An Lão

This morning, Khánh and I went to An Lão to visit Vinh and his family. First stop was to talk to his English class. This beautiful girl and her friend had made me these presents - a picture of children celebrating Tet, and some hearts, all wonderfully decorated, with messages in perfect English.

Then we followeed Vinh home to have lunch with him and his precious family..

  

The baby is growing fast. She is nearly one year old now

And this little boy is Bich's sister's son... another absolute cutie!

There are a few changes at Vinh's place. He has demolished the tumble-down old out-houses and spread the rubble to create adequate drainage for future vegie gardens. This is common practice here where the rainfall is so high, and adequate drainage is critical to prevent the soil going sour. At home we truck building waste off to the tip. Here the bricks and concrete are broken up and used for gardens. I do not think the bricks are as strong as those at home. These can be broken with a sharp tap from a trowel - no cutting machines necessary, so it's feasible that the rubble breaks down in a few years.