Action from the Saigon Heat -

Free tickets ahoy! Saigon Sports Academy have (somehow) set up Saigon's first professional basketball team which compete in the ABL and I went with a few friends last night to the game against Singapore Slingers at the Tan Binh Sports and Cultural Centre. A decent crowd saw the match, with atmosphere enhanced by a team of drummers pounding away throughout the game and providing drum rolls during free throw time. My first professional basketball game, and I learnt a lot of the rules I never quite understood before hand. What I can tell you is that there were a lot of missed baskets in the first half, and that's where the Heat lost it, the Slingers staying consistent in the last two quarters and hitting some nice 3 pointers. Undoubtedly, the smallest player on the court was the also the most talented. Here's the match report from the ABL website.

I think the highlight was a slam dunk from Slingers 11 Little which almost bought the basket and its frame crashing to the court - luckily, it teetered, found its balance, and rocked back onto the court. It was then decided that someone should sit on it to provide extra ballast. A Slingers player was also dealt a hefty blow to the face and on attempting to walk off the court collapsed onto a row of chairs. You know its not the NBA when the medical team is an aged looking Vietnamese man in a white coat. Eventually a very old looking stretcher appeared to withdraw the player, who later remerged to play in the fourth quarter - something that would give onlooking doctors a heart attack as he had suffered a head injury. It didn't stop him making some free throws though!

I wish I had a decent camera

Because I just watched another beautiful sunset. This is the best I could do with my Canon Powershot at full zoom...

And other attempts which just consisted of leaving the camera on 'Auto' and zooming in and out taking as many pictures as possible whilst hoping they came out well. The sun set in about 30 seconds over the horizon so no time to mess around with exposure and all that.

Happy Lunar New Year to everyone in Vietnam! I'll have some TET pictures coming at the end of this week.

Views from the Phu My Bridge

I drive over the bloody thing twice a day on my commute, and it's one of those things you take for granted; a sweeping vista stretching in one direction away to the south east where the Saigon River twists and empties into the Nha Be River. Cargo ships sail gently under the 150 meter high bridge leaving their lazy wakes in the dazzling early morning sunshine, occasionally the Vung Tau hydrofoil speeds by. From the other side, a view of Saigon's skyline from Phu My Hung to District Two. It's the best free view in the city. So as the sun was hanging low in the sky and the light dimming, I decided to pedal over the 2km bridge with my camera, as I had been meaning to for a long time.

The evidence of the industrial nature of the riverside is evident. There is warehousing, a large timber yard, a port and the Saigon Shipbuilding Industry Company.


Ship building in progress


Ship building in progress


Warehouse, timber yard and port


Timber yard, D7

The sky is huge and the landscape is flat, ships dot the horizon. There's not many places in Saigon that capture a sense of space and nature, a feeling of distance from the chaos.


View down the river


Sunset on the bridge

Heading back over the bridge from the other side, the view is of the river heading upstream, winding its way back through the city.



And the district one skyline.


District One skyline

So, grab your bike, take some snacks and head up to the bridge to enjoy the view with the locals at sunset. It's worth it.

My baby turns three

Don't they grow up quick! It seems crazy but my little baby girl is a three year old now. She grows more fabulous and loving every day I see her, with her mad curly hair, inquisitive eyes and her insatiable sense of adventure and fun. Growing maturity is something so thrilling to see before your own eyes - all that hard work is paying off. Louisa had a party at her nursery and some friends over in the evening, with mums and dads too.













The dads at the party



I realised what a select group of dads there were here at the party - on the far left a German Vietnam Airlines pilot, on the far right a Brazilian professional football player in the V league, right of me a friend who is finishing his Phd in Vietnamese History, left of me a guy who works in Kazakhstan in the oil industry a month on and a month off, and second right of me an old friend from Catalonia who works in Hotel/Property management. And then there's me, an I.T teacher. You don't need to tell me, I already know.

Schooling in French

My little girl Louisa is going to a French preschool and many people are confused when they find out. No, I don't speak French and neither does Chi. We both have small backgrounds in French but the days of study are long behind us. So, English from me, Vietnamese from mum and French at preschool. Why? Well...my question would be why not? I've heard all kinds of bizarre reactions like 'oh she'll be confused'. No, she won't. And she isn't. No need to go into linguistics and the language acquisition of children before the age of 6, or 8, or whichever cut off point you wish to choose. What is certain is that the brain is still developing in the first few years of life, neural pathways are firing and making new connections, and the area of the brain that deals with language will harden and stop creating new synapses at some point in childhood, around 6, 8 or 10 depending on who you read. The 'sponge' analogy is one used quite often and utterly true. It's intuitive that children will learn a language naturally and easily, without blinking an eyelid, at such a young age. Our challenge is not Louisa being 'overloaded' with languages, but how to maintain her proficiency at French once she gets to school age in a couple of years time.

Many couples have a forced third language problem. A school friend of Louisa's has a German father and a French mother who, despite their children already speaking 2 languages, are anxious about their English. Another friend of mine, a Frenchman, recently married a Vietnamese lady. Their language of communication is English, and then there is their respective native languages. How do you manage and balance three languages. Simply, exposure. Those first 5 years of life before you decide the language of your child's education provides ample time to expose them to language. But this does require extra effort. More so than a couple raising a monolingual child in a monolingual household. The effort is this - talking to your child. As soon as they are born. Obviously, this promotes the beginnings of language. Why is Dad constantly moving his mouth at me, making odd noises. Leaving babies to their own devices as if they will learn everything themselves is a mistake. They will learn by themselves, but with a parent actively taking the initiative to promote language and communication they'll be flying. And of course its the same with interaction and play.

When a child of multiple language families gets to school age, then you need to think about real literacy. What language would you like your child to be able to discuss, think and write in. More than one? Then school won't help you with both, you'll need to take on the role of home tutor as well. Which we all should be doing anyway. I do find it amazing, working in education here in Vietnam, the number of kids who enter Kindergarten or Grade 1 without knowing any letters, with no self awareness, without being able to hold a pen or a pencil properly. This is a sign of one thing - neglect at home. Too many years being raised by the nanny? Quite possibly.

The lovely teacher for the 'petit maternelle' section of which Louisa is one has started a blog, and here's Louisa getting her balance in order!

Back to blogging

Last posted at the end of July! A near 2 month hiatus is not what you'll read in any blogging manual as a good idea. I've been too busy recovering from my 40km round trip to school everyday to post I think, considering that road has literally disintegrated. The Phu My bridge company, I discovered, were the first private company to have their loan guaranteed by the government. They are now nearly bankrupt and have no money to repair the road and are requesting 250 billion dong to do so. It's symbolic in some ways of the problems of the entire country. You have the sparkling Phu My Bridge, a foreign managed project, in still perfect condition - what should be a symbol of Vietnam propelling itself into the 'future' in terms of improving its infrastructure. Then you reach the other side and my, are you back in the dark ages. Private companies have now twice come along and dumped gravel in the potholes, the road is literally impassable for heavy trucks, although they are still trying.

Talking of infrastructure, the Thu-Thiem highway is yet to open because the tunnel is still not ready, although it seems to be close. Last I heard was a June opening. Although there are some obvious problems here - the same stretch of road that leads to the TT highway and onwards through the tunnel to District 1 is also the road to Cat Lai port which in the afternoons can be jammed solid with HGVs. Add to this traffic coming off the highway to enter the city center you have tailbacks into District 9 and complete gridlock. Work is on going on the Thanh My Loi road leading from Thu Thiem to Cat Lai (road being widened into 4 lanes) but at the moment this road too is falling apart from all the wet weather and construction.

Over on the Hanoi Highway land clearance has started for line 1 of the HCMC Metro system. The line will run over the Saigon River beside the Saigon Bridge and follow the highway from there down. For those who know the area, this is the old Petrol Station on the corner of Thao Dien...




And looking up the highway towards District 9, this is where the Metro line will run next to the highway.




Planning to bring more pictures soon of construction and infrastructure developments and of course regular happenings from the 'gon.

Notes from abroad

We are coming towards the end of our summer trip now having been out of Vietnam since the 10th of June. We've around England and Italy a little bit and also visited Chi's brother and family once again (story relayed here and here).

How is it doing all this travelling with a toddler you might ask. Well - the answer is - hard. BUT, as with all life's situations, you get on with it. Lou had already travelled from England to Vietnam, Malaysia, Greece and Thailand  experiencing aeroplanes and boats and buses and cars many times, so adding another cross continental trip to England, Italy, Switzerland and France shouldn't be a problem. We thought. Those baby memories of earlier trips were probably of blurred lights and weird faces as she was moved from one crib to another. Now, with a fully functioning pair of legs and a non stop mind, the excitement of the whole trip was like aphrodisiac to a rutting rhino. She did remarkably well to last until nearly 1.00am in Bangkok airport before falling asleep for 7 hours on the overnight flight to Bangkok.

Lou looking dishevelled trying to keep her eyes open about 10 mins before boarding the 1.10am to London.

Comfortably asleep in cattle class torture chair:




And once awake again, reading a magazine, one of many activities attempted to keep her still for 5 minutes. Others included the ipad, a puzzle book, eating, singing songs, playing with the seatbelt, jumping up and down, looking out of the window, walking up and down the aisles, and on her part - constant wriggling and an epic tantrum ending with lying on the floor under the seats and refusing to move.

 Once we landed the new country bought its first new experience, car seats. We do have one in Vietnam but only for long journeys and have not used it in a long time. A very tired, worn out toddler being asked to sit in a car seat when she is used to being cradled in mummy's lap in the back of a taxi = hard. She screamed for about an hour on the way home before passing out. It turned out to be a great lesson though, since that experience she has been as good as gold in that car seat.

So a few days in the UK having enormous fun with grandparents and uncle and auntie. Then it was off to Italy, more travelling but thankfully from our local airport 15 mins drive away. The outbound journey was relatively smooth.



Louisa attended to everything she had always wanted to do on her first visit to Italy, from visiting Florence, Pisa and Siena, sampling the local cuisine and puking all over herself and her seat in the hire car. Here she is at Ponte Vecchio: 

Surveying the beach at Marina di Pisa.




Having fun in Siena's Piazza Del Campo.



So all in all a great bit of travel for her, and us of course. We returned to England for a couple of days again and then set off once more for a weekend in Gex. Chi had a chance to catch up with her brother and his family once more and we all had a great time once again thanks to the wonderful hospitality of brother Dai (Jean-Baptiste's) family. 
Chi and brother, July 2011: 



Since then we've been in the UK exploring the delights of Dorset, as much as the weather might allow...and we have gotten the real value of such a long trip home that I was looking for - experiences for my daughter that can't be had in Vietnam and some real time with my family. Her English has had an amazing boost too. 
Activities have included trips the seaside with friends



Pony cart rides




Feeding all the swans at Abbotsbury 




Exploring the rock pools at Osmington Mills



I get quite a few emails from various people in similar situations to myself - getting married in Vietnam, living in Vietnam or thinking of making the move, and also people thinking of moving back the other way. All I can say is - the UK is great for kids, so much to do especially the outdoors, but it is of course expensive. I'm lucky enough to have a job where I can spend time back in England in the summers if I wish. Personally, as a father,  I'd like my daughter growing up with memories of England, similar memories to what I have, by doing these activities and more. It's important to me that she grows up with an equal knowledge of where I (and her) come from and that we instill a real sense of belonging and cultural identity in her, so that if she desires in the future, she can come to the UK and feel at home. For the time being she is growing up in Vietnam, but with a healthy dose of (my) home thrown in....