Tạm biệt

Tạm biệt - Goodbye

Ngày vui đã xa dần, đã xa rồi đó.
Và giây phút tạm biệt với bạn hiền
Kỷ niệm mãi trong tim ta, ngày vui ấy ta bên nhau.
Bao gian khó cuộc đời, vượt qua.
Ngày vui đã xa dần đã xa rồi đó.
Và giây phút tạm biệt với bạn hiền.
Kỷ niệm mãi trong tim ta, ngày vui ấy ta bên nhau.
Ta mong ước một ngày lại gặp nhau.

Một ngày bình yên, tay cầm tay nắm tay vượt qua.
Nghìn trùng xa cách, giọt nước mắt dâng trào.
Ta vẫn thấy cuộc đời vui, và niềm tin trong đôi mắt.
Chia tay nhé, rồi ngày vui ta gặp nhau

Summer holiday 2011 comes

My summer holiday has started since today. No more hard teaching but a lot of relaxing time. And my relaxing time is stared with redecoration the home. Flowers come back to the living room and old books and papers and empty bottles are given away.

Today is considered the first day of my long holiday and I think it has been a happy day and spent well so far. Anh gave me two bunches of lotus flowers (honestly I was very happy and surprised to get this gift). As you can see from the photo, they are so beautiful (so am I) :D. I went to the service shop to have the motorbike oil changed, the tires inflated and the motorbike washed. It looks new again. In addition, I went downtown to register an art class for Bob. His old teacher recognized me and my son's name. How nice! Once a week, on Sunday morning, Bob goes drawing and painting. I just have an idea - create a blog for him to post his painting and the story around each one... After going out, I felt a bit sick: hot and dry weather. I gave up the idea to go swimming. In stead, I went to the hairdresser's in the neigbourhood to have my "beauty" cared. ;-) hair wash, manicure and pedicure.

And now, I am sitting on the sofa and enjoying a film on Disney Channel and updating my blog.

Evening class finished - Phew

My last evening class finished this evening. We teachers felt so happy that one colleague said we should have a big party to mark this event. No more going out working in the evening. And I know anh will also feel happy about it. He always cares for me and he showed disagreement when I said I worked in the evening. But as usual, he respects my decisions... Anyhow, my hard work for this school year came to the end and not sure if I will teach evening classes AGAIN in the next school year :-). Wish all of the students retake the test successfully.

Thai restaurant

Once in a while I eat out with my friend and one of our favorite is a Thai restaurant. Small but always full during the lunch time. The sticky rice here is so tasteful. So are many other dishes. They are cooked in Thai cuisine ans therefore quite expensive. Because we are not big eaters, three dishes are enough for us. At the end of the meal, as usual, I bring home the leftover (we left it intentionally) :-). You can see in the photo I have two boxes for sticky rice and minced beef. I know for sure someone will appreciate them: Bob.

There won't be many chances for us to come here in the future. And I am certain that whenever I eat Thai food I will remember him a lot.

Summer plan

Home alone. Not much to do. I turn on the laptop and relax on the sofa surfing the net and listening to music. By chance I found the song "You're my destiny" sung by Paul Anka. Listening to it again and again. Nice song. Wish someone ever told me like that :-)

By the way, my summer holiday is coming in two weeks. Recently we have been preparing end-of year tests for students. Hard work.

I am thinking what we will do this summer. Certainly we will go swimming in the pool nearby. Maybe I will resume music lessons if the teacher can make time for me. She has just given a birth to a baby. Van, my colleague invited us (Mai and me) to come to her hometown, where there is a famous beach Sam Son. And Bob will go to art class downtown again. I promise to teach him English. It is obvious that for the last some months I haven't taught him much. :-) Mum is busy earning money. So bad :-(.

When we work hard in the school year, we long for the summer holiday. But I know for sure that when we enjoy holiday we will miss work.

Time out

Long time I did not go out with my friends/colleagues. Today is Ms. Lua's birthday so a good reason to gather. As invited, we met at our old restaurant at 11.40. After a big lunch we went shopping for a birthday present: clothes. The first shop was NEM. We could not find anything suitable. We proceeded to the second shop Chic land, my favorite shop. We found what we were looking for. A nice skirt and a jacket. I got home in time to pick up my son from school.

Full afternoon was well spent with friends. We talked and chatted and enjoyed ourselves.We agreed that we would meet again in June.

Sapa

Like other people, making use of the long public holiday, we travelled away from Hanoi. Our destination was Sapa. The reason of choosing Sapa was very simple: Bob likes a holiday in the mountains. We booked the trip long time ago with a reliable travel agent's in Hanoi. Everything went smoothly. And after the holiday I recognised that Bob and I were really fit :-).

We spent two days in Sapa. Day 1: Cat Cat village (morning), Ham Rong resort (afternoon). Day 2: long trek up to the hill (leaving 9.30 am and back 4.15 pm). Honestly, two days is not enough for exploring Sapa but it is fine for Bob to have an insight of mountainous areas and minority ethnic people. We will come back when we can. I told my son that Mount Fanxipan was waiting for him. :-)

Cat Cat is a tourism village. It is not very far from the centre of Sapa. We walked there with three other tourists and our tour guide (she was a Red Dzao woman). The road was up and down. Along the road there were some local houses informing us of how the local people lived and shops displaying handicraft (some were made here and some were imported from China). We also saw some man ploughing. This was the first time Bob knew peasants' heavy work. Walking made us a bit tired. But so wonderful to enjoy the peace and fresh air and views. Moreover the road was paved. Clean and walker-friendly. The tour guide told me that if we were tired after the walk we could take a xe om. It cost 30,000 dongs. But I encouraged my son to walk. And we made it: walking back to the restaurant (near the hotel) and enjoyed here. Then we walked back to our hotel and joined the group again at 2.30 pm to visit Ham Rong.

Bob was too tired and sleepy after a night in the train and a ride on the winding road from Lao Cai station to Sapa. He slept at once after checking into Chau Long Sapa hotel and refused to go out in the afternoon. I had to leave him in the room.

Ham Rong Resort (as they called) was a large park. We climbed up to the hill near the centre. There were so many beautiful flowers and peach plants and wild plum plants. Clean and well organised. We climbed to the Heaven Gate 1, and through stone forest to Cloud Yard and to the Heaven Gate 2 and back. From the Cloud Yard, you could see Sapa Town. Magnificent. And you could see Ham Rong (the jaw of the dragon with the tail in Lao Cai town) :-). Again in the park what was appreciated was fresh air, green spaces and wonderful views.

In the evening I had a terrible headache. We hurried to the old restaurant to have pizza and French fries - Bob's favorite food. I didn't eat much. We walked back to the hotel and took some medicine and slept. If I hadn't had headache, I would have taken my son out to enjoy Sapa at night. Pity.

Day 2 was a long trek in a path up and down hills through terraced fields. We had lunch in a local house. After the trek, the tour guide admitted that Bob and me were so fit. We were often ahead the group. At first I thought Bob could not finish the trek. A city boy walking in the mountains. But he made it and really excited about the walk. Never complaining about anything.

Our holiday in Sapa ended. Safe and excited and unforgettable trip. Back to normal life in a hot and dirty and crowed Hanoi in summer weather.