More Carrying Giant Vases

(PICTURE: An unusual site in Huyen's village -- a foreigner doing manual labor.)

After unloading all the stuff at Huyen's parents house, I was told we had to bring some things over to the new house in the village. The problem with the house in the village is that the street isn't drivable. This meant I had to lug a whole bunch of heavy things down the small alley. Whereas earlier in the day we had a teamwork element to moving things, at this point I found myself carrying everything by myself.

Sure enough the site of me carrying giant vases down the alley brought out all the locals. Every time I would make another trip back to the truck, a few more old heads would pop out of the alleys and start smiling, waving and talking to me. Clearly nobody there is used to seeing foreign people doing manual labor in their village.

Where's the party at?

(PICTURE: Huyen and I unloading the truck.)

I had been told that we were going to Huyen's parents' house to have a lunch party with relatives to celebrate the completion of the new house. However, when I showed up at the old house, Huyen's father was nowhere to be seen. I was quickly told that he was in the ceramic village and would be coming back in a few hours with some stuff for the shop. Well, sure enough a few hours later a U-Haul sized truck shows up filled with ceramics. There were some small ceramics and some very very very very big ceramics.

The Nguyens and I rolled up our sleeves and began to unload the truck. Sure enough, I quickly found myself carrying huge vases with Huyen. While my sweat started to stream down my face and chest, I began to wonder, "Where's the party at?"

Happy Birthday To My Amazing Sister!

(PICTURE: Hannah and me in Thailand almost two years ago!)

I'm not sure how she does it, but every year my little sister makes me prouder and prouder to be her brother. With her amazing sense of humor, her Ivy League/Almost-perfect-SAT brains and her natural beauty and charm, my sister's got it all. I often feel like a parents when I talk to people about my sister because I'm constantly bragging about her. However, the fact is that Hannah is not only my sister but one of my best friends.

I can't wait for you to get back out to Hanoi, Hannah! Love you!

Immature Billboard Post

(PICTURE: My new favorite billboard in Vietnam.)

A few weeks ago, while traveling to Huyen's parents' house, we passed a giant billboard that made me do a double take. There was a picture of a guy smelling a rose while sort of cuddling with a girl. As we passed the sign, I turned to Huyen and said, "Is that a billboard for vagina soap?" Huyen laughed and said yes. I immediately said, "Next time we drive to your house I need to take a picture of that!"

Well, the next time we drove to Huyen's parents' house, I snapped off a couple of pictures. Here's my thoughts:
1. It's a little weird to me that this billboard is above a small graveyard.
2. Could the symbolism be any more on the nose? Literally. I mean did the guy really have to be smelling a rose?
3. Did you notice the butterfly between the soap and the people? In Vietnam, "butterfly" is slang for vagina. Again, there was nothing subtle about this ad, hence how I immediately knew what it was for.

Teacher's Day!!!

(PICTURE: My kick-butt class!...missing five students who showed up late!)

Today is Vietnamese Teacher's Day! This is the day when students celebrate their teachers' awesomeness and give them flowers, sweets and presents (no cash though as that is only for good grades).

Some of my wonderful students bought me flowers, cake, a shirt and a tie. Two other students' families are taking me out to dinner tonight.


(PICTURE: My teacher's day cake!)


(PICTURE: My collection of flowers. I'll never get this many flowers again unless I get my opera career on the fast track.)

I'm pretty sure we don't have a Teachers Day in America but I think it is time we do!

Vietnamese Idioms

There are many Vietnamese idioms that have the same meaning as common English idioms. One such idiom is, "That's like the cat calling the dog's butt hairy." This is the equivalent to, "The pot calling the kettle black." For those who don't know either of these idioms, they basically refer to when someone calls someone out for something that they themselves are guilty of.

Welllllllll, I finally got to use "That's like the cat calling the dog's butt hairy" on Huyen. You see, a few times this year, Huyen has lectured me on keeping my foot on the brake of my motorbike. She said that the guy at the shop says I must be resting my foot on the brake which has caused the brake pad to wear down at a faster rate than usual. I must admit that I do often keep my foot gently on the brake because 1) there's really no place else to put my foot 2) I don't mind replacing the brake pad a little sooner if it means I can brake a little sooner in crazy traffic.

The other day though when Huyen and I hauled stuff back to her parents' house, I noticed something on the highway. What can you see in this picture of Huyen driving down the highway:



You should have noticed that her brake light is on with nothing but an open road in front of her. Clearly someone has their foot on the brake! Indeed that's like the cat calling the dog's butt hairy.

We-Haul

Last weekend Huyen and I hauled a whole bunch of stuff back to her house. We took about 30 pounds of candy (for the wedding), 10 pounds of watermelon seeds (also for the wedding), a giant picture of the two of us (yes, for the wedding), our wedding photo album (wait, I haven't even blogged about our wedding photos yet! How did I miss that one?!), a baby mobile (the thing that hangs above a crib, not a phone) for our new nephew and the clock my parents bought for Huyen's new house. There was so much stuff that we couldn't fit it all on one bike so we had to caravan to Huyen's parents' house. Check out my bike which became the Vietnamese version of U-haul: