Search This Blog

Saturday, July 24, 2010

We're finally here!

Hey everyone! This is Missy posting today! We have so much to tell you! Let's start with the plane ride!

WHOA! We have never been so tired. We began our trip flying to Chicago with no problems. We did see this in the skymall catalog. Any guesses as to what it is?




Once we got to Chicago, we needed to check in with Korean Air. Here is a picture of our plane: It was HUGE!



We only waited about 2 hours until we had to board the plane. Korean Air was great! The flight attendants were absolutely adorable! They were all wearing cute little uniforms and they all had their hair pulled back in buns with a HUGE ribbon that looked like one of those "awareness" ribbons. I would have taken a picture but I thought that might be weird. Anyway, each of the seats were equipped with their own tv set with tons of movies to watch. I watched "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" and an episode of Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond. I tried to sleep a little too. The food wasn't too bad. Bill had a Korean meal and I had the vegetarian meal. Here's my meal:



The flight was soooooo long! But, because we had our iPhones and the TV, we were fine. Here's a few pics of places we flew over. The first photo is Russia. The next photo is China.






We finally arrived in Korea about 3 pm (not sure what time that would be your time). We had to wait for 2 hours to get on our next flight. This is where my exhaustion and jet lag really took a toll on me. I was so tired I could barely formulate a sentence. Once we were on the plane to Ho Chi Minh City, both Bill and I were out like lights.

We arrived in Vietnam around 11 pm (11 am your time). It was a relatively smooth process through customs. We were greeted by Steve, the Human Resources manager at International School of Ho Chi Minh City. A van was there and ready to get us as well! Thank goodness they brought a van because Bill and I had a lot of luggage! We got to drive through the city and it was amazing! Just like I had pictured it. Tons and tons and tons of scooters EVERYWHERE. Lots of streetside restaurants and young and hip Vietnamese walking around. They quickly took us by some touristy spots, but we just drove by. I would have taken pictures once we got here of the city and such, but I was so tired and was just ready to get to the apartment and go to sleep! I'll make sure to get photos of the city once we get back down there. We've been in the apartment and the complex pretty much all day. We woke up at 1 pm and unpacked. We then had to sign up for internet and explore our new "Baxter Crossings" (where we lived in Chesterfield). And although our neighbors will never be as cool, this place puts good ol' Baxter Crossings to shame (love you and miss you, Andre and Jude!). Our apartment is really nice. We have a two bedroom, two bathroom. All hardword floors too! Here are some pictures of our new place.

Living room:







Yes, we realize that the couches are UGLY. I could deal with that if they were comfortable, but they are NOT! We're thinking we may need to get a new couch while we are here. It is as hard as a rock.

Here's our kitchen (I'll never make fun of Beth's small refrigerator again!):







Here's the guest bedroom:







Bathrooms:







Master bedroom:





For those "Dong" lovers, here's 312,000 dong!



Pretty flowers and mini bananas the school/apartment gave as a welcoming gift:





We'll be going exploring tomorrow! We're going to check out the markets and explore District 2! Wish us luck...the language barrier can be difficult at times. Almost everyone we've met speaks English, although broken English. Everyone has been SUPER friendly and helpful.

It rained almost all of this afternoon, otherwise I'd have more pics of the outside of our apartment and the surrounding areas.

Anyway, this was a looooooong blog. Until next time, friends! We love you all and miss you tons!!

Love,




Bill and Missy

4 comments:

  1. Hi Missy,
    everything look great.... I am hoping you will adapt quickly to the new culture:-)
    My husband has a friend who told him: The biggest lesson I learned while I lived in China was: There is not better way of doing things, it is just a different way.
    Keep that on mind and that you can also learn a thing or two from the other cultures...
    You are wonderful people, and I'm sure will make a difference ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW!! Cool pics cannot wait to see more, miss you tons!! Love, Holli

    ReplyDelete
  3. Everything looks wonderful. I just can't get over how excited I am for you both. What an experience and I love how you can blog it, so you'll have the memories for ever! Love you, miss you! Have a great adventure!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey guys, love the pictures. You are going to have a great experience.
    We miss you already.

    PS. Nice "Dong"

    Love Bets

    ReplyDelete