Hope 4 Peyton

I just got an email from my long time reader and frequent commenter Maria. Maria is not only an Ahoy Hanoi fan but she was the first random reader that I ever met in person. Maria came to Hanoi last year and hung out with Huyen and I while she was traveling in Asia.

Maria asked if I could point my readers to another blog that she has been following for some time. The blog was written by a stay-at-home mom in Atlanta who was raising three kids, including one with cancer. Sadly the writer recently had a severe stroke and is currently considered a hemiplegic. The woman's husband has started to write her blog and is hoping for donations to help cover the costs of his wife's rehab. Please check out the site: http://www.hope4peyton.org/

I Can't Dish It But I Can Take It

(PICTURE: The breakfast, lunch and dinner table...or as I like to call it: The place I get laughed at for forty five minutes, three times a day.)

Everyone knows the old saying, "You can dish it but you can't take it." Well, over the last couple of years I've been taking it a ton and barely dishing it at all. This is especially true when I visit Huyen's family. Huyen's family is really sweet and well meaning but man, all they do is make fun of me! Here's five things they mocked me over during my first 24 hours at their house for Tet:

1. Trying to speak Vietnamese: "Oh you tried to say ___ but you said ___. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

2. Trying to help out: "Look how you wash dishes!!! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

3. My weak stomach: "Oh your stomach hurts! My stomach is fine. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

4. My lack of appetite from #3: "Oh you only ate two bowls of rice and a few pieces of chicken? You're so weak! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Actually, I can only think of these four things. However, they do these things a heck of a lot.

I've learned a lot about myself since leaving America; being able to be laughed at and to laugh along is a skill that I think everyone should have. Personally I'm still working on this skill because after a few days in a row of being laughed at I want to yell, "Lets see how you would do in America!"...and then I remember, Huyen is gonna come to America.