Time to Move

I am excited to report that we are moving! When we first arrived in Vietnam, I said I would never live in a compound. I was determined to experience the Vietnamese culture and for over a year now, we have lived on a very local street. We wake up to the sound of cutlery being washed outside our master bedroom window as the local restaurant next door prepares for the breakfast rush of customers. We hear our landlord's mother's five dogs bark at the wind. And now, we spend the day planning Caleb's naps around when the jackhammer will stop, with the new houses being constructed directly behind us. All of this is not really that terrible and in many ways, we have come to love our little street and the people that frequent it... there is the lady who sells cafe sua da at a roadside stall and always says hello when Caleb and I are out for a walk, the mother of the 10-month old boy next door who always does a comparison between her baby and Caleb when we go past and there is the little girl who loves to greet me with her perfect English. Yesterday, a group of boys, living in what we think are university accommodations across the road from us, kindly stopped their game of street soccer so Caleb and I could pass by. But there are a few things that are not so enjoyable about our current house like the questionable electrical work. Just this past week, the tv remote started turning on the air conditioner but it won't stay on for longer than a couple minutes? The power cuts out every night and quite commonly, more than once. The generator does not supply enough power to our house in the event of a power failure (a common occurrence here). There are other safety issues too that we never thought too much about until we had Caleb, like propane tanks in the kitchen. Plus, as Caleb grows, outdoor space has become a priority and this is hard to find in a country with crazy traffic and few sidewalks (and where they do exist, they are used by motorcycles).

So, you probably know where this story is going by now... yep, we are moving into a compound: tree-lined streets that our stroller friendly, access to three swimming pools, a gym, children's soft playroom, tennis courts, a lovely restaurant across the road from us and no need for 24-hour security guards outside our door. Plus, we have an extra guest room so stop by!

Our new house - we move in October.

Caleb and Louis on Lily street in front of our new house. Louis, who is 3 days younger than Caleb, lives on the same street.