(PICTURE: Rick at the temple of literature.)
My parents of the year award this year goes to my friend Rick and his wife Pri. Rick and Pri did something so awesomely non conformist that I've got to tip my hat to them -- they decided to move to Sri Lanka for six months so their two little kids could learn about the place where their mother and grandparents were born. To me, this is an experience that will be with their kids forever and go a long way for them to understand who they are. I really want to make sure that my future kids know Vietnamese and are proud of their Vietnamese background; doing what Rick and Pri are doing is definitely something that I hope Huyen and I could do too in the future. You can follow Pri's fantastic blog about their time in Sri Lanka here.
While the rest of his family is living in Sri Lanka, Rick is commuting back and forth to LA where he is producing a few television shows. On one of his trips back to LA recently, he stopped in Hanoi to say hello and to be given a Hanoi food tour. You see, like me, Rick is a total foodie. Even while living here, he has sent me emails about restaurants in both New York and LA. In fact, when he arrived he not only brought us some delicious Sri Lanka tea but he also gave us a gift certificate to one of his favorite restaurants in New York as a wedding present.
During Rick's visit we took him to almost all of our favorite spots. He was so thoroughly stuffed by the end that he barely ate any of his goat at my favorite goat hot pot restaurant! To me, Rick was the perfect type of visitor: someone who just wants to take in as much of the culture as possible while eating every step along the way.
On a side not, Rick got to experience how cold Hanoi could be. Before we went motorbiking around the city he borrowed my vest and one of Huyen's scarves. You can see them in the picture at the top of the blog. At some point during the day (I think exactly when I took that picture) it occurred to me that he looked just like Huyen in this photo:
(PICTURE: Huyen roller skating in my vest and her red scarf.)
