Terrible Wedding News -- There Will Be No Hora Dance

(PICTURE: Sadly, this won't be Huyen and me at our wedding.)

I'm very saddened to report that there will be no hora dance at our wedding. As much as I want to have the dance be part of the celebration, there just won't be any room at Huyen's parents' house. I keep talking about Huyen's parents' new home, but I don't think I've really explained well how big it is. Well, it's just not that big especially when you consider that there will be basically two shifts of two hundred people coming to the house. That's right, we're expecting about four hundred people at the wedding. In order to accommodate everyone, there will be tables covering 99% of the space at Huyen's house. With that many people and tables, there's just no space for a dance floor.

That said, we will definitely try and get a hora dance going on the second night of our post-wedding trip with friends and family at the bonfire we have planned!

Harley Chick

(PICTURE: Mona Lisa could ride a Honda Wave.)

Something occurred to me recently when I was riding down the highway, following Huyen on her motorbike. As I watched my wife glide past cars, I had the epiphany -- I'm sort of married to a Harley Chick!

Ice Hockey

(PICTURE: The greatest goal celebration ever.)

Shocking blog: There is no ice hockey in Vietnam. Yeah, I can't believe it either. How can a country hope to go from a developing country to a developed country without even one ice hockey rink! I mean, what the hell was the point of being politically tied to the Russians for so many decades if they weren't even gonna build one public ice rink? It just doesn't make sense.

Everyone always asks me what I miss most about home. The list goes like this:
1. My family and friends
2. The Food
3. Ice hockey

It is especially this time of year that I miss hockey. Between the NHL in full swing, not having played on a team for nearly three years now and my annual high school reunion game around the corner, I'm really fighting the urge to fly to Moscow for a day to strap on a pair of skates. On top of that, I recently taught one of my classes about all the different types of sports. The kids knew all the sports except basically ice hockey. I told all the kids about how much I love ice hockey and now not a class doesn't go by that someone says "ice hockey" in a sentence. For example, if we're practicing the days of the week someone might say: "On Tuesday I played ice hockey." Or if we're practicing present continuous a student might say: "I am playing ice hockey." Of if we're practicing adverbs of frequency someone might say, "I always play ice hockey." All this talk of ice hockey is maddening!!! I just hope Huyen doesn't mind sitting in the bleachers at a rink and watching her husband play because I'm joining a mens league as soon as I get home!

Transitioning from a Jewish mother to a Vietnamese wife

I've commented in the past that there are way more similarities than you would think between Jewish mothers and Vietnamese mothers. Well, I'm starting to learn that there are a lot of similarities between Jewish mothers and Vietnamese wives too. Recently I fell ill with either food poisoning or the stomach flu; I'm not sure which one it was but it was absolutely brutal for twenty four hours. While sick, the caring and nursing of me by Huyen was right on par with how my mom used to take care of me when I was a child. In fact, I could basically hear my mother's voice coming from Huyen's mouth a few times...minus a couple of nouns which were interchanged -- specifically the noun "rice."

There was one moment where Huyen said to me, "You need to eat rice to feel better!" I looked at Huyen and said, "Rice? I've never eaten rice to feel better in the past." A little while later I had some homemade soup (with rice in it) and did feel quite better. It wasn't exactly my mom's chicken soup (although she offered chicken but I wasn't in a meat eating mood) but it definitely did the trick.

Gestures Not To Do In Front Of Teenagers

The other night I made my biggest teaching gaffe ever. I was teaching thirteen teenagers some very basic classroom language with the help of a slightly blurry worksheet. One of the students pointed at the picture of a pencil sharpener and asked what it was since it wasn't clear based on the picture. All the students looked up at me at the same time as I said, "That's a pencil sharpener." At the same time I made a fist with one hand and stuck out my index finger with the other. I then repeated "pencil sharpener" as I attempted to make a pencil sharpening gesture by inserting my index finger into my fist and turning it. Well, it took only a half second for every student to start giggling uncontrollably at the clearly sexual-ish gesture. It took another half second for me to wince and shake my head, clearly knowing I made a teaching gaffe.

On a side note to any teenagers who might be reading this: If you ever put your "pencil" into a "sharpener" and it gets grinded (like in a pencil way, not in a fun way), I promise you won't be laughing.

Is that an egg in your pocket or are you happy to see me?

The other night Huyen came home from work and threw her bags onto the bed. She then took of her puffy vest and threw that on the bed too. When that hit the bed there was a small, but noticeable cracking sound. Huyen immediately winced and pulled out a plastic bag with two egg in it from her vest pocket. I looked at her quizzically and then asked, "How long have you been carrying eggs in your pocket?" Huyen shuck her head at the egg and answered, "I just bought them." This was a true Vietnamese moment to me for a few reasons:

1. In America we don't buy just one or two eggs at a time.
2. We surely don't stop on the street on our way home from work in the city and buy two eggs to carry home on our motorbikes (or cars for that matter).
3. We always have sort-of-protective cardboard egg crates to keep our eggs from breaking. Here they just put eggs in plastic bags.
4. It was a testament to how fresh dinner is every night that these eggs in Huyen's pocket were minutes away from being in our meal.

As a foreigner, I just found this moment very funny. I'm pretty sure I've never carried eggs in my pocket.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Today is officially the saddest day of the year for me as there is nothing in life I enjoy more than spending the last Thursday of November with my family. To make me feel better, Huyen has clearly done her research on Thanksgiving this year. This morning, the first thing she said to me was "Happy Thanksgiving" and then began to tell me what she was thankful for. Besides that, I discovered some Thanksgiving recipes she had downloaded off of the internet. I know she's planning on cooking me some traditional food tonight including mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Although, the later will be a tad difficult though since we don't have an oven.

I really hope that this is the last Thanksgiving that I'll ever spend away from my family. The great thing about marrying Huyen is that we'll never have to fight over where we spend Turkey Day. Equally, I'll always agree to spend Tet at her family's house rather than mine.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'd like to take a moment to say what I'm thankful for:

First, I'm thankful for my amazing family who have not only been supportive of me over the last few years, but forever. I'm thankful for how they have welcomed Huyen into their lives with open arms. A person couldn't ask for more amazing parents or siblings.

I'm thankful for Huyen who has made every day of my life better since I first met her. It doesn't take Thanksgiving for me to realize how special she is to me. Every morning I'm thankful when I say good morning to her and every night I'm thankful when I say goodnight to her. I can't wait to spend the rest our lives together.

I'm thankful for the whole Nguyen family who have accepted me from the start and have welcomed me into their family. Huyen's whole family treats me like one of their own, which has given my life extra meaning.

I'm thankful for my amazing friends in America, Vietnam and around the world. I can't put into words how lucky I am to have such great friends. Soon Huyen and I will be celebrating our wedding with friends from Japan, Australia, America and Vietnam. However, we've made countless other friends over the last few years from all corners of the world. Whether close or far, I'm thankful for the friendships I've made over the years.

Finally, I'm thankful for all my blog readers. I started this thing for my mom and it has evolved into so much more. Every time I think about ending the blog, I think about all the people out there who read my blog on a regular basis. I appreciate your readership and support. The blog has definitely turned into a part of my life, and it wouldn't be without all of you.

Have a great Thanksgiving! Make sure you tell everyone who you're thankful for what they mean to you!