Finding a Home: Revisited

We have decided against living at The Vista.  We entered into negotiations with the landlord, and she was completely inflexible.  We really only wanted to sign a one year lease to give us some options next summer, but she was unwilling to budge--even if we paid more in rent.  The situation made us uncomfortable.

We happened to run into a veteran ISHCMC teacher on Monday when we were checking out the campus.  He suggested we look at his building which is a little further away, a little older, and a LOT less expensive.  Originally, Derek had wanted to stay within walking distance to the school, but now that we've been here a few weeks and are a bit more comfortable, a 12 minute bike ride does not sound bad at all.  So we went over to his flat to have a look.  It was wonderful!  It felt so much more "homey" than Vista did.

We also met a new realtor named Mr. Hien.  He is the most B.A. realtor I've ever met.  Seriously.  He's awesome.  And he raises chickens.

Mr. Hien showed us several 4 bedroom places. We fell in love with one on the 22nd floor, but found out the evening it was already spoken for.  We went again the next day and found two units with similar floor plans.  They are 4 bedrooms, but the master bedroom has an extra space attached to it, so it is really more like 5 rooms.  One unit is on the 7th floor, has great furniture, an okay view, and is $850 per month.  The other is on the 11th floor, has okay furniture, great views, and is $1000 per month.  Both landlords are willing to sign a one year lease.

We are meeting with Mr. Hien again today, but I am 90% sure we are going to go with the unit on the 7th floor simply because it is cheaper and has better furniture.

Here't the thing:  if we hate it, we can lease another $1000 four bedroom unit and still be paying less than we would have at The Vista.  I can't get over the price fluctuation here.

(Sorry no photos.  I'll try to take a couple today when we go again.)

Petty Theft

We were warned.  Many times.  But I never thought someone would have the audacity to steal a phone out of my front pocket while I held my child up to see the hippo at the zoo.

There were so many people.  I have no idea who took it.  Derek was even watching Owen and me looking at the hippo, and he didn't notice a thing.

I'm so upset.  Beyond upset.  I'm angry.  And I feel completely exposed.  Some creeper out there can read my emails, see pictures of my children, and pretty much has a window into my entire life.  I, of course, used the the "Find my iPhone" app and put my phone in "Lost" mode.  As soon as someone tries to use wifi, I'll know about it.  And I changed all my passwords.  All of them.  Even silly things... like Pinterest.  So I know I'm covered.  But it doesn't make me feel any better.

If it doesn't connect to wifi by tonight, I'll wipe the thing.

I know it's just a "thing" and completely replaceable, but it feels like a part of me  was taken.

We were told to go to the police station to make a report.  We did. The nanny had to come to translate for us.  Poor lady.  We insisted she take the day off tomorrow to make up for bothering her on a Sunday, but she refused.  She is an incredible person.

Needless to say, I am having a rough day.  I'd have posted pictures from our trip to the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens today, but I can't.  All the pictures were on my phone.  They were good too.  And I doubt we will go back there any time soon.

District 1

Our nanny and her husband took us on a quick tour of District 1 (downtown) today.  We got to see many of the popular sights of Saigon.  The French influence in the downtown area is quite evident, and the traffic is nauseating--thank goodness our nanny's husband is a professional driver!

The HCMC post office.  Beautiful.  There were people selling their wares all through the building.  The top right picture is of the nanny holding Oliver.  She is wonderful!

A replica of Notre Dame built when Viet Nam was a French colony.  Every single brick was brought from Marseilles, France.  The building opened in 1880 and even has beautiful stained glass windows (again imported from France).

Wandering around downtown.  There are many beautiful gardens amongst the chaos of the streets.

Left: Diving here is an adventure.  Oragnized chaos is the best description...  It's crazy.
Center: These girls asked to take a picture of us.  We had the nanny snap one too.  People love the boys' hair.
Right: Ben Thanh Market.  I was very overwhelmed, but it was exciting!  We'll have to go back without the kids.

Exploring

Part of the fun of moving to a new place is learning where everything is.  You can walk to a lot of places in Saigon, but it's friggin hot.  And humid.  So a bike is the way to go.  We bought bikes from a little shop here in D2 whose owner is a CC graduate.  Very nice guy.

Go faster, Daddy!

Now that we have bikes, we have been getting out a whole lot more.  We have seats for the boys, so they aren't getting nearly as tired (read: whiney).  It's been a lot more enjoyable.  

We have been able to get out a bit farther from the temporary apartment to try different places to eat.  So far, our absolute favorite place has been Snap Cafe. The food is good though not classic Vietnamese, but the atmosphere is incredible for children!  It's a full sized play park where the kids can run around safely while mom and dad have a bia (beer).  It's seriously the best kid-friendly restaurant I have ever been to.  The only downside is that your kids will be COVERED in sand.  But I'm cool with that.

Panoramic view of Snap Cafe

Balance beam

So messy!

Both boys had a blast, but Oliver was by far the dirtiest.  We had to hose them both down as soon as we got home.  Owen had a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, and Oliver had pasta with fresh pesto.  I had a mushroom risotto, and Derek ordered vegetarian sausages!  He was so excited to find them, but he did say that they tasted a bit different than veggies sausages back home.  After dinner, we ordered ice cream to celebrate Owen's half birthday. I had passionfruit sorbet which was amazing.  Owen had mango sorbet, also very good, and Derek got vanilla.  This is definitely a place we will be frequenting.

 We have tried a lot of restaurants and cafes, but we haven't worked up the courage to try the street vendors yet.  The sacks of yellow fluid that people are drinking still creep me out a bit, and it's hard to know what you are getting from a vendor.  We want to stay a vegetarian as possible, but it's turning out to be quite difficult.  All of the local cuisine has pork, beef, or chicken in it.  We actually get looked a pretty oddly when we order an entire meal with no meat.  

Finding a Home

 On Thursday we went around District 2 with a realtor named David.  He's from Paris but has been living in Saigon for 10 years with a brief stint in Cambodia as well.  He was great.  We saw 14 different residences with everything from two bedroom apartments to six bedroom villas.

The biggest factors for us are:
1.  Safety.  We do have 2 young children after all.
2.   Location.  We would like a quick trip in to work each day.
3.  A place for the kids to play.

Optimally we wanted 4 bedrooms, a place to swim, and places to eat within walking distance.

I thought we'd get a house considering that that's what we are used to, but upon talking to people who have lived in Saigon before, apartment living started to sound more like what we needed to do... at least to start.  Apartment living is considerably more safe than a free standing house because there is 24 hour security.  We could hire a night time guard, but that would be an added expense.

We asked David to show us a few house and apartment units so we could really compare.  We ended up liking an apartment complex called The Vista best.  Our unit would be on the 18th floor and has an incredible view of the Saigon River and the skyline.  It's brand new, so we would get to help pick the furnishings to help it feel like our home.  It has 4 bedrooms and costs $2200 per month, but we may be able to negotiate that down a bit.  There are floor to ceiling windows, and I can't wait to watch the lightning from up there.

View of the pool

We do have to walk along the highway for a little bit, which is a bit sketchy with kids.  Derek and I tried the walk on Friday while the nanny was with the boys.  It wasn't too bad, but it will definitely be easier on bikes.

They are in the process of building several shoppes, cafes, and small eateries on the ground floors of the towers.  Already, there is a small grocery store and Shalom Cafe.  There is an incredible pool, children's play area, coi pond, gym, putting green, and constant security.  Plus, our nanny has a friend who works for a family there that has a little boy the same age as Owen.  She will be able to easily arrange play dates with so many other expat kids in close quarters.

We are going to check it out again tomorrow to be sure to be sure we like it.

The View

Putting Green

Checking out the view

Awesome bathrooms

Initial Observations

1.  Vietnamese people are incredibly friendly.
2.  So many smiles.
3.  The ladies like to touch the boys' hair.
4.  There are lots of lizards.
5.   I've never seen such beautiful flowers.
6.  It's green.  Very green.
7.  Humidity will take some getting used to.
8.  Construction workers don't wear helmets.  Or shoes.
9.  A lot of people go barefoot.
10.  There are chickens in the streets.
11.  Vietnamese is a difficult language to learn.
12.  The streets are flithy.
13.  There are not nearly as many bugs as I had expected.
14.  Kitchens are small.
15.  There are no rules on the roads.
16.  I don't need to use lotion.
17.  I'm ridiculously tall.
18.  It smells wonderful outside in the mornings.
19.  Vietnamese dong (the currency) have a see through window.
20.  Pedicures are a must... feet get dirty quickly and shoes are removed when going inside.
21.  Jet lag sucks.
22.  Vietnamese coffee is awesome.
23.  There are a lot of people here.
24.  Oliver is sleeping really well in a regular bed.  It might just be exhaustion.
25.  I can not believe we are actually here.

The Journey

We have been in Saigon for a bit over 24 hours.  The process of getting here was not without complication, but it wasn't as bas as it could have been.  The worst part was that United in COS cancelled our flight to DIA (apparently not enough crew bothered to come to work that day) and had no way of re-routing us or bumping people on other flights so that we could make our connection to Tokyo.  The only solutions she could come up with were "Wait to go until tomorrow" or "We can put you on a shuttle." Neither worked for us because we had people waiting for us in Saigon and would have had to bring carseats to ride the shuttle.

Thankfully, Steve and Melissa volunteered to drive us up to DIA.  We got there around 9:30 and had a bit under 3 hours to get through international security.  Only one of our checked bags was over 50 pounds, so I was able to pull a couple items to ensure all 8 bags could fly.  Our carry-ons all passed through security without a hitch. We were not asked to remove our laptops, take off our shoes, or even remove the liquids from the bags.  It was a little weird.  All said and done, we got to the gate about an hour before they started boarding.  The airline was unable to sit us all together, so Oliver and I were in one pat of the plane and Derek and Owen were in a different part.  It was lame, but not the end of the world.

Oliver had his own seat, but he insisted on being held the ENTIRE flight.  There was another little boy the same age in the seats next to us, and Oliver cried WAY less than he did.  I guess that means he did pretty well despite a few freak outs.  My arms are still stiff today from holding him while he slept in those uncomfortable chairs.

Owen was a trooper.  He was chill the entire flight for Derek, happily playing on the iPad mini or watching a show on screen on the back of the seat.  All the snacks they kept serving didn't hurt either.

Our flight arrived in Tokyo about a half hour early.  We had to go through security again which I found odd considering we had just gotten off a plane.  But I guess not all incoming flights are coming from countries with as tight of security standards as Japan and the US.  We had to pull out all of our electronic equipment (external hard drives, AppleTV, baby monitor, ect) this time, but otherwise it went smoothly.  Fortunately, both time we went through security, it was not very busy, so we were not rushed at all.

The Tokyo airport was very interesting simply because it is so different than anything in the States.  We were especially interested in the different bathrooms.  Oh!  And they had special rooms just for nursing moms all throughout the airport.  It was so cool to feel such support for breast feeding even without talking to anyone.  The rooms had comfy chairs, changing tables, sinks with soap to wash bottles/pumping parts, and even outlet adapters to accommodate different pumps.  It was awesome.  And really clean.  They also had a sweet play area near the gate that the boys loved.

The plane ride to HCMC was a completely different experience than the ride to Tokyo.  The plane was smaller, yes, but there were many other differences.  The food was healthier.  They brought around hot towels before meals.  They had toys and books for the boys to play with.  Even the apple juice was different.  It was very clear that the Japanese are incredibly supportive of moms and children.  It was an incredible feeling.

We got into HCMC about 40 minutes early.  We picked up our visas which took about an hour.  Then we went to collect our 8 suitcases.  They told us to go to the wrong baggage claim area.  We waited for another 45 minutes while panicing a bit (okay, a lot) waiting for our bags to come out.  They never came.  So we went over to lost baggage.  On the way, we passed another carrousel   All 8 of our bags were piled up next to it.  I don't think I've ever been so relived.

Next, we went through customs which was not a big deal.  We just had to pass all the bags through another xray.  No biggy.  Then we left the airport.  The humidity hit us instantly.  The school's bus driver was there to collect us.  We went on an exciting drive at midnight to get to the apartment.  We got checked in without a hitch and were helped to get all our baggage upstairs.

We showered and bathed the boys, got jammies on, and went to bed.  We only slept for about 4 hours and woke at about 5 am Wednesday morning.

I'll update more later abut our first day.  We need to get ready to meet the realtor now...