TEMPERATURE RISING BUT WITH AC

We have read a lot about North American cold and snow this winter. We have even seen some lovely white pictures via web newspapers. In order to help you achieve balance, if you feel you've had too much cold and snow this winter - a word about heat in Saigon.
We are coming to the end of our cold season, so we are told. That means the end of cool days reaching only to 32C (88 F) and nights as low as 20C (68 F). Right now we sit in our office/3rd bedroom with the window open and fan running, and even at 4:30 pm we can manage without AC. Of course we will go out a little later this evening and it will be a lovely 28 or 29 degrees. By morning when we re-open our windows, the breeze will feel almost too cool - maybe only 21 C.
But -- days of 34 - 38 C. are coming (93 - 100 F). So we are thankful that our landlords have just installed a lovely large AC unit for our LVG - DNG - Kitchen area. With small units in each of our bedrooms, we will only run one, maybe occasionally two units at a time. So for those of you worrying about us suffering in the heat (what? in the midst of snow and cold you have not worried about us in hot weather? :) ), we will be fine.
What has surprised and delighted us is that other than the small "mom and pop" stores, most stores and restaurants have AC. Some of them blast such cold air that Jan takes a shawl to keep from freezing. After a walk of a few blocks in 32 degrees, it is a great relief to step into a cool store. All the city taxis have AC. Of course that is no help to the majority of people who travel by motorbikes in this city; with mandatory helmets.
We have learned that it is not unusual for Vietnamese congregations to meet as early as 7:00 am for a Sunday service. That is one way to avoid the heat - and allow people to still get to work on time. However since we have been asked to hold our Sunday services at 11:30 am, we are very thankful that our host church has very good air conditioning. So once we get our legal status and begin services, the heat should not be a barrier for Sunday attendance.