Air travel x 2, local culture, pizza party, and clinic begins!

Hello again from the other side of the world!  It's been a month again already so I'd better update before we are headed home, before you know it! (24 more days, by the way!)

We did get to Danang and Hoi An for our holiday weekend over May 1st, and saw a bit more of Vietnam.  Danang is the 3rd largest city in Vietnam, situated on the coast of the South China Sea, and some of the beaches there served as an R&R destination for American troops during the Vietnam War.

I made the map as big as I could! Still hard to read, but Danang and Hoi An are right under the word
"south" in "South China Sea."

Beach in Danang with construction of high rises in the distance

Hotel breakfast in Danang.  Hints that it's Western: salt and pepper on the table
 (not soy sauce, fish sauce, and chilies) and dry paper napkins!  And I had TOAST for the first time 
in 8 months, I think!

We only spent one night in Danang because we wanted to explore Hoi An for the 2 full days we had left over the weekend.  Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; it is a city on Vietnam's central coast known for its well-preserved Ancient Town, cut through with canals.  The former port city's melting-pot history is reflected in its architecture: a mix of eras and styles from wooden Chinese shophouses and temples to colorful French colonial buildings, ornate Vietnamese tube houses and the iconic Japanese covered bridge with its pagoda.  Hoi An was only 15 miles away and took about 45 minutes to drive.  Our hotel/hostel sent a car for us so it was very convenient.

Our hostel in Hoi An cost only about $7 a night (!!) and the bed looked like this upon arrival.
The flowers were fresh and beautifully arranged on the towel sculpture. The place
was called "Trust Villa" and Vy was our hostess.  Highly recommended!  Private shower
and great air conditioning in the room. 

Hoi An: listed as the Top 100 historic places in the world according to
National Geographic Travel

View across a canal running through the Old Town market in Hoi An

Beach at Hoi An with sandbags to control erosion

To get to the beach, we rented a motorbike from our hostel.  The tank was almost on empty so we had to find gas pretty quickly.  This is how hard it is to find a gas station in small towns:

Hidden "petrol" sign and container.  Bob has
sharp eyes!

The shop owner pumping our gas into motorbike tank

Back in Ho Chi Minh City, we enjoyed a bit of culture one night in May when we were invited to the "Europe Gala Concert" at the Saigon Opera House.  The structure was built in 1897 by a French architect and is another example of French Colonial architecture.  The capacity is only 500 seats so it was smaller than I expected.

Dr. Hui Hiang Koh came with us too; here we are outside the theatre.

Inside, while empty, showing the walls.  No seating in the alcoves nowadays.  
Picture taken from the balcony at rear.

There was an amazing French pianist accompanied by the HCMC Symphony Orchestra.  

The HCMC Choir sang the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah!!  So beautiful.  They also
sang selections from musicals and operas.

Bob invited me to tag along one Wednesday night to watch his futsal (5-on-5 soccer) game and I managed to get one partly decent photo.  Those players move fast!  And my camera is just my phone so no high-quality sports shots...and I had to shoot the photo through a net.

Futsal you bet!

We had promised our 3rd year class a pizza-making party at our apartment and we made good on that commitment on May 12.  They all showed up in the parking garage at the same time and when Bob went down to bring them up on the elevator, the security guard stopped him and wouldn't let him bring 13 students up all at once!  So he brought the 8 girls and I went after the 5 boys.  Silly.  They had a lot of fun making their pizzas (probably overworked the dough a bit, enjoying trying different shapes or trying to make a PERFECT circle) and we only once had to stop a mini flour fight. These are 20-year-old kids after all.

Before...(note the cute heart-shaped pizza)

13 students patting out pizza crust on the table and Bob in background,
checking the oven

A couple of the finished product

No new pictures of the next item, but remember that Grand Opening Ceremony back in February for the Academic Vision Center?  Well!!!  Our 3rd years had their first day in clinic, finally, on Monday May 15!!  They were instructed to try to bring in their own patients (because opening day wasn't a sure thing until almost the last minute), and we had a few "real patients." A couple of relatives or friends.  It was actually a very chaotic morning but we all survived.  Clinic is over already, it was only 6 half days total.  The last day of clinic was much smoother than the first day, but there are still bugs to be worked out.  At least now we can know our students will be up and running seeing patients next fall for their whole 4th and last year of optometry school, and next year's 3rd year students can get into clinic in a more timely fashion.

The newest Dr. Molter-our Alex! Left to right:  Kim, Bob, Alex, Elaina, and AJ (Elaina's boyfriend)

The latest exciting thing on our schedules was attending Alex's graduation ceremony from Ross Medical School, held in Miami on May 20.  We made 2 international flights within a week!  It was worth it to have our kids both together and to be able to hang out a bit as a family.  Elaina and AJ came from their medical school in Michigan for the weekend.  And I enjoyed being able to read signs and ingredients in the grocery store in English!  And to have some good whole-grain bread!  We had a nice burger cookout at our airbnb one night, courtesy of AJ. Alex's next step is his 4 years of psychiatry residency back in Michigan.

Well, this blog is getting long but I have one more big announcement.  Some of you know this already but since our time is drawing to an end it's probably time to tell everyone who might be wondering what is next for us.  We were asked to come back a second year which is a big honor and it will be very meaningful to watch the first optometry class in Vietnam graduate next summer...BUT.  I have really missed a lot of things back home, mostly family and friends, but also things like sewing and other crafts, and cooking.  We are so far away and miss out on many small things in the lives of people close to us. We crafted an agreement with Brien Holden Vision Institute that Bob would come back in September, but would return to the US on 2 occasions, once for some needed continuing education and to do a presentation on the program here at the American Academy of Optometry meeting in Chicago in October (and I will meet him there), and again at Christmastime.  Then in January we will both return to teach 2nd semester through June 2018.  I started this adventure by saying "I can do anything for 10 months, right?" so now I can say, "I can do this again for 6 months, right?"!  We don't have a written contract with these terms so nothing is a sure thing yet, but that is the current plan.  What will I do all fall?  Harvest our garden, walk our dog, be the lap my cat loves to sit in, cook in my own kitchen, VISIT FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

This is enough writing for now!  School is beginning to wind down as lectures end and final exams begin after next week.  Some of our current duties related to this time of year is to help  write test questions and participate in grading the students in practical activities.  Thank you again for following our life over here; it truly makes me feel less isolated when I see how many people are looking after us.  Happy June and I'll post again at least once before we head out!!