Home Leave in the US

In August, we said goodbye to our friends in Vietnam and headed home for a five month stint in the US. We are dividing the time between a couple months of training in Washington, DC and a few months of home leave in San Diego and Maui. In January, we will pack up our things and fly to Zimbabwe. We’re currently about halfway through our time in the US and enjoying ourselves tremendously.

But before I get too far into various updates about what we’ve been up to, we’ve got some very big news to share. Next month, Nikki and I will welcome into the world a baby girl. Nikki is 8 months along and handling pregnancy like a champ. And that’s no small feat, given the difficulties of transferring between five different doctors, moving halfway around the world, and enduring the general high-pace tempo of our chosen lifestyle. Somehow, due to Nikki’s uncanny organizational skills, we are feeling moderately on top of things and ready to get on with the helicopter parenting (kidding…sort of).

So besides stockpiling baby wipes and cloth diapers, what have we been up to? Well, a couple months back in DC afforded us the opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the nation’s capital and visit all of our favorite restaurants. In between trips to Spike’s Good Stuff Eatery and A&J’s noodles in Annandale, we saw a few concerts (Ben Harper, Madonna), checked out our favorite museums, and went canoeing on the Potomac. I ran a couple of races, including a triathlon at National Harbor and a fun mud run in Maryland (made possible by training with my buddy Virgile!). We made our way to the Chesapeake eastern shore for our wedding anniversary, where we enjoyed some of the tastiest crab cakes ever and relaxed on the Atlantic shore (we also stayed in a cute, but probably haunted bed and breakfast). And of course, we studied at the Foreign Service Institute where Nikki learned how to do Public Diplomacy and I studied current and historical events in Sub-Saharan Africa. We had a great time (even with the daily classes) and enjoyed catching up with our friends working and studying in the area.

We packed up enough sunblock, paper towels, beer, and other essentials to last us two years in Africa, and shipped it off to Harare along with coats, sweaters, and pants that we haven’t seen since we moved to Vietnam 2 years ago. We piled the rest of our meager possessions and our bulldog Hina into the car, and I took off for San Diego. Nikki wasn’t about to miss out on the epicurean opportunities a cross-country drive offers, so she met me in Albuquerque where we feasted on enchiladas with green chilies, blue corn pancakes, and sopapillas. We snacked our way through Arizona and California before arriving on my parents’ doorstep in San Diego.

Our days in San Diego are filled with a mix of baby classes, great meals, doctor appointments, and relaxation. A typical morning might include a walk to the coffee shop with Hina (decaf for Nikki!), followed by brunch at Snooze or Hash House A Go Go (delicious!), an OB appointment, and an afternoon at the beach where Nikki reads and I surf. It’s wonderful to have time to hang out with my family, and we’re enjoying Sunday family dinners, beer-making with my brother, and of course my sister’s wedding October 6! (congrats to Mike and Darcy!!). Of course, we are also hitting the major San Diego tourist activities, like a duck tour of the bay, the Miramar airshow, or just chillin out in Ocean Beach, Little Italy, Old Town, and other fun parts of the city. And then there are the more off the beaten path attractions of a zombie 5k and hip cooking classes… We’re soaking it all up as much as possible, as we’re expecting life to get very busy in about a month!

 

Farewell Vietnam!

Whew – I have clearly been neglecting my blogging duties, but not without good reason! We had a whirlwind last couple months in Ho Chi Minh City before departing on August 2. Our timetable was moved up so that Nikki could complete some training in DC, which means all the preparations, packing, and last minute trips had to be crammed into a shorter timeframe. Vietnam was an absolutely fantastic first post with friendly people, beautiful sights, and delicious food. Nikki and I will dearly miss our friends there and hope we can return to visit them one day.

Here are a couple of highlights from the past few months:

• Although broke and busy, we managed to squeeze in a couple last trips. One was to Sapa in Northwest Vietnam, home to hill tribes and beautiful scenery, which we accessed by the swanky Victoria overnight train. Another was to Ayutthaya outside of Bangkok, completing our tour of ancient Southeast Asian capitals. Finally, we hit up Singapore one last time for some shopping, meeting up with our friend Andrew, and of course delicious char siu bao from Da Dong and dim sum at Din Tai Fung.
• We were excited to have some last minute family and friends visit in May – great to see you Darcy, Mike, Madhu, Amanda, Jeff, and Todd!
• The Tiger Team traveled to Hanoi for the annual mission cup. Sadly, we were defeated in a close, muddy game. Despite the loss, we had a great time on a subsequent 2 day team trip to Ninh Binh province, where we visited Vietnam's first national park (Cuc Phuong), a saw a huge temple, and boated through picturesque karst formations.
• We went to Phuc Quoc island with a bunch of friends to run a half marathon – I won in 1:19:06.
• I got a job in the HCMC Consulate as the Community Liaison Officer for a couple months. It was really fun and my office was right next door to Nikki's.
• I finally tested in Vietnamese and got a 2+ (speaking), 2 (reading). Not too shabby I guess, although I have to admit I was hoping for a little higher. After two years of studying almost every day, I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of the language and can communicate in most scenarios, so it was definitely worth it!
• We sold Mr. Mustard – our 1979 yellow Honda Cub. He was an awesome machine and we were sad to part with him, but we couldn't take him to Africa.
• We organized and ran a soccer clinic for kids at the US consulate called Tiger Tots. State magazine will be publishing a short article on it in October.
• We had a ton of goodbye parties – live band karaoke at the Hard Rock Café with Anh Joe and friends, Tiger Team and cheerleaders farewell, and an official goodbye party at the Consulate (where we drank the last of my latest beer brewing effort). Thank you to everyone and we'll miss you!!

As you can see, plenty of things going on! We returned to our sparse apartment after the last goodbye party, packed up 4 fifty-pound bags, and headed to the airport for a midnight flight out of Tan Son Nhat.

On the way home, we took a rest stop in Tokyo, and in classic Nikki/Evan style, crammed in as much sightseeing as possible - we visited Meiji shrine, strolled through Harajuku, dodged pedestrians at Shibuya, ate yakitori in a back alley of Ebisu, ate musubi at 7-11, gorged ourselves at the food show, and of course visited Tsukiji fish market. Tsukiji was my favorite – we arrived at 5AM to see the tuna auction, where a single fish goes for as much as $80k USD. On the outskirts of the market, we sampled some of the freshest sashimi in the world, before wandering the narrow alleys of the market crowded with purveyors of every kind of seafood imaginable.

So our Southeast Asian adventure is over and we are back in Falls Church, VA for a couple of months. It's a nice feeling to be home, and there are definitely things we've been missing – places to run outside, American chains, craft brews, and the ease of communication in a common language (my head nearly exploded today when I went to a nearby store where people were speaking Spanish, Vietnamese, and English). We're soaking it all up, since in a few more months it will be off to our next adventure – Africa.

Madagui Race Video

Meant to post this video my buddy Collin put together from our race in Madagui a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

March and April Update

Well, it's tax season and we're broke, so we've been hanging closer to home for the past month or so. The consulate soccer team (the Tiger Team) is gearing up for the our big match against Hanoi next month, so we've been practicing quite a bit. Not that it makes much a difference for me – I just try to not embarrass myself too much!

Mr. Mustard, our bright yellow Honda Cub motorbike, is finally in reasonable working order, so we've been scooting around the city exploring various less-visited districts. Our Sundays usually involve some sort of leisurely brunch at one of the many fine Western establishments in the city, followed by various errands via motorbike. This weekend the errands involved a visit to one of the street-side barbers who set up shop right on the sidewalk. I don't know why I haven't been doing this all along – for 2 bucks I got a great cut in the open air and sunshine, as well as fun conversation with Mr. Hai the barber. What more can you ask for?

This weekend we also celebrated our friend Jen's birthday with a nighttime food/bar tour. It has got to be one of my favorite ways to see the city. Our group of 12 bounced between delicious eateries and bars all night, conveyed by perhaps the most stylish (although probably not the most comfortable) two-wheeled wonders ever created – Vespas and Lambrettas. There's just something so magical about climbing on the back of one of these machines and floating through the neon-lit city streets…

We did slip out of town for a long weekend, returning to Hue in central Vietnam for a few days of relaxing in a private over-the-water villa. For once, we took it easy – reading, biking around the lagoon, and taking a cooking class. It was a nice break, as Nikki is still working hard in her new economic position. I'm working hard too, and just got back from a trip to the Danang area attending a workshop for reporters working on environmental issues, which included a visit to an island fishing community off the central coast.

Only a few months left in Vietnam and we're trying to see as much as possible before we leave!