene is such great company. Katie brought over some Product B for her so she could get started and see if it helps her knees (I know that it will...).

From Texas BarBQ we walked over to Nam Phap Church for the Wednesday afternoon English Club. This afternoon our lesson was about writing a Bucket List... a concept a bit far out of the box for many of the students. More than half of them only aspired for a happy family and a good job etc, but I unearthed a few with big dreams...YES!!

Tonight was the final lesson for Phương and Thủy, so we took some photos... aren't they tiny!!!  Jordan is taller than Phương, the mum.
  
Jordan is ten and Thủy is six...but even so!

Thursday 15th
Too much TV and iPad etc last night... it was very late, so Katie and Jordie slept in and gave NPCEC a miss, much to the disappointment of the students, who had been looking forward to meeting them. But it's a bit boring for Jordan and it was very hot today. They walked up to 346 Lach Tray (again!!) and Tiên, Tuấn Anh, Trung Ho and I met them after the class and had lunch there.


We have been friends with these guys for years now... it's so easy just to pick up where we left off, and it's no different for Katie.


 How beautiful is my grand-daughter ?!!


And how much do I enjoy the company of these precious friends ?!!

My gift from NPCEC today was a bag of rambutans...to Jordan's great delight!  Boy, did she tuck into them  LOL!


 

The evening was a quiet one, but we got to talk to Lockie and Bailey before it got too late and all is well. They have gone to Windemere for the annual fishing comp and arrived safely after the long drive.

Friday 16th
Today we met Gene at the top of H Tower for lunch...another place Katie hadn't been to before. As always, it's a great view...



... so Katie and Jordan had a good look around before we went inside and ate. Lovely lunch...this time we were early enough for the Vietnamese menu, which was great.

After lunch we caught a taxi to Big C for more supplies, so we had stuff for chicken bánh mì for dinner. The news from home was good ... Lockie and Ev and Bailey caught half a dozen good sized fish today, so they are pretty stoked. Will called to see if we were busy for the weekend and if not, would we like to come to Hà Nội tomorrow so Katie could join him and his friends for a night out?  We didn't have anything planned after lunch tomorrow so we decided to do it....








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