March 5, 2012

We have met some very interesting people here at the Somerset Apartments. One man, his wife, their daughter and their daughter's friend were all here vacationing from Vancouver, Canada. He's a hockey player and cop who works in anti-terrorism efforts in Canada. They were celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary and then heading over to Thailand for a wedding. Come to find out...his brother lives in Lubbock, Texas! What a small world!

I mentioned before about the Russian couple we've met - Alex and Attiune (sp?). She made up some yoghurt and brought a couple of jars up for us to taste. It was actually very good.

There are several Australian families, lots of Japanese, Middle Easterners and European people here They all dress so differently when they take their children swimming. The Japanese kids wear long sleeves and long pants, the Middle Easterners wear the same long sleeves but also some even wear head coverings. And the Europeans wear thongs...even the men! Whoo Hoo!

Another man we met here's name is Martin Dockery. He wrote a book called "Lost in Translation - Vietnam: A Combat Advisor's Story." He is married to a Vietnamese woman and they have 7-year old twins. He is good friends with James Bradley who wrote "Flags of Our Fathers" which was made into a  movie produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Clint Eastwood. It was about the 6 men who raised the flag at the battle of Iwo Jima and one of them was his father. Well come to find out, Mr. Bradley just arrived in Saigon and we were able to have dinner with them all Saturday night. We ate at a place called Jaspas and Martin brought along his wife and 2 children. It was so interesting talking with James (as he likes to be called). He's also written a book called "Fly Boys: a True Story of Courage" and his newest book is called "Imperial Cruise: a Secret History of Empire and War" which is about the aftermath of the Spanish American/Philippine War. He's here in Vietnam working on his new project about the Vietnam War and an area of Laos that was bombed during the war. His 2 daughters live in Saigon. One is older, married, and has a job here and the other is only 16 and going to high school.

On Sunday, after our Vietnam language class, Carie, Ron and I met James down at the bar by the pool. He introduced us to a man by the name of John Hawkins who was an advisor during the Vietnam war and now lives here in Saigon. Then James' 2 daughters arrived, their friends, John's personal assistant and her boyfriend, and another Vietnam vet who is a friend of James and by the time the evening rolled around, there must have been 12 of us sitting by the pool.

                                        Ron and James Bradley talking, and talking, and talking.....

Now Ron is helping by introducing him to his Vietnam War friends and scholars and enjoying the process which is his own research field. He will be in and out of Vietnam the next few weeks, and we hope to see him again.