Victory Day 2012

This year we have a long public holiday from 29 April to 1 May. Long enough for people to go away. For some reasons I decide to stay in Hanoi: shopping for some food and clothes, buying some books for my son and myself, buying a new helmet for my son (same brand but bigger size) and visiting my mum.

Hanoi is dry and really hot these days. According to my Accuweather.com in my Nokia, the temperature in the next few days is the highest in May, 37-40 degrees. Terrible, isn't it? Hope no power off.

When I was at mum's place, my sisters were not there. In fact, no family gathering like when my father was alive. I remember those days my family often met and had a meal together. Now they are busy with their own family gathering. We visit our mum whenever we have time and as a result, we come back to the place where we were born and brought up at different times. We meet not as frequently as before.

Spending time there is always wonderful. I have the feeling that I am the youngest. My mum, my brother and sister-in-law really care for me. I never grow up in my family's eyes even I am almost 40 years old.

Apple iPhone

This is one of the staff rooms where we often have a break. This morning, a funny thing happened. As soon as we sat down at the table, 4 colleagues started to use their phone. And what a surprise to me, they were holding their apples in their hands: playing games. At once I recognized that and I took my Nokia to capture this scene. Who says teachers are poor? Please think again.:-)

Sisters-in-law

I have two older brothers and they both are married. So I have two sisters-in-law: one some months older than me and the other some years younger than me. In this photo, I am with the younger. We had this photo taken on the occasion my older made these home clothes for us (designer clothes, made for only us). :-) Sisters-in-law do not often get on well together. But our case is different. Almost no distance between us. We get on very well. My sisters-in-law are friendly and hardworking. They know how to take care of their family. My parents feel very proud of having them as two extra daughters.

Pink slippers

The class I teach on Sunday has got 10 pupils: 6 girls and 4 boys. Today when they were doing a test I stepped out of the room for a while and this was what I saw at the door 4 pairs of pink slippers. And they looked almost the same. :-) It proves that PINK is the color little girls like most. From toes to top, they like wearing pink things. My nieces have slippers, shoes, boots, sandals, clothes, ribbons, caps, handbags in pink. My colleague's daughter likes wearing things in pink too. What a strange fashion trend for me, who have a son.

Games online

We made a mistake when we let our son play games online. At first he said it was free. But recently we found that he bought so many cards to upgrade his account. The amount of money shocked us. I felt very sad. The biggest problem is not about the money lost but the trust between him and me. He promised not to play games online any more. Let see if he can keep his promise... Not easy to be a mum of a boy teenager.

Hard working

These days I have been sitting too much at the desk in the study. Working, working and working. Deadline, deadline and deadline. I try my best to finish all the work I am am responsible for in semester 2 before 10 April, so that I can contribute my time to my distance learning course which starts soon. I was feeling so happy towards the deadline I set for my self when I got another duty from the university this morning and deadline is 20 April. Troi oi. :-( So many things have to be done. Truly, I look forward to my long summer holiday.

I have just given up an afternoon class. I taught it for a teacher in my group. After 6 Fridays I felt I was not fit enough to work whole day at university. I convinced her to come back teaching. And I was successful.

I have promised with myself that I would not work full day. But sometimes I do not keep my promise :-). I want to help my colleague and I want to increase my income a bit although that small contribution to my income is not enough for me to buy new clothes.

Sunday morning off

Today is an official Sunday I have the morning off: no working, which means no getting up early, no rushing to the class, but feeling so relaxed and comfortable.

How do you relax on Sunday morning? Well, in my case, I like sipping coffee, listening to music, reading interesting articles on the Internet and doing some light housework, especially tidying my wardrobe :-). I can not enjoy waking up late on Sunday. Every day, my eyes open before 6 am.

Perhaps I should start doing Sunday morning walk next week. I delay this activity too long. It is a very simple but healthy exercise. Moreover, it costs nothing except a pair of shoes and an iPod (walking and listening to music) and luckily I have both already. Let's wait and see if I can do it next weekend or not.