Dear Mom,
I want to tell you about the whole elephant, but as I try to think about how to tell about ALL THE THINGS I am intimidated and my brain locks up. So let me tell you about a specific toenail on its left front foot, let me tell you about yesterday (Saturday).
At 7:45 or a little after, I boarded my motorbike and noticed a definite chill in the air. Temperatures in the 70s this week. We've had a week of only periodic rains, with generous helpings of sunshine, but now it's another storm system moving in.
I met up with brothers from Danang International Fellowship (DIF is our church here), for western breakfast at a restaurant in the tourist neighborhood on the south end of the peninsula. It's not a neighborhood we spend a lot of time in, though if we get to hankering for western food that's where we'd head. They even have a western-style Chinese restaurant down there, and the owners embraced the irony by naming it the "Mayflower American Chinese Restaurant."
The guy I'm with in this selfie was among those who gathered yesterday for breakfast. He was born in Vietnam and left with his family as a toddler. Now he's returned and is working on getting his foreign-Vietnamese paperwork so he can naturalize. Neat person.
Lunch with a couple from DIF at our house. Restful, joyful.
Oh! And after lunch I returned some serving pans to this street restaurant. She had delivered trays loaded with fish/meat/veggies and about a thousand rice paper wraps for a DIY rice-paper-rollup party we had hosted Friday night, and on my errands-list was to return her trays. We fed 12 people for 830,000 and had leftovers to send home with the kids!
Then after that errand I went and met with a landlord who has a house for rent in the city center. Not for us--we're very happy with our house here--but for some folks who are visiting in January. They'll use the house for a week, and although I've seen the house and confirm it's not a scam, I wanted to also meet the landlord and look him in the eyes. I've had TOO many instances of bait-and-switch with housing here. Nice guy. He's the real deal.
Home in time to meet An for a bit when she stopped by after work. Love that girl.
Then after dinner on Saturday we had extended an invitation to lots of the folks who knew us 10 years ago, and several of them came and we enjoyed their companionship.
They got a KICK out of playing a comical-competitive game on our Nintendo. I hope you click on a video to see their responses, because they're such a hoot:
https://youtu.be/fhEDlqiCBTM?si=SKHTVjiuPNbKFDPU
Another busy and FUN Saturday in the books. That's how we roll!
Love,
Tim/Janet
PS.
Looking west toward Han Bridge from the high road at Vincom.
PPS:
This is the view from the riverside Marriott top floor. Starting looking west to the hills, then panning south, east to the Son Tra peninsula, and then finally up north toward Monkey Mountain.
https://youtu.be/L-_B0UvOlrM?si=Tb3v3NvKWTUGIo4a