Kids and Markets

Yesterday was shopping day and as Nick was away I took both of the kids down to my local street market to pick up some supplies for the week.  You may recall last week I took Scarlett down and chaos ensued.  You can only imagine when I had the two of them!

Luckily they are great kids and really look out for each other.  It can get a bit hairy with bikes whizzing up the narrow road and we all hold on to each other for dear life normally.

I have no idea what these are so if anyone does can you let me know?  It is a bit hard to tell from this picture but they look like little watermelons but are about the size of an apricot.

You know I sometimes wonder what they think about all of this.  It is dependant on their mood as to how they deal with local interaction.  I quite often have to reinforce to them that the locals are not laughing at them, just that they are happy to see them.  A hard concept for kids to grasp.  I often have to remind myself that they are just 4 and 7.  A lot of this is counteracted by the plethora of free stuff that is shoved at them!  They love that bit!  Having said that, they have been taught to say "thank you" for what they receive in Vietnamese and this usually results in more gales of laughter.  Back to the drawing board of "they are not laughing at you...they just think you are wonderful!"  Unfortunately I have found this makes them quite hesitant to speak Vietnamese. I can't say I blame them in this regard.  It can be hard if you are not sure if someone is taking the mickey out of you.

One thing we have taught them that seems to have sunk in is that if someone wants to touch them, which they quite often do, then they can say no if they do not want them to.  The  kids are often a novelty here and can almost be seen as a good luck charm.  It's great to be able to empower them with this when living amongst a different culture.  I can imagine that sometimes it must be a bit overwhelming for them.  I have found that small doses of exposure works best for us. A few hours out exploring then back to the safety of our little piece of Australia at home.   Only time will tell how much our years here have influenced their lives.  Will they remember it?  I hope so....I have taken enough pictures for them to have some flashbacks and one of the reasons I do this blog is to pretty much document the story of our adventures. There is always a degree of guilt as a parent when you take you children away from the familiar.  Sure, we love it...but what about them?  Well...for us, so far so good.  I think underneath my biggest fear is that we have instilled in them the joy of travel and exploring the world which inevitably means one day I will be a blubbering mess at the airport as I wave them goodbye as they pursue their own dreams.  Life abroad is truly a double edged sword.