1 day until Matt starts his course

I couldn't imagine that on that first day arriving in HCMC that I would feel as relaxed as I do now. I am now looking forward to the next few weeks, it will be a little difficult because Matt starts his course on Monday and it’s been so nice to be able to do things together. Now I have to brave Saigon with the kids, which I’m feeling confident about. At least we were able to check out a lot of things as a family, so now I have a good idea of good places to take the kids. Alex also starts school on Monday…with me as his teacher! I think we are looking forward to some routine…well I know I am!

We went on our first motorbike taxi ride the other day, Ashah has been adamant about getting on the bikes. It was only a short ride but both Alex and Ash had smiles on their faces the whole way home. Now they keep asking us to go on! You can hire a scooter for about $6 a day. I am sure Matt will hire one soon.

We’ve been meeting a few people, some from Australia. The other day we were at a Mall and there was another Aussie family with their 2 kids, 6 and 2yrs. They are also out adventuring, they’re here for 3 months while their house in Sydney is getting built, they decided to travel here instead of renting a house in Sydney, they had a lot of holidays owing from work. Another lady sold everything in Australia and is now travelling around!

Even with some of the Vietnamese, we are getting to know them and learning about their culture. We met a young man while we were booking our travel for Hanoi (he was the brother of the lady who was serving us). He began to tell us about the situation for young people, his parents live in the Me Kong Delta region which is about 6 hours away, they are very poor. Both his sister and himself came to HCMC to find work. They paid for private tutors to learn English, which cost them a lot and now they both have ok jobs - he works in a hotel and she as a travel consultant. They both only get 100USD per month as a wage. They both rent a room each that costs them 50USD not including utilities so that leaves them with just over 1 USD a day to do everything else. So their lives are difficult, and it’s difficult to get ahead. It makes me realize how grateful we need to be, and make the most of helping with what we have, our finances, knowledge and skills and of course even more than that letting people know that they can be set free from this world systems through Jesus Christ. As there is no greater joy than to know him.

Tonight we went out to an orientation dinner that was held by ILA the school where Matt will do his course. It was at the bbq garden and it was all paid for it was delicious! It was a nice time of meeting new people and great to see the other 17 people that are doing the course. There is an older couple, a few guys and girls, some people that have just arrived in HCMC and others that have been here for a while. I met a lovely lady that has lived here with her husband and 2 kids for 2 years, he husband is teaching in an international school. She is originally from Brunswick and has just signed on for another 18 months, she loves living here. We are really starting to love it too, and I know I will miss this place when I’m home, the hardest part is not letting the time just slip away…