Time to Fashion the Ark

Holy Noah!  The rains have begun.  Time to start working on the ark, as I fear we may need to boat out of the paddy before too long.  The rain began three days ago - innocently enough.  It hadn't rained in nearly two weeks.  It had been hot, humid and relatively sunny.  Then, suddenly, on Wednesday morning, the skies just opened up.   Thunder, lightening and wind were the back drop to a good chunk of our school day.  Strangely, at this point, the rain stops as quickly as it starts.  The sun hasn't resurfaced in three days, but the rain still ebbs and flows.  We can wait for a lull and sometimes get a long stretch of time (an hour or so) without rain.  We're hoping this is the true beginning of the monsoon season - not because we love the idea of permanent dampness, must and mold, but because the sooner we get it started the sooner the "beautiful season" will arrive.

In three days we have watched the water level in the rice paddies surrounding us slowly creep closer to the walking paths.  The river that runs through the center of Hoi An's ancient city is noticeably higher.  After a downpour the roads and paths are full of puddles 6-8 inches deep.  This afternoon as Brianna and I biked home from the city, we chose the river path.  Our route took us down winding dirt pathways with puddles so deep that they covered our pedals.  We just giggled and tried not to fall off.  There doesn't seem to be much point in complaining about the rain, because it's here to stay for a long time.  And, at the very least, it's a balmy rain.

               

We took a "field trip" today at school: a visit to the rice paddy. Some of the kids had been researching the process of harvesting rice this week, so we decided to go check out the paddy and figure out where in the rice harvesting timeline we are at the moment.  Naturally it was raining, so we donned the rain gear and started walking. Right next to our house, we checked in on our neighborhood rice paddy and had the added bonus of watching a local fisherman catch tiny fish with a homemade net contraption.  We are fortunate to have two Vietnamese speakers in our class who can ask questions and explain to the rest of us what they learn. 

      

Next we decided to try growing our own rice and created a mini "rice paddy" in a tub back at school.  It looked like a mess in a bucket, but we'll see what happens in a short three months - whether or not we are qualified to be rice farmers in Vietnam.  Fortunately we do know that drought will not be a threat to our burgeoning crop.