Friday, January 23, 2009

Off to the village...

(PICTURE: It's the year of the OX.)

Today Huyen and I are driving to her village to spend Tet with her family. There is a big celebration in Hanoi for Tet tonight but from what I've been told, it's more traditional to spend Tet in the country with relatives. In my head I've compared it to this: spending Thanksgiving in NYC watching the Macy's Day Parade or spending Thanksgiving at my home in Livingston watching the parade on TV while eating my mom's cooking. The latter will always win...even though Huyen's house might not have a TV.

The best part -- blog wise -- about going to Huyen's house is that I have to share a twin size bed with her seventeen-year-old brother. Today I'm going to practice a few new Vietnamese phrases including:

1. Please don't cuddle with me.

2. Roll over, please.

3. Don't worry about it, I went through puberty once too.

After Huyen's house I'm going to be going on a five day motorbike trip with some friends. Because Huyen's village doesn't have internet -- and I'm assuming wherever I go on my bike -- over the next week I'm going to post some belated entries from my trip with Hannah. Happy Tet everyone!!!

(PICTURE: The only Ox I'm really familiar with.)