"Ethnic Minority Peoples of Vietnam"
Robin went to a market here in Hanoi that was made up of minority people and their handicrafts. In case you didn't know, Vietnam has more than 40 different minority groups. Most of these people live in the mountain regions . The majority of Vietnamese people are the "Viet Kinh." Over the years many of these minority people groups have had to endure poor treatment and even persecution. We are not sure exactly what people groups are represented in these photos, but their clothing is beautiful.

"Hatari - Vietnamese Style"

For those of you who do not recognize the title or you are not a John Wayne fan (how un American), "Hatari" is the name of an old movie about a group of people capturing wild animals in Africa. As you know Joshua and Daniel like animals and Joshua loves hunting! Any kind of hunting - the backyard, computer or anywhere. When we lived in New Braunfels, I would sometimes turn on "Hatari" and they would shoot the animals on the TV with those little guns that shoot projectiles with suction cups on the end. Don't laugh until you try it! Any way, they have begun a new safari here in our home in Hanoi. This safari doesn't involve elephants, lions, water buffalo or wildebeest. This hunt involves Vietnamese "chuots". For those of you who are enjoying leanring new Vietnamese words from our blog, "chuot" means rat. There are "chuot nho" and "chuot to" (BIG rat). We definitely have "chuot to." Why the uproar about "chuot" you ask? I'm glad you asked! You see, ever since we have lived here there has been a soccer game above our bedroom every (and I do mean EVERY!) night around 1-2 a.m. However, since last Friday they have been one player short! Unfortunately, the poor critter went for a swim and didn't make it. We knew that some of you would like to see a picture! Yes, we still have our sick sense of humor!

"Chuc Mung Nam Moi!" (Wish you a Happy New Year!)

Wow! So much has happened since our last blog…. Our first Hanoi Christmas… our first annual “Christmas Day Gumbo Gathering!”… our first earthquake (really not our earthquake but we did incur it’s effects) that knocked out inet… our first trips outside of the city… our first Hanoi New Years!... and NEW FURNITURE!
Let’s begin with our trip to an orphanage the week before Christmas. Our family along with about 8 other people delivered Christmas Shoeboxes to about 40 children in an orphanage about 2 hours outside of Hanoi. I have to say it made our Christmas! In the past we have participated in “Operation Christmas Child” but this year we had the privilege to actually hand the shoeboxes to the children (actually Josh / Daniel did). We also put on a skit that portrayed the true meaning of Christmas! As I took pics my eyes were filled with tears of joy and gratitude that our family was able to be a part of this experience.


Christmas in Hanoi was not what we had expected. Actually, we didn’t know what to expect. Would we see a cyclo pulled by 8 tiny “nguoi Viet or 8 very big chuots (rats)?” Would all of the lights be “red?” Oh… and what kind of music would be have to tolerate? To our surprise signs of Christmas were everywhere and signs actually said “Christmas” and not happy holidays! Christmas lights were abundant and the music was the good “stuff” with the real words! It’s amazing how many times we heard the real message of Christmas via music. One day I was retrieving email in a local coffee shop and for about 2 hours I heard nothing but Christmas music and then “Amazing Grace.” Yes, this all happened in communist Hanoi, Vietnam.


As many of you know, for about 10 years now our family has had “gumbo” on Christmas Eve with many of our friends. This year we broke tradition and had “gumbo” on Christmas Day. We invited our Viet teachers and a few friends. We were not very optimistic about who if any of those we invited would show up. To our surprise, all but one person showed up. We had about 12 people, nine of which were nguoi Viet. We were so excited. An added blessing, three of our nguoi Viet friends brought gifts to the boys. Oh… the “gumbo” was a big HIT!

Many of you are probably not aware, but just after Christmas there was an earthquake off the island of Taiwan. We would not have been aware either except that it damaged the trans Pacific communications cable which in turn affected our ability to communicate via inet. For the most part it has been restored but we are still having difficulties. Just one of those things!

After Christmas, we went to Hoa Binh province which is about 60 km south of Hanoi with another family. It was… interesting but beautiful. We also traveled to a nguoi Thai village. The nguoi Thai live in stilt houses and weave beautiful fabrics. We returned in time to celebrate the New Year (Nam moi) with some of our friends from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Two days later we received our new furniture. This furniture actually has padding!

We are including a number of pics for your enjoyment!