Labor was supposed to be the hard part....

.. but when you have a baby abroad, what happens afterward, can cause you just as much pain...

Because our child will be born in Vietnam, as opposed to the US, where you just get a birth certificate from the hospital, or in the mail, or from a stork, or some other presumably easy process; our process is going to be a bit more difficult. Instead of just a birth certificate we will need the following:

House Construction

Our neighborhood is in a great location, right on the borders of three of the city's districts, including District 1, the city's financial and upscale tourist district, and the constant state of demolition and construction since we've lived here reflects its popularity. As in much of the city, the houses in our neighborhood are mostly of the high, narrow variety, most a mere 12 feet or less across and anywhere from one to six stories high. The one story variety are becoming somewhat of an endangered species as their owners either convert their property or sell to investors who tear down the original structures and build five or six story giants in their place. Such a transformation is taking place in our little alley with the house two houses down and across, under construction and the couple just across the street in the process of moving out in anticipation of their house being torn down in the very near future.

Mui Ne

After five or six weekends in a row staying in the city, Steven and I decided that it was time for a mini-getaway. Saigon is huge, but after you've seen the tourist sites, it really just becomes the city you live in, one with limited options for entertainment - gym, pool, shopping, movies, and going out to eat - all of which get old like anything else. So we made the 5 and a half hour journey north to Mui Ne where we met up with friends and spent an enjoyable weekend at the beach.

Morning Errands

Last night I tripped over my phone wire and ripped it out of the socket, so I had to buy a new wire this morning. Luckily since we've had other wire issues, I knew right where to go. There is a man that has a fix-it shop (along a row of other fix-it shops on fix-it shop street), near our house, who we have had fix a computer wire and the remote for our dvd player. This morning, after my morning walk, I walked down to his shop and showed him the broken phone wire and asked if he could make me a new one, twice the size of my old one.

Blogger Blocked in Viet Nam

Along with Facebook, it seems that the Vietnamese government is blocking access to Blogger as well. I'm going to try to enter posts when it is up and running, but my access is sporadic. Hopefully the Honduran government won't be so involved and I'll be able to keep the stories coming!