Living in Hanoi is new and exciting, but we are going to be living here for four months. So some of the everyday things we take for granted in America can pose a little bit of a challenge in Vietnam, especially if you do not speak the language.
For instance, we are living in a 27-story apartment building. Where do we take our trash?
There is a room by the elevators that has two bins in in. Our real estate agent told us what we were supposed to do, but it was our first day, I was a little jet-lagged, and I soon forgot. So I had to send Carter down to take pictures of the signs on the bins and translate what we're supposed to do. It took us about 30 minutes, but we finally figured it out -- we think (green=compost, yellow=recycling, trash goes in a bag set next to the two bins).
More interesting was our quest for a place to get haircuts for the boys. We know about three people here, so our options are limited to ask around and get recommendations. But we were walking in the alleys across the street looking at hair stylist places (we counted 14 by the end of an hour walk) and ran across Phương Hair. The daughter saw us looking at the window and came out speaking some English to us. The shop is run by her and her mother, and I think her brother is also there. A really friendly crew -- they even offered to cut Finn's hair for free after we had given him a botched buzz cut in the apartment a few days before. All three boys were pretty pleased with the result, and the business put the boys up on their Facebook page with the finished product. All three haircuts cost us less than $5 total.
Here's Finn getting his hair buzzed by the mom, who started the business 20 years ago:
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