A touch warmer than on the green, green artificial turf of home

The girls had their first football tournament last weekend. In the sun it was probably about 60 degrees hotter than the coldest match they ever played in Norway. It was boiling. A very friendly day to celebrate a club set up for street children. The girls both play for Hanoi Gold Star Under-13’s but for different teams and of course ended up playing against each other. I prayed for 0-0 and got my wish 🙂

There were some speeches beforehand

You could cut the tension with a, erm, chopstick

The drum was really rather loud!

The ball was swung in from the right:

Some of the surrounding architecture was unusual and spectacular

Another right-back about to get done

Penalty shoot-out!!

Blue Dragons celebrated having played 1000 games. What an amazing charity it turns out to be. Football is a means to build up trust in the kids to then help them.

Thank you to Blue Dragons, to the trainers, the players and parents!

 

Finding a new team

There has been some unspoken tension within the family about finding a football team in our new surroundings, so it was very pleasing to be put in touch with a team in the Hanoi Youth Football League and for the girls to get the first training session under their belts.

Jemima making space, and Saskia guarding the near post 🙂

And so as not to interfere, put them off etc, I went for a walk and found a market selling the following delicacies 🙂

 

Seeing the school

All girls went to the school today for the first time. Rebecca got to meet her teacher and was very pleased afterwards. Saskia and Jemima got their school PCs and learnt how to log on and such like.

The elementary school playground looks inviting…

There is a swimming pool as well as some grassy rectangles where apparently association football can be played…

And, … it’s hoooot!

 

All work and stress makes Jack a dull boy

In between sorting out all the stuff with the move, we are not forgetting what’s important: Tromsø IL.

On Monday I drove with J & S to Fredrikstad to see Tromsø play. This was the fourth time J & I have been to this very fixture, and until Monday we had seen 7 Fredrikstad goals to 1 measly last-minute irrelevant Tromsø effort.

Despite this we were all toothy smiles before the game:

And our optimism was rewarded: We were due a break, and we got it 🙂

And it ended 0-2, a cracking game, highlights here. Only one Tromsø match left before leaving, next Sunday against Vålerenga…

 

The packers are here!

Bye bye stuff! See you in Hanoi! The idea was to bring as little as possible, but we ended up filling a van, that will go via a hangar in Fornebu to a boat and then to Hanoi, getting there some time in August. Recycled sock time.

And while some pack, and I diligently record the work, some do what comes naturally…

So, bye bye stuff!

Then standby for the packing of the rest of our things. That happens in a couple of weeks when the belongings that didn’t make the cut are driven to a warehouse for 4 years. There were some tough decisions, particularly regarding teddy bears…

No toaster, telly or bikes for a while…

Actually the house now looks much tidier than normal…