I love the smell of burning plastic in the morning

From  my 16th story building I can see several fires burning.  The Vietnamese have not learned the importance of protecting the environment.  I have a hard time sleeping here and I suspect I am affected by the pollution.  Fires burn constantly emitting a myriad of odors, but burning plastic is my favorite!

Invitation to speak at a local high school

One of Thahn Su's friends, Thien, is a math teacher and asked if Arin and I would help distribute stuff to the poor kids.  Well that 's what I thought he asked.....We accepted, then arrived to find ourselves as the honored guests at an award ceremony facing hundreds of high school students.  We were seated at the head table and given lucky money to distribute to the high scorers on the state tests.  At one point, I was asked to give a speech.  Of course I was not prepared  and am now forever memorialized on DVD stumbling through a speech in front of 800 students.  To further my embarrassment, I was wearing shorts while everyone else was dressed up.  My friend said it didn't matter because they were used to it from Americans, but still, I apologize to all Americans for embarrassing us so!  At the end  of the assembly, Arin and I were given gifts of a 2016 SanDiego calendar and wall clocks.......

The TET holiday or Lunar New Year

Tet is celebrated in Vietnam and China.  The most obvious indication of Tet are the yellow flowers.  Thousands of potted yellow mums and yellow flowering trees invade the scene of Vietnam.  Most families purchase a pot for their home, but the interesting part is that they let them die afterwards, even though they are contained in pots.  Arin likens it to our Christmas tree tradition.  Also, specific foods are placed on an altar for good luck, then red envelopes of lucky money are distributed to family, etc.

The nun seranade at the Buddhist temple

We were invited to visit a local temple where we had lunch and tea with, and then were serenaded by, the nuns.  Arin especially enjoyed the visit as he had the chance to engage in a philosophical discussion with an actual Buddhist  nun, and has been invited back.

Grocery shopping with the family

Arin and I have become quite good friends with Thanh Su, the music teacher, and his friends.  We were invited to lunch at his female friend Dung's home today.  Her home is housed in a vegetarian restaurant. Her son Anh Hoang is the cook. We couldn't have made better friends.  Usually, socializing is a big problem for Arin because he is vegetarian, so to be friends with vegetarians is perfect for us, especially since all socializing involves eating food, and lots of it. I have had many tofu dishes in Vietnam, and Anh Hoang is the first cook who has made it edible.  Apparently, fried tofu can be quite tasty if done right.  After breakfast, 9 of us hopped into the van *there are no installed seat belts* and had fruit juice on the river, and then 6 of us went shopping at Metro in Saigon, the best Metro, I was told.  Dung helped me choose some new interesting food items, and vegetarian frozen food for Arin.  The whole store is decorated with red lanterns and monkeys as we are close to Lunar New Year's day and it is the year of the monkey.

Do you seriously want me to ride a bicycle in this traffic!

Arin is off with Thang Su today receiving what he thinks is a bicycle.  On the way home in the car last night, Arin was sitting by Thang Su and Thang Su offered him a gift of what he thinks is a bicycle and is hoping is not a motorbike.  Of course Arin was trying to refuse the gift but ultimately was not successful.  Thang Su just came to collect him, so I will update when he returns.

Almost everyone in Vietnam drives a scooter but, although it looks like fun and is safer than walking, I have decided not to buy one as everywhere I go is within 1 mile.  I have been considering a bike, so it would be a nice gift for me.

Arin and I have decided that at our next Vietnamese class, we need a lesson in how to politely refuse a gift in Vietnam.

Update: Yes it was a bicycle and Arin took his life in his hands riding it home.  I tried riding it but the tire was flat.  I asked one of my adult students where I could get it repaired and next thing I knew, he was phoning me at 6:30 am and driving me to the repair shop, and then paying for everything.  This friend's name is Tony.

Vung Tau at the beach

What a day! Arin and I were invited to the home of a local music teacher.  Yesterday while I was at the river eating my sticky rice, Thang Su had introduced himself by offering me some raisins out of a new pack he was opening.  After a long discussion, I received an invitation to his home, so today, he had his neighbor collect us in a car and take us to his home where we commenced to sing and dance, accompanied by his 25 year old son, his female neighbor Dung, who was my age and spoke pretty good English, her 35 year old son who happens to own a vegetarian restaurant, and her 4 year old son..  After a couple hours of singing, dancing and of course eating, Thang Su asked me a question which I thought was an invitation to visit the local temple/pagoda.  I accepted the invite because my coworker Lydia had extolled the virtues of a local temple and had stated that it was difficult to visit, due to it being out of the way.  I tried to invite Lydia to come also, but obviously, I did not overcome the language barrier because not only did we go without Lydia, but we also did not go to a temple. We went to the beach. As we were driving and driving and driving, each time we passed a temple, I would think, "This has to be the one!" Needless to say, we were not visiting a local pagoda, we were visiting the Pagoda Beach Club which is 2 hours away!  By the time we drove the 35 miles and stopped for vegetarian food, we finally arrived at the beach about one hour before sunset, at 4:30pm.  This place was very nice.  It was relatively clean.  It had a restaurant and tents which one could rent.  Dung informed me that 2 week vacations here are common.  One can also rent chairs by the hour as did we. The water was believably warm.  I used to say that Hawaii was like a bathtub, but it does not compare to Vung Tau!  Thang Su serenaded us with his guitar while the waves literally sparkled with the light from the full moon.  It was a very lovely, unexpected day.