The new digs

Just wanted to say a few about the new apt in general it is a really nice apt. We have a huge living area that we've decorated with lamps, carpets and some nice candles. (Pictures to come)

And except for the construction that is still going on in the apts next to ours we generally enjoy being here. After several complaints to the management we've almost successfully got a policy instated that the workers can only work from 9-11 am and from 2-5 pm Monday- Friday! I'm pretty proud of myself for pushing for this but me an my oversensitive noise issues couldn't

help but make this a big issue for the management. So no longer are we awakened by the pounding at 8 am on Saturday mornings. I'm convinced that if I looked in the classifieds in the Viet Nam Daily there would be a posting: Wanted: Banger/Pounder, must be willing to bang and pound on metal or concrete for 5-8 hours a day preferably at a constant pace without stopping!!

We become quite Vietnamese even though we are in a swanky new apt. We store our plastic bags in the dishwasher (we pay a dishwasher so no need to actually use the machine) and we dry our dishes in the oven (we have a toaster oven that we're more comfortable using)! Never knew that these appliances were such good storage areas!!

We are 20 floors up! We can see Diamond Plaza, Notre Dame Cathedral, Nguyen Hue Street, the huge Buu Dien (post office), the city communist buildings and the Siagon River just to name some of the sites (Pictures to come). One of the things I absolutely love about HCMC is that there is always a "Holy cow, I can't believe that is actually happening" moment just about every day here. So just the other day we opened the shades and saw men working without any safety belts just outside our windows. At least the one guy had on a motorbike helmet!