2019 had a lot of memorable highlights for our family. In 2017 we decided that we wanted to experience the exotic life abroad so we got remote jobs lined up and packed up and traveled the world. We started with Hawaii, then Australia, then Vietnam where we fixed our base and then from there we went to Thailand, Laos, Philippines, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong a few times since that was our closest temple. On the way back we traveled to Vietnam's eternal springs, Da Lat, and then went south to Malaysia, then headed west to Sri Lanka, then Egypt, Italy, Germany, France, then New York, Philadelphia, then traveled to Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, totaling 8 states, and then up to Canada and then back down to Seattle. The biggest stats for the Seattle Stevens is that as of 2019 we have been to 16 countries, 19 for Dan and Thuan and 18 States as a couple/family and multiple times in some States.
It is our goal always that we grow closer together as a family. One thing that teaches us about ourselves with living abroad is that we are each other's best friends. We hung out with each other most days and did a lot of things together each day. Here is a small summary of each month in 2019, the naughty and nice list.
January:
Thuan's parents came to Da Nang for the second time since we came to Vietnam. We took them bowling, showed them the Amusement park and Thuan's mom was a big fan of all the crazy rides. We had church inside our house where Thuan's parents bore their testimonies in Vietnamese. We had a few nights of karaoke where Darion sang "you are my sunshine" and won some hearts with over a thousand views on social media among friends. We visited the countryside of Tien Phong and shared Ferrero Rocher brought by Thuan's parents with the natives. Thuan performed a solo piece by Abba called "Happy New Year" for a Lunar New Year event. The song, though not as popular in the States, is a popular song in Vietnam. Every radio station plays that song after January 1st. Thuan had to learn it in 2 days and sing it as the teachers all begged her to sing it even though she has never heard of it before and everyone at the school in Da Nang knew it. Our whole family performed a few musical pieces with Reena on the flute, Debrie on the Piano, Dan and Thuan on the guitar, and the boys sang. We spent several nights in the posh 5 star hotel in Tam Ky and hiked the tallest mountain Son Tra in Da Nang. We thought that the New Year was the best time to visit the orphanage so we gathered up some things for donations to the orphans. We spent 2 days playing music, soccer, and taught the orphans how to play the guitar and ukulele. We donated a ukulele to some orphans that demonstrated a love for music.
February:
Lunar New Year came and we all went to the countryside bringing some friends from America that came to visit Vietnam and are living in China. We ate and ate and sang and sang karaoke, and then ate some more, played board games, and the kids got to learn to make "banh chung", a traditional New Year rice cake wrapped in banana leaves in a shape of a square. We left the kids with auntie and went to celebrate Valentine's day in Hanoi and then with Thuan's parents to Hong Kong where we went to Victoria peak on the tram, a funicular railway that carries tourists high above the ground to offer good views over the harbor and skyscrapers. We spent a few days walking the downtown shops and tried a variety of Hong Kong food. We also went to the top of Lantau Island to Tian Tan Buddha and Ngong Ping 360 cable car. When we got back to Vietnam we went with some friends to some very old trees (1000 years old) up in the mountains. That was super cool.
March:
For a Saturday family adventure we rented a villa, about a half an hour from where Thuan grew up and explored the area which had war tunnels, monuments of mother Vietnam (a widow who lived to be 96 years old) while her husband and all 9 sons died as veterans for Vietnam in the wars that stretched 30 years against the French and Americans. Dan enjoyed driving the motorbike all around town and soaking in every moment he gets to drive it before we plan our trip back to America. We greeted another family from Idaho as they were getting ready to make Da Nang their new home for a while and took them to the countryside as well as cool beaches we know and love. A naughty thing happened at the beach that night as we were heading to the restaurant Thuan's great aunt manages. Dan had realized he left his phone on the beach and ran back to get it but when he went back there was no phone. The person who took it was pretty quick at taking out the sim making it super hard to track down. We just choked it up to helping out a poor man. Later in March we went camping with 3 sweet families that we got to know well and had a lot of seafood that we have never tried before. We also gave them the s'more experience and hiked some very cool mountains and streams.
April:
Thuan had made a lot of friends while being abroad being the social butterfly. She enjoyed her time teaching voice lessons and music perceptions at the Da Nang Mun Art Academy. She had a goodbye party with her fellow teachers and friends on top of a beautiful hotel sky bar. She sang "Summertime" with a fellow Jazz singer for the bar. Reena and Debrie said goodbye to their flute and piano teacher, drama teacher, and wrapped up with Reena playing Little Red Riding Hood in her play and Debrie playing Gretel in her play. Ronin won the hearts of the all teachers at the preschool he attended with his mom when she taught with his curls and dimple. Darion said goodbye to his friends at the Fortune Villa park neighborhood. We were gifted flowers and sweet memorable things and returned our villa and started staying at hotels the last 2 weeks in Vietnam. Lots of parties with our expat friends, local friends, church friends (we started a Mormon group in Da Nang), and families. Many goodbyes, hugs, and tears, and then we went off to
Da Lat, Vietnam's eternal spring. We brought with us Thuan's 2 aunts. They have never left the country so we gave them tickets to come with us. In Da Lat we hit the popular locations and drove everywhere in a taxi and rode on horses, and picked strawberries that were way too expensive compared to the free ones we get in Seattle in our backyard. The naughty part was Ronin got eaten alive by mosquitos. After hitting many of the popular locations, including Nha Trang, we flew to
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The aunties were just happy as a clam to see all the tall skyscrapers but we managed to also show them the Petronas twin towers, the Menara Kuala Lumpur, Central Market, and Aquaria KLCC. We didn't see Batu caves because our kids were sick of caves because we have been to so many while in Vietnam including Marble Mountain, Phong Nha caves and some caves at Ha Long bay that were spectacular so they didn't want to do more caves. They wanted to play with macaws instead so we gave them that experience. Malaysia was a success for us and the aunties.
Again we parted, with the aunties this time. They went back to Vietnam and we went on to
Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka we fed monkeys bananas, sailed on the lake in Negombo, ate local food, rode on Tuk Tuk, but thankfully did not blow up to pieces in the April 2019 Easter bombings of churches and hotels. We met with the LDS church members and shared our hugs and sadness with them before heading to Egypt with a quick stop in Oman.
Egypt was just that, a place full of history and every minute there was unbelievable. Camels are taller than they look. The pyramids are not where you think they are, closer to the city than the desert. Egypt is expensive so if you want to experience the ultimate be prepared for tips and lots of tips to taxi around if you want any good service. The food is amazing, the people are beautiful.
May
By this point the whole family was getting tired of airplanes. We have lost track of the number of airplanes we have been on and the number of hotels. The parents have nearly used up all 2 years savings. Traveling is EXPENSIVE, especially when you go outside of Asia and you've got 4 kids.
Italy really hit home to us. Uber was triple what we have been paying, hotels were easily over $1000/week and food was American pricing. We were in Italy for 2 weeks eating as many pizzas and gelato as we could. We loved every minute of it. We spent a few days in Milano, then went to Pisa, then Rome, and then Verona. Thuan went to Venice to check it off her list but the whole family didn't want to travel to yet another city so they stayed behind in Verona. After Italy we took a long fast train up to
Germany passing through magnificently majestic Austria on the way up. In Germany we had one goal and that was to see the 2 beautiful castles of Neuschwanstein and
Hohenschwangau. We stayed in Munich and then took a train and a bus there. We toured the castles, rode on carriages, ate yummy local food and met the locals at church. Reena loved Germany a lot because it reminded her of home, Seattle, with evergreen trees and mountains. We then headed to France. Thuan had to adjust her teaching schedules a lot by this point but was able to teach many of her students while traveling. Dan's remote job allowed him to work easily with our travel plans. We spent more time in France catching our breaths and worked a bit more on school and personal check lists. We got out to see the Eiffel Tower twice and did some sight seeings via Uber and subways. We could hardly wait to see our families in America. Our first stop was New York where we got to celebrate the birth blessing of Thuan's newest niece, Summer. We went to 2 plays, A Star Wars Musical and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We stayed in downtown New York for a few days at the Sheraton and Thuan's sister's highrise apartment. We ate lots of New York pizzas and then went to Philadelphia where we also toured the Liberty Bell and Independence Halls for the boys since they haven't been. We met with friends, ate cheese steaks and a lot of homemade cooking which was exactly what our bodies wanted. We bounced back and forth between Philly where Thuan's parents were living and New York where Thuan's sister, Thuyen and her family resided until June.
June:
We headed West to see Dan's side of the family with a few days in Vegas. Nevada had the heat close to that of Vietnam but it did not have the green of tropical plants which made Dan missed Vietnam very much. We took the kids to the see a 3D experience at Excalibur. We soon met up with the rest of his family and spent a few days boating, shooting guns, and horseback riding. Reena joined her cousins at the Logan temple and did baptisms. Then we headed to see the Idaho clan where we got to rest for 2 weeks recovering from being shifted around. We did local activities with Thuan's sisters Thanh and Thao and their families, saw a musical, went cherry picking, and played with cousins all day.
July:
We had to get our license renewed so we headed to Seattle after a boating and fireworks July 4th with families and friends in Idaho. We reunited with our best friends the Frasers in Walla Walla, Washington for a few days. We then reunited with the Astles, Dan's cousins in Seattle. Their kids and our kids are second cousins but they are closer than even first cousins. They adore each other and were very glad we came back. We were home but not quite in
our house. We had renters that were still living there so we stayed
with our friends the Hemphills, the Watts, and Dan's cousins the
Astles. After bouncing around and staying at some hotels in Seattle as
well, we picked up our suitcases again and this time we went up to Victoria, BC Canada. We toured all the popular places and then headed to Portland, Oregon. We played there for a few days and then went to California, Bay area.
August:
We stayed with our best friends, the Strobells for a week and did the Bay Area things and then headed to Vegas again to pick up our suitcases that we mailed off from Vietnam via seamail. We had a few days with Dan's parents, went to the temple with them, hung out with his brother Jeff's family and then headed back up to Utah where we stayed with Dan's cousin, Dave and his family and met up with other cousins and our friends that we have not seen in years. We worked our way back up to Idaho and then home at the end of August, a few days before school started. We did a poll where 90 comments
gave us the impression that we should move to Austin, Texas, where
there are tech companies similar to Seattle but when we saw the joy in
our children's eyes as we drove up the hill to our house made us rethink
our decision. That and tears of joy when the older children saw
evergreens and mountains in Germany confirmed our decision of returning
to Seattle. If we take them any where else they wouldn't have the sense
of returning home. That was the argument they pulled up so we obliged.
We have jobs that allow us to be anywhere but here we are, back to the
evergreens, the rain, the mountains, lakes, and seas...and we are home.
September:
Being back home to our house and our things was not all nice like it sounded. The naughty thing was that mice had gotten into our storage and trashed up the mattresses and a few other items. Thousands of dollars were sent into the garbage and all new mattresses were bought. Insurance did not cover mice damage. Hours of cleaning and unpacking happened in September. Kids were trying to adjust back to life and it was difficult the first few weeks. Sad tears were definitely a real thing around our house but so were joyous tears of 2 beautiful years wrapped up. Reena had a wonderful time doing online schooling for 6th and 7th grade because it allowed her to write her first novel that she is currently working with a publisher and they are still at editing stage and hopefully printing in 2020. She and Debrie made long lasting friendships abroad through ice skating, badminton, drama classes, flute, piano classes, and activities that we were involved in. We have loved the time we spent with the orphans in Vietnam and the people in hospitals that we were able to visit and gave our charity money to. All these experiences made us feel so grateful for every blessings in our lives, big and small. Beyond anything we could mention the biggest learning experience we could attest to is the motto we live by and that is "Experiences are better than things". Though traveling is expensive, it gave us much more than what money could buy and we get to see the lives of others around the world and make long lasting and meaningful relationships with our brothers and sisters around the world.
October:
Every time we walked outside and see the Autumn leaves of the Pacific Northwest it assured us that we chose the best place on earth to live. Every time the cold touches our face we wondered why we came back to the PNW. We have stayed in so many hotels since April that when we returned
home Darion said "Are we going to another hotel after this hotel?" and "Mom why are you putting pictures up on this hotel wall?" In his eyes our glorious house is just another fancy hotel with slightly more rooms.
We said to ourselves we shouldn't go anywhere and just stick to around town since there are plenty of local things we have not done....clamming, hot tub boating, underground hiking, and even a few mountains around us that we have not yet made to the top, just to name a few. But it isn't in our nature and while we spent many Saturdays trying to check off the things on our list, Thuan still managed to travel again to Boise with Reena for a few days, driving! We also had a lovely visit from our friends on their Fall break for a week. They stayed with us for a few days and then we all booked a stay and play at Great Wolfe Lodge. We celebrated Ronin's Star Wars birthday with a bunch of his friends from school. We went to a few Halloween parties and Darion loved wearing his costumes (he was a dragon and a storm trooper). Ronin was Darth Maul, Debrie was Rey, and Reena was Gin. Dan and I went as Hong Kong protesters with gas mask and face mask. We also celebrated Dan's birthday with friends and went back to the tradition of serving hot dogs and wassel on our porch for the neighborhood trick-or-treaters. That made our kids super happy.
November:
Back to everything we knew and loved. Reena got together with her friends for a movie and party at our house to reconnect those relationships. Debrie usually has about 3-6 girls at our front door picking her up for school. Ronin loves Kindergarten so much he does not like the weekends because it means no school. Darion milks every moment he gets one on one with mom and dad. Our family enjoys ice skating together most Saturdays and hiking around the trails near our home. Thuan quickly got involved back in the clubs she started and ran. Our community newspaper featured her and her experience abroad along with sharing a recipe she loved. Dan continuing his running goal and hit 900 miles this year. He started interviewing with other companies for a better paying job. Radformation was a cozy job for living abroad but for Seattle we needed a better paying job. He quickly got offered a job with Liberty Mutual and they have a remote team so he jumped on that. He loved his no commute job and his comfy office inside our house. He has a lot more time to send the kids off to school and to be there for them right after they get home and even seeing them for lunch at school. We celebrated Darion's Monster's Inc. birthday with his friends and then Thuan and Darion flew to Boise for another quick trip where her parents and siblings gathered for a quick Thanksgiving reunion. They got back in time to do Thanksgiving here as well as catching a hockey game live at the stadium.
December:
We started the holidays off with a fancy King crabs buffet with some friends. From then it was full time service to our callings. Thuan and her Activity Days girls made homeless packets and delivered them to Mary's Women and Children's shelter in Seattle and made crafts for our Ward's Christmas party where she and Dan were the leaders leading a committee of party planners to a Christmas theme of "Christmas Around the World". While the planning was going on Thuan was asked to sing a solo piece with her guitar for the Relief Society's Christmas event and Dan to give a talk in Sacrament, Reena to give a talk in Sacrament meeting and Thuan to sing another solo piece with Reena on the flute for the Christmas program on the Sunday before Christmas. We were put to work full force and we definitely felt the welcome back and we love it. The Christmas party was a success, even though the day before the party Dan came down with strep throat and tonsillitis. Santa saw that our naughty list was short enough so he brought us some very nice gifts. We went to at least 5 parties and even a Swedish Gloggmingel but we only drank the non alcoholic version. The kids' ong ngoai (grandpa) came to town to play with us and we rented a condo across the island and went clamming and ate some yummy seafood. He stayed for a few days to help watch the younger 3 while we took Reena to Phoenix to attend a wedding of Dan's niece, Amber. It was a wonderful way to end a fantastic year. Being together with friends and families, singing songs and celebrating the birth of the One who gave us Life. Happy New Year all and thanks for being a part of our life!
Stats for record keeping:
States: New York, Philadelphia, Virginia, Florida, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California
Countries: Malaysia, Austraulia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Philippines, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, Bahamas, Luxembourg, Scotland, England.
