Ha Noi it Is!

We apologize for not writing more during the past couple of months.  With A-100 (the basic training that begins every diplomats career), Nicole settling into her role at Down Dog Yoga , meeting the great people in DC, and traveling to Arizona for the holidays, we have barely enough time to kiss each other good night much less update the blog.  So here as we head into a new year filled with untold surprises and travels we want to let everyone know that we are headed to Hanoi, Vietnam!

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When we told our families that we were headed to Vietnam a number of different responses came up.  More than anything was the excitement of the exotic land to the East wrapped in a culture thousands of years old with untold delicious treats (e.g. all the pho we can eat).  However, there was also just a hint of apprehension.  It was an apprehension based on history of how much Vietnam (just a mere 35 years ago) has dominated the lives of America's youth. Whether that be hoping to avoid the draft, signing up, or having a friend that was deployed...it has been a sore spot to talk about.

With this thought being so prevalent, I wondered what the new generation of Vietnamese (growing up after of what they call the American War) thought about Americans. Do they harbor a hatred toward Americans? Will we be welcomed or despised? Well from everything that I have read thus far the answer is unequivacally...NO!

So while, I appreciate the history (both the Vietnam War  and before), I realized that part of the excitement of heading off to Vietnam is in the exmining of the past as much as planning for the future.  There are so many things to look forward to in Ha Noi (the proper spelling of the city) that its hard to even list them in a top 10 list. 

There will be more to come shortly, but here is a quick reading list of what we are investigating before we start our Vietnamese language training.

Vietnam, Now: A Reporter Returns by David Lamb
A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and the Final Tragedy of America's Last War by Lewis Sorley
George F. Kennan: An American Life by John Lewis Gaddis
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

On a final note, thank you to both of our families for making this holiday so special and we look forward to all of you coming for a visit in 2012.

-Chris