"You have 'soopa' good time, low price!" This is the phrase I heard from the locals repeatedly as I explored the cities of Saigon and Hanoi, the nation's capital, but it was the beach, jungle, and breathtaking tree-covered mountains that stole my heart!

Back in 2017 as I was on the verge of relocating to Costa Rica, a dear friend of mine had made it to Vietnam and told me, "I've fallen in love with Southeast Asia". As someone who grew up in Texas and traveled mostly throughout Europe and Central America, both closely related to the states in many ways considering clothing, food, and even language, I had no concept of what traveling Asia would be like. I had planned to visit this friend in 2020, but Covid happened and it's been years of hearing the Jeopardy song ringing in my ears as I anxiously awaited the perfect moment to take the leap. This past July I had 10 days kid-free and no other obligations on my radar so I booked a ticket on JustFly.com with a payment plan through Affirm (this flight is NOT cheap at the last minute) and then squealed loudly as I realized "I'm going to Vietnam!"

First and foremost, for all the mamas who think, "I could never be that far away from my kids," I had this thought too (for days!), but then I realized I have a mother/grandmother nearby, a fantastic partner, and a strong tribe of people who would undoubtedly step in in the event my kids needed anything at all while I was away. And, my kids had a "Hell yeah, mom!" attitude of support for me to do something for ME and we should be, ladies!

I saved $800 flying into Saigon instead of Hanoi. I stayed one night in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) to catch up on sleep and get my bearings before taking a $40 nonstop flight to Hanoi. Saigon is HELLA crowded, noisy and busy. This is not where I'd recommend staying for any length of time. I woke up around 3:30 AM VN time and wondered how long I'd have to hang out in my room before venturing out into the streets, but ironically Vietnam is bumping' by 4am. I was late to the show! Motorbikes, buses, taxis, joggers filled the streets already as I walked out my door into "District 1" hoping to find Cafe Trang (egg coffee) and Pho, a common Vietnamese breakfast. I found both within minutes! The best Cafe Trang is rumored to be at Little Hanoi, but it didn't open until 8am so I sat outside a little jungle covered cafe and giggled at the hoards of tiny old ladies doing yoga, Zumba, or Tai Chi in the park. 

I visited a custom tailor at Tailor Raglan and requested she make me a classic white dress and black blazer before I leave. I had saved photos from Pinterest ahead of time so I showed them to her, stood for measurements and paid in dongs what equated to about $60 US dollars for both pieces. Score! Then, I walked to the Ben Thanh market and ogled the faux designer bags where it appears Marc Jacobs is struggling with alignment and Christian Dior has begun slacking on color tone, LOL. I bought an avocado smoothie, chopsticks for the boys and the elephant print pants I was told were "musts" in Vietnam. 

A quick 20 minute cab ride that afternoon and a 1hr flight took me to Hanoi! Hanoi is also bustling, hot and crowded like Saigon, but it's the best place to book tours to explore other regions in the north country. I had a tour booked to Halong Bay and Cat Ba island, but July is rainy season so my tour was canceled. I spent the day walking the lake, touring pagodas and temples, enjoying looking at the street food and treating myself to a heap of spa treatments! Pedicure, manicure, foot detox, and full body massage- $40 TOTAL that day and the service was divine.

Usually I stay in hostels so I can meet other travelers, but the hotels in Vietnam are so cheap I booked a hotel in the Old Quarter (Victor Gallery Hotel) that had a rooftop bar and spa on booking.com for $30 a night. But, I walked to One Hostel down the street for a rooftop pool party I was too jet lagged (and old) to enjoy anyway and decided to book a different tour for the following day. I booked a trip to Ninh Binh and it was the HIGHLIGHT of my trip. I met amazing people from Spain, Italy, Australia, Poland, Vietnam, India and enjoyed hours of conversation and storytelling! We hiked 1000 steps roundtrip at Ninh Binh, paddled in coconut boats through ancient ruins, ate Vietnamese buffet, and rode bikes to an ancient Buddhist temple where I got to ride a water buffalo while my tour group pointed and laughed at me LOL. 
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If you have the time to get to Incense Village, it's a great opportunity for gorgeous photos, but there's nothing else out there so don't expect to stick around long. One benefit of solo traveling is being on your own schedule and not affecting anyone else's agenda so after a buffet breakfast at my hotel including friend rice, pho, eggs, and fresh fruit, I booked a car through Grab, the Vietnamese "Uber" and took the 45min ride to Incense Village. I also have a "just say yes" attitude when I travel so when the sweet (and miniature) Vietnamese girl at the village offered to let me wear an Ao Dai, the traditional Vietnamese dress and conicular hat, I jumped at the opportunity. "You are so pretty, United States". I adored her!

Another "must" in Hanoi is train street. It can be difficult to find, which I knew already, so when my car ride back from Incense Village bumped over train tracks, I looked both directions and realized it was there. I jumped out of the car at a red light and thanked the driver "Cam on!" and booked it to a cafe moments before the train barreled down the tracks!

I booked another in-country direct flight for about $40 and headed south to Nha Trang the following day after popping a sleeping pill from the pharmacy and sleeping about 14hours. Jetlag is no joke when you go from West to East- plan a few days of feeling like hammered dog poop. I chose Nha Trang so I could spend some time with my friend of 20+ years before heading home. He is connected to multiple businesses in the area and runs a hostel off Pho Quoc island called Phu House Hostel (definitely check it out), but he had warned me it would rain nonstop in that area. He had spent several years prior in Nha Trang so this is where we decided to met up. The moment I arrived in Nha Trang I felt an inner peace I hadn't had in the other cities. This town is coastal so it had a fun loving beach vibe that speaks to my heart so much more than the bustling major cities. 

By this point in my trip all I wanted was to do things I can't normally do when I have my kids with me (as any mom would when she finds herself kid-free LOL). We hung out at a little beach bar called "Blue Sea Beach Bar" for HOURS! It felt so nice to have people to converse with in English. I stayed at the Panorama, which is beachside, but also walking distance to everything. In fact, this is one of the more popular hotels and it was easy to drop luggage off in-between stays and other travel plans. My friend and I took a Grab car out to Champa Island for pool time, meeting up with more friends and enjoying sauna, steamroom, and gym poolside. The drink of choice all week was local beer, which is extremely light, on ice (da) and lime. That night we visited "I Like Buffet", where I had the joy of watching my friend get into his mode entertaining the locals with his antics and making everyone feel like the most special person on the planet- it's a gift he has and I adore watching it unfold. I loved grilling my food at the table and taking in the sights in the open-air buffet. It was truly an experience one can only have in Vietnam. Then we ventured over to a local dive where several expats were meeting up and we did what we always do- grow the party by attracting others with good energy! I wish I could say we did what responsible, mature adults do and parted ways before midnight and got decent sleep, but we did not. We all stayed up laughing, dancing and sparring (him, not me) in the streets until 4am when we realized the sun would be rising at the beach momentarily. We all took motorbikes back to Blue Sea and played on the bounce houses in the ocean until dawn. We all had a blast and it was truly magical!

Fast forward a day of self-loathing and intermittent napping, and we took a bus back to Saigon. The buses in Vietnam are next level compared the the states. We each had our own bed with massager, TV, snacks, water and curtain to close. We slept HARD in preparation for my last night in the country where I wanted to watch the nightlife of downtown Saigon. If you're a partier, you'll want for nothing in downtown Saigon, but the mama is me plays it safe in unfamiliar territory. Also, we were both flying out of the city at midnight so we kept it mellow and stuck to people watching, but I definitely enjoyed immersing myself in the culture and just taking it all in. Saigon, I'll be back. 

If you take your kids to Vietnam, I highly suggest a 2-day cruise through Halong Bay, making lanterns in Hot An, visiting Ba Na Hills in Danang, and visiting one of the many Vinpearl locations across the country. If you have picky eaters, don't worry- you can find KFC, Burger King, Pizza Huts, but definitely try to encourage your kids to enjoy local cuisine as well. Plus, the food is SO cheap, it won't matter if they don't like it so long as they try it. The convenience stores also keep snacks for kids and many of them appeared much healthier than what we offer in the states. 

I'll close by quoting the enthusiastic, and warm, locals, "Vietnam, numba one!"

​Stay gold, Chelsea

The elements of fire, rain, earth, and air are not only a part of learning about mother nature as a part of a well rounded curriculum, they mirror the four temperments in our children and also the archetypes that live within each one of us. The elements appear throughout the Waldorf curriculum in verses, stories, fables, legends, art, and even in math through the royal subjects and the number gnomes in the kingdom of Numberland. 

The belief is that each element, each color, each archetype speaks to the developing child in a unique way as they're still very much apart of the ethereal world (as nature is controlled by the spiritual world known as source or God) and are transitioning into the physical world. 

WIND: I chose to start with the element of WIND on Day 1 of our unit. It was a rather windy day in Bozeman and it was a neutral termperment when thinking of my two boys. I have a fire and a rain at home in my twins so Brother Wind felt like a safe choice to begin. After saying our new verse noted in the previous blog, we read "Like a Windy Day", which I loved because the illustrations show wind in spiritual form as though it's tangible, relatable- someone a child can reach out and touch. They looked for Brother Wind all day in the trees, listened for him in the windchimes throughout our property, and even giggled over throwing trash away immediately so he couldn't snag it from them. We made cork boats with sails and raced them in the creek begind our house, but making a bark boat, kite, or windchime using recycled cans, string, and sticks would be an excellent way to tie in the learning. 

FIRE: This was my favorite day because we woke up to find it had snowed again and, without knowing what was on our agenda, my partner built a fire that morning, which was the perfect backdrop for learning! I had the boys show fire as a display on our table using beeswax to model fire, our Grimm's wooden elements, a red silk, and an image of the sun. We recited our morning verse, illustrated fire in our main-lesson book, and watched a Waldorf puppet show on youtube about Father Sun, led by a Waldorf teacher. The story was a great example of how Father Sun affects the seasons and the rhythms of nature so the boys modeled the earth on an axis (also known as a thin paintbrush) and the sun out of colored clay. They acted out the orbits and we discussed THEIR ideas of the seasons, day, time, weather and so forth. Before the "changing of the teeth", keep them in the land of imagination and magic and try not to over intellectualize anything. It's fun to spin around pretending to be the earth; they aren't interviewing for NASA anytime soon. We read The Legend of Little Firefly together and this prompted the boys to build Wigwams and canoes at the table.  Then, they watched Pocahontas from a Tipi in the living room while I took a work call. It happens, but try not to use TV too often! Limit screen time to 1-2hours every few days. Use it for emergencies, not day care. 

WATER: This day fell on a Wednesday, our busiest day away from home. We usually have a trip to the gym for mom to work out, read, check emails, and so on while they play in the childcare. Then, we have a park day with other kids in the community. Do I feel bad that we didn't learn about water today? Nope, not at all! They illustrated it in their main lesson books, we read the book, "Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky" which is a fabulous African folktale about water, and then they watched a Bill Nye episode on the water cycle while I busily cooked breakfast, packed lunches, and packed bags for our day out. When we got home, they both wanted to do a craft, which we did on the porch since the weather was so nice and then my son built a dam out of Legos and filled it with water and a boat. He opened up part of it and watched the water flow and said, "There! Now it's becoming a river" ... learning is happening internally at all times in the child's world with little, to no, interaction from us!

EARTH: It's 3:33 in the morning and I can't sleep. Tomorrow the boys should start exploring Earth, but instead of a "lesson", we're going to spend the bulk of our day outside playing and working in the garden. I encourage you all to do the same! Plant flowers or seeds, buy an indoor garden box or garden wall for herbs, make mud pies or Dirt Cake (recipe on pinterest), go for a hike, or just play outside barefoot. I MIGHT introduce Father Plus tomorrow since I just finished painting peg dolls for "Number Gnomes", but seeing as how I'm experiencing a rather sleepless night, I'm going to go with the flow. This is CRUCIAL to your success as a homeschool parent, but also as a parent in general.Kids need to see you modeling self-care. They don't want to be the reason you're stressed and worn out. That's alot of pressure for a young child. Instead of allowing anxiety to overcome you as you peruse Pinterest late at night, google new stories to teach, or read up on lessons- remind yourself that it's far better for them to learn how to be good humans than learn anything you'll teach them when you feel under pressure. Show them that you are perfectly imperfect and that you know how to step back and enjoy the rhythm of the day with them. There's more value in laying in the grass looking up at the clouds together than a math lesson- I PROMISE. Let that shit go, LOL!

Friday will likely be a monkey-ing around day or visit to a playground. We may tackle some arts and crafts, go for a hike, bake muffins together or just free play!

​Life is the curriculum...let the journey be your guide. 

Here's what we're doing this week in our new homeschool-ish life as we await starting the school with friends this fall. We'll be exploring the four elements of AIR, FIRE, WATER and EARTH,. There's an episode on my podcast, Whole Heart: Crunchy Parenting about the value of four elements for developing the inner child if you're interested. It ties in directly with the four temperaments the Greeks were kind enough to put into context for us a million years ago. 

I recommend writing the verse for the week (or two weeks if you have younger children) and illustrating with the colors of the elements. Remember, Waldorf values BEAUTY and color play excites the soul. 

Mother Earth, Mother Earth, take our seed and give it birth
Sister rain, Sister rain, shed thy tears to swell the grain
Father sun, gleam and glow, then the blade of green will grow
Earth and sun, and wind and rain, turn to gold the living grain

This can be acted out as a show with figurines or used as inspiration for your nature table if you haven't created your spring table yet!

Little guys may practice writing the word S-U-N and S-E-E-D with your help and older children may write the names of the elemental spirits in full. Perhaps you discuss the vocabulary word "swell" and showcase this by making oatmeal or chia seed pudding. Watch it SWELL. 

Explore the elements each day by taking a nature walk, gardening, baking bread, cooking over a fire, flying a kite, blowing bubbles, or making bark boats together for playing in a nearby creek. Sprinkler play is fun if it's already hot where you are. 

You, and the children can illustrate the elements by drawing a simple flower, which is perfect for spring. The EARTH (root babies underneath), the stem growing towards the heat of the fiery sun, the rain fairies wetting the leaves and stems waving in the cool breeze.

It would be great to read Rumplestiltskin this week as your fairy tale. Look for the four elements in the story! Use form drawing of circles and spirals when illustrating the story. Focus on Queen Curve as featured in the spinning wheel. Purpose you can build a pretend spinning wheel by turning a bicycle upside down and playing out the parts. The K-I-N-G is very boastful in the story. Illustrate the letter K by turning it into a King. Turn the letter P into a princess and R into Rumplestiltskin. 

Enjoy!!

Be sure to "join the tribe" for my spring book list, bucket list, and parent support. Members get access to members only content and the more members I have- the more I'll post!

​Be well!

 Kids live in their hearts. Adults live in their minds. In order to reach our children, we must fully understand their hearts AND their minds, as well as their bodies! We must also understand that they are not fully developed, but they are develop-ING

Rudolf Steiner divided human development into EPOCHS of seven years. The first seven years, kids are said to be living in the "hands" realm, focusing heavily on movement and doing. Then, they move into the "heart" realm and the emphasis is on feelings, emotions, intuition, socialization, relationships. The final stage of child development, according to Steiner is the "head" realm where they can handle more abstract concepts, use logic, ration, and more mature thinking processes of problem solving. 

It is not up to the child to meet our expectations, but instead we must adjust our expectations to meet their needs by understanding where they are in their development and aim to have a deep understanding of WHO they are in the various stages. 

Join me in reading and discussing Magical Child, by Joseph Chilton Pierce. In person book club will meet at Epoch, Bozeman, MT Wednesday evenings 4-6 pm beginning April 6th. Don't start reading just yet! Let's unfold this together...I'll email attendees a plan of attack and discussion to engage!

I'll be sharing our joys, discoveries, and realizations on the blog under "members only" and on the podcast if you can't attend, you can still engage and follow along. 

​Be well, Chelsea