Day 225: Playdate with Local Kids — Custom Clothes at the Tailor
When Teddy went to exercise this morning, there weren’t just four ladies rustling up breakfast in the kitchen — there were also two small kids along with them, eagerly awaiting James and Willa.
Here’s a five-year-old boy literally fogging the glass waiting to come in to play:
We’d arranged yesterday for Ms. Lam’s daughter (6) and nephew (5) to come by the house to play. It’s been a while since our kids had a good playdate, so this was very exciting for everyone, even if there was no shared language.
Right after breakfast the kids all got their suits on and jumped in the water, where they stayed for about two hours. Ms. Lam’s kids can’t swim, so they hung out on the steps and clung to the side of the pool. Teddy and I watched them carefully!
There was a lot of delighted shrieking.The kids also brought popsicles.
By 10 am Ms. Lam left to go tend to her baby back home, but we kept the kids until noon.
They played in the house while we got some time to ourselves.
The little boy loved the Plus Plus blocks and the girls were drawing. Willa taught the girl how to spell “hello,” “thank you” and “goodbye” — because those are the three words she knows how to say in Vietnamese.
James got the boy to play some soccer out in the road with him for a bit.
But when that eventually fizzled, James was a little bit at a loss. I think his favorite way to engage with friends besides ball sports is with stories and jokes — and without those three, he kind of faltered. Starting acting out, and when we asked him to explain, he said he felt “lonely.” Poor guy!!
At lunchtime the kids left and we walked to a nearby family-run spot for lunch. This place is cheap. Four fresh-squeezed tropical fruit juices and full fresh-cooked lunch adds up to about $20.
After lunch we tackled school, and then had a swim.
By 5:30 we were taxi’ing into Hoi An — our destination was a recommended tailor.
We wanted to do the most touristy thing you can do in Hoi An: Get custom-made clothes! The city is known for its high-quality, low-cost, quick-turnaround tailors, so you can walk in one day with a vision, and go home with something custom the next day.
Teddy decided to get three new dress shirts and I showed them a picture of a dress I’d spotted on the street in Cartagena back in January that I’ve been dreaming about ever since:
Meanwhile Willa used her style and imagination to help the lady see what she wanted (a cap-sleeved party dress) and James, not wanting to be left out, picked a jazzy fabric for a pair of elastic-waisted shorts.
The total was something like $150 for these six handmade items. We go back for our fittings tomorrow, and will have them ready to take with us that afternoon. Stay tuned.
Hoi An at night was a little more overwhelming than during the day. Lots of tourists and photo-takers. The lanterns are fun, though.
We ducked in to grab dinner at the Morning Glory, which had been recommended to us, and ordered Banh Xeo (Vietnamese crepes), mango salad and a banh mi. The kids ate dumplings and got a grapefruit juice.
We’ve been playing this game at meals called “Guess the Toy,” where someone thinks of a toy from back home in our apartment, and we have 15 chances to ask yes or no questions to figure out what it is.
James fell asleep in the taxi and both kids were asleep in their (shared king) bed by 8:30.
Did we mention that, btw? That this is a three-bedroom house and the “kids” room is on the second floor with twin beds but our kids have chosen to sleep in the king bedroom next to ours in the same bed together. So cute.
MISC:
This article in the NYT (“We Have Ruined Childhood”) is so depressing and made us talk once again about this issue. (There’s a great line in there btw about how childhood today is like a 18-year internship to try to become part of America’s dwindling middle class). Trying so hard to refuse to succumb.
As it relates to this article, our trip is interesting. On the one hand, the entire year is unstructured and unorthodox — there are no camp days, recurring classes, practices or anything. On the other, these kids are with their parents 24/7. They have zero no-parent time. I feel like when we land in the US we’re driving straight to the no-parents-allowed-junkyard-playground on Governors Island and letting them move in for a month.
I also read an article about social media and teenagers and got the idea to say no smartphone til high school graduation (dumb phone allowed). If you want one, you can get a job and pay for it yourself — BUT, if you hold off, we’ll give you a lump of cash at high school graduation for doing so. Cash you can spend however you like.
