Happy Holidays 2012

Dear Family and Friends...

In May of this year, Huong and I returned to Vietnam for the first time in 12 years. We had been putting it off year after year, and then Huong’s sister Mai and brother-in-law Duwayne invited us to join them on a private tour that they had arranged, including side trips to Laos and Cambodia, and we went for it. Landing in Hanoi, we took the night train to the mountains of northwest Vietnam, where the colorfully attired ethnic minority people employ 11^th-century farming technology, while wielding 21^st-century cell phones.

Continuing on to Laos, we flew to Luang Prabang, the old royal capital, which has the best-preserved French colonial architecture I have seen anywhere in Indochina, and is a place so relaxed that it finds traffic signals to be unnecessary. The elaborately decorated temples contrasted strongly with the simplicity of the king’s personal quarters, which seemed nearly Spartan by comparison. Not far from town we visited an “elephant village”, where survivors of the local lumber industry are cared for, and given the job of tolerating adoring tourists. We were given a quick tutorial on communicating with the elephants using verbal “commands” (more like “suggestions”, I’d say), in their native Lao, and then rode around on them for a while. We helped feed them, and Huong and Duwayne assisted in bathing them (and got very wet themselves in the process).

In Cambodia we had time for little more than the sprawling temple complex of Angkor Wat (and more temples in the countryside nearby, where the minefields laid by the Khmer Rouge are still being cleared, slowly); we did get to visit a floating village, large enough to have its own floating schools and restaurants.

Returning to Vietnam for the final leg, most of the remaining places we visited were familiar to us, with the exception of the Nguyen dynasty’s “Forbidden City” in Hue, the old royal capital; and the vast caverns of the Annamite Mountains, near the border with Laos, with their bizarre, Rorschach-test rock formations.

Brandon (age 11) has left his familiar old elementary school behind for the brave new world of middle school, where, as a sixth-grader, he is once again low man on the totem pole. He was admitted to his new school, which has a STEM focus, on the basis of entrance tests and interviews. It is not located in his neighborhood, and is considerably further away from home, so in the interest of safety the decision was taken to equip him with a cell phone. I happened to have an older iPhone that I was no longer using, which I bestowed upon him as a birthday gift in July. He is now rarely to be seen without it; but it appears to be employed far more often as a portable gaming console than as a telephone. He continues to participate in soccer, and in Science Olympiad.

Emily (age 9) is in the fourth grade, and has more interests than she has time for. She seems pretty serious about gymnastics, and closely followed the achievements of her exemplars in the field in London this summer. She is participating in Odyssey of the Mind and Girls on the Run as well. She seems drawn to her grandmother’s knitting avocation; she has finger-knitted a collection of scarves for sale at charity events.

These children did not venture beyond the national borders this year, but they did take a couple of trips stateside. In July they traveled to Cincinnati to visit Mark’s family. They enjoyed tubing on the Ohio River, rode the rides at the King’s Island amusement park, and consumed Graeter’s ice cream until it came out of their ears. The following month, they flew to Los Angeles to visit that branch of Huong’s family. Beyond enjoying face time with their cousins, a major highlight of the trip involved several days’ camping at Big Sur.

That’s all for this year. We extend our best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2013 to you all.

Mark and Huong

P.S.: If you received an actual paper card via snail mail, that was only because we didn't have your current e-mail address. Kindly send that information to mshaffer55@gmail.com or lacy105@gmail.com, since in future years we plan to go completely paperless. Don't get left out!

Thanks...

M. and H.