Family Far Away

Ahh, internet! Both time-waster and tool. One of the great advantages of it is being able to stay closer in touch from so far away. When we first came to Vietnam, calling America was prohibitively expensive and kept for emergencies only. Our dial-up email connection was a luxury.

Although the $20/month ADSL connection we have now doesn't seem much faster than dial-up, it's nice to be able to be able to send photos back and forth and stay in contact with VOIP and webcams. We've been able to peek in on our granddaughter, Ellie, putting together an aquarium with her dad after he got back from his six months at sea. We've even seen the first grainy ultrasound image of grandchild #2 who's due to liven up Hannah and Phillip's house next summer.

But what's even better is having a friend like Ellen, who has a heart a mile wide. With Beth and Dave planning to visit NY at the beginning of December, Nancy hatched a plot to get some Christmas presents delivered to Ellie. She asked Ellen if she'd be willing to pick up some gifts and bring them over to the house if we sent her some money for the gifts. (We're pretty sure she spent more than we sent, but that's how generous she is.) Ellen shopped, wrapped, and delivered the gifts and sent pictures too. It was closer than we ever expected to being there.

Ahh, internet. Now I've got to get off it and back to planning next week's lessons.