Mr. Nhan - 2 Than Lan!

As I put dishes into the kitchen sink last night I heard the chirping sound again!

I've heard it here and there lately - sometimes very loud... but never enough to call Mr. Nhan up to the apartment. I'm afraid he'll get to my place, we'll wait and wait for the sound, and he'll think I'm crazy - hearing this chirping sound that does not exist.

SO... this time the chirps were coming from right next to me! I look behind the pot holding my silverware aaaaand - 2 than lan!! ...Sure enough... there are 2 lizards (or geckos... or whatever you want to call them, but in Vietnamese I know now that they are called than lan).

It is 11:15pm at this point... so I send Mr. Nhan a text that says: Mr. Nhan - 2 than lan! About a minute later, Mr. Nhan knocks on my door and I show him the one that I was able to keep an eye on - the bigger, darker, fatter of the two than lan. 

Mr. Nhan attempts to catch this than lan but loses him... and we cannot find the other guy.

After a few minutes of picking dishes up, opening cupboard doors, looking behind the water cooler, I say to Mr. Nhan, "Sang mai."  ...Tomorrow morning.

He agrees... he will continue the search and hunt tomorrow morning. We laugh... he says, "hai than lan!" - I know that hai means two... we laugh again... yes, two than lan.

I wouldn't necessarily mind the than lan sharing my place BUT I do not enjoy the chirping... especially now that I know there are two (maybe more??) of them and who knows what they are up to!

Sheesh.  :P

Call for POSTCARDS

I LOVE receiving mail... my day is automatically better when I see one of the guards come into the library with a postcard or box in hand with my name on it.  :D

All of the postcards I've received are posted on the front of the library's circulation desk... as well as some that I brought with me from Denver, CO and Rochester, NY. It's been really fun to watch how many students look at the postcards as they're checking books out. We talk about the various places - who sent me which ones - and where I am from... it's been a great way to connect with students.  :)

So... if you are a reader of this blog, I would LOVE for you to send me a postcard! It can be from where you live... or a place you've traveled... anywhere. It will be fun to fill up the front of the circulation desk a bit more.

Send your postcard to:

Stacia Maiorani - Librarian
American International School, Middle School
35 Nguyen Huu Canh Street
Binh Thanh District
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Cam on! (Thank you!) XOXO

Saigon Kiss *

Last night as I was heading home and getting my scooter from its parking spot, I could feel the heat of the exhaust pipe on the scooter next to mine. Bikes are parked super close to one another in the city to try and fit as many as possible in a tiny area. I mentally told myself to be careful since I could feel the heat coming off of it and the bike must have been recently parked.

Well... of course, when I leaned over to put my key into the ignition and then backed up to pop the seat... I rubbed up against the exhaust pipe! Sheesh.

It's so easy to do here... and I love that Sarah told me it's considered a Saigon Kiss. You don't really live in Saigon until you've had a Saigon Kiss.

It's kind of like whiffing in kickball. You don't really play in the DKBC until you've whiffed (completely missing the ball when attempting to kick)... I guess I never really played in the league over the past 4 summers then... I was always somewhat waiting for my turn to embarrassingly whiff and be out.  :P

Last night, I drove home with a stinging sensation on the back of my leg the whole time. I could feel it but couldn't see it. By the time I got back to my place, however, I had a dark purple mark and red all around it! I put some Neosporin on it... and again this morning. Now it's a lovely shade of brownish-red... looks really cute with the dress I have on today (not). Haha.

As my Poppy taught me when I was little... "Eh, che putsa fa?!" - Italian slang for, "What're you gonna do?!"

Baby Ninja

Chai Venture

If you've been reading my blog since I arrived in Ho Chi Minh, you may remember my craving to find good chai in this city... mmmmm chai  :)

Warm drinks have always been comforting to me. As a child I loved hot chocolate and white hot chocolate... then in high school and college I always enjoyed going with friends to Java's and Spot Coffee in downtown Rochester, NY. In Denver, I found that I enjoyed meeting a friend to relax in a local cafe more than going out at night!

When I was packing to move to Vietnam I originally had 5 mugs that I wanted to take with me. Seriously... I knew this was ridiculous but apparently they are very sentimental to me. Each day I would try to go through my pile of things, knowing it was too much, and I would make myself take out one mug to leave behind. I ended up bringing with me just one mug (pretty good, right?!)... my brother, Lenny, gave it to me and I love it (so do my students!)...

I told myself that I would not be having many warm drinks here because it's so hot all of the time! Well... come to find out, I still love a warm drink... whether it is tea, a latte, or [sigh] chai... curling up in a comfy chair with a book or a good friend and sipping a warm drink is extremely comforting to me. I have really enjoyed seeking out fun cafes throughout Ho Chi Minh these past 2 months!
Since being in Vietnam I have bought [cringe... I can't believe I'm actually admitting this...] 5 mugs! hahaha. I think I'm making up for those that I left back in Lenny's basement in Denver.

Anyway...

Remember back a few weeks ago when I bought the "spicy" dry leaf tea at the Benh Thanh Market?

Well, I finally got around to experimenting with making my own chai tonight. I was pretty excited to try it out and then have iced chai to take to work with me in the morning!

To begin... I put milk and some of the tea into a pot on the stove. I stirred in nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom... then I strained the tea leaves in my little coffee press.

It mostly looked like milk with bits of spices floating around... I gave it a taste...

Definitely not chai.

Pretty gross actually... this experiment failed to produce the results hoped for. Big time.

I even tried adding some hot chocolate and sugar to see if I could save it by turning it into a spiced hot chocolate... nope!! Definitely still a gross, earthy tea flavor (I'm not even sure I'd call it tea).

So... I'm still in pursuit of good chai in Vietnam. Perhaps I will attempt making my own again at some point... but I must find better tea to work with. The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf actually has "chai" in tea bags that is sold in cute little tins. This might be my best bet to work from... I've tried their "chai" before and it's definitely not the chai that I love and hold dear... but I'll see what I can do.

For now... I will stick to the lattes... but I will not give up!

I will never... ever...

Before coming to Vietnam... "I will never, ever drive a motorbike in Vietnam! Maybe I will buy a bicycle but I will never drive in that traffic!"

A few days after arriving in Vietnam... "Perhaps after 6 months or so I'll be able to drive myself around on a motorbike."

One week after arriving in Vietnam... "I need some freedom! I can learn to drive a motorbike. I'll take my time and learn... but let's do this."

Two weeks in... forget about renting -- I bought my own, brand new motorbike. I pulled out of the Yamaha shop on my new bike... sitting behind a Yamaha worker whom I paid to drive me home... thinking to myself, "Stacia, you might be an IDIOT for buying this thing. You had better make this work out."

Two hours after buying a brand new motorbike... CRASH! ...Back to the Yamaha shop to fix the broken brake handle. Practice, practice, and practice.

One month in... I drove myself to and from school for the first time. But... "I will never, ever drive with someone else on the back of my bike. There's no way."

Tomorrow is my TWO MONTH anniversary with Vietnam... I zip all over the city on my cute scooter! I had to go back to the Yamaha shop yesterday - but instead of fixing something that was broken, it was for a 500K check-up.

Today, Sarah and I were leaving school and planning to head to a cafe to plan the start-up of our Pen Pals with Hattie's class back in Denver, CO. Sarah didn't have her bike with her and figured she would just take a xe om... but then I got excited about a new aspiration that had crept into my mind a few days ago... "If I'm going to learn to drive with someone on the back of my bike at some point, Sarah will be a good one to begin with because she's tiny!"

Sooo... these never ever's are becoming... I-can-do-it's!

I successfully drove both Sarah and I to The Refinery on my little Yamaha Cuxi.  :D  It was easier than I imagined to balance with another person on the back.

There may or may not have been a moment of terror... covered by laughs from both Sarah and I... when we almost got smooshed by a bus buuuuut everything else was pretty smooth going! The best part was as the bus is pulling over to the curb and looming over us, coming closer and closer... I yelled out, "What do I do??" and Sarah said, "You've got to stop!" hahaha... Oh yeah, good idea. hehe... Learning everyday!

Happy TET TRUNG THU!

Today is the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival... Tet Trung Thu. 

I like this excerpt from Wikipedia about the Vietnamese version of this Chinese - Vietnamese - Taiwanese holiday...


"The Vietnamese version of the holiday recounts the legend of Cuội, whose wife accidentally urinated on a sacred banyan tree, taking him with it to the Moon. Every year, on the mid-autumn festival, children light lanterns and participate in a procession to show Cuội the way to Earth."


Last night before heading for dinner, I stopped by my neighbors' house across our little street. I gave the light-up ninja toy to their little boy (maybe 3 or 4 years old). I showed the mom a post-it note saying Tet Trung Thu and they were all so happy to have the boy receive the gift. This holiday is a celebration for children... and as I put on my helmet and got onto my scooter, he was sitting on the ground playing with the toy - it felt pretty awesome.  :)

Last Friday I stopped by a stationary store to pick up some card-stock paper to make certificates for our upcoming Spelling Bee. I found a fun pen and got it for Phuong... I've been using a fun googly-eye pen from my book fair last year... the kids love it... and now both Phuong and I have pens worth commenting about!

Here's Phuong with her new pen - I'm so glad she likes it!

...Funniest part is that it is a purple OSTRICH!!! I hadn't realized this until I pulled it out of the bag to give it to her this morning... AS I was telling her about my ostrich riding adventure yesterday... CRAZY. We had a good laugh about it.  :)