The Blogger Becomes The Blogged

The other day I got an email from one of my former students:

Dear Ben,
I'm Long, Do you remember me ? I took your course at Language Link (PRE-INTER3). I very pleasure in studying with you and meeting with your family in the last class. I like you to send me some photos which you took that night in order to upload it to my blog. Please send it for me !

About my blog, I have created and written blog since September. I write blog when I have free time and it seems to be a relaxation. More over, writing blog regularly helps me keep a bright brain, do you think so ? And if you also have blog, can you share it with me ?

My blog address is : http://konansite.co.cc or if you can't access it, please try direct link : http://konan.vnjoomlas.com .

I write my blog in Vietnamese, but I have English corner where I publish my article in English. Also, it's one of the way to improve my English skill. However, I have only one article which wrote about our class at Language Link when I finished my course because it is not easy for me to write an English article . In addition, you can also see our picture in my album.
I hope you will enjoy reading my blog !!!
Regard,

Long

Yup, the blogger has become the blogged. In case you can't access Long's link I've cut and pasted it here:

By now, I have free time to write an entry about my first course at Language Link. There was a coincidence because my teacher was also my interviewer when I came LL for the first time - Mr.Ben. He is an interesting person and I can see him a lot of good point such as generous, honest, open-hearted when he's talking with each other. Also, he is great of fun, he sometimes tells us jokes to make something funny in our class.

I feel very comfortable when studying in this class. Mr.Ben seems to be concentrate on speaking and listening skill in our class. It's all of thing that I need because I'm not good at both of these skills. Talking a lot with each other helps me improve most of weak points that I encounter when I study in my university. Some people in my class think that it's not good for us to focus only two skill, but I think they are very important skill we need when we communicate with foreign people. Another skill I can learn by myself.

One point I like in my class is every body was so friendly. Almost of them was easy-going, easy for to me make friend. Even more one of the most active people in my class is Mr.Hoang, he was talkative. He always asks Ben everything he don't know without brainstorm to find out the solutions to solve problems. Another people usually makes me pay attention to him is Mr.Quan. I can only say that he is very interesting people like Mr.Ben. He usually tells us joke, like Ben, andl his jokes so fun that I laugh a lot. But, beside the fun of his stories, I can learn something which have a valuable experience. In general, friends is one of the point I like best when I study in Ben's class.

In the last class, I had the meeting with Ben's family include his parents and his cousin. They was so friendly and this thing has changed my mind about foreign people, especial the people come from the USA. And I was really impressed by Ben's cousin. He was a stylish man, and may be more handsome than Ben :D It was very lucky for me to sit near by him, and we talked a lot about everything such as family, favorite, even Internet technology because both Ben's cousin and I like World Wide Web ^^! Perhaps, that was the first time I communicated naturally with foreign people. I won't never forget that night, and I want to thank to Ben for making a chance for me to practice English more than ever.

In conclusion, I value highly Ben's class and I am really satisfied with my fisrt class at Language Link. I hope I will take the same class in the future.

Vietnamese Pool

Tired of solids vs. stripes or traditional pool? Well, the Vietnamese have a great variation on the game if you're with a couple of friends. Here's how it works:

First, you need a deck of cards. You shuffle the deck and deal out 7 cards to each person who wants to play. Each card represents balls on the table: Ace is the one ball. Two is the two ball. Three is the three ball. etc. etc. until you get to... Jack is the eleven ball. Queen is the twelve ball. King is the thirteen ball. The fourteen and fifteen ball are free balls (however it is a scratch if you hit in a free ball before you hit in one of your own balls).

When your ball is sunk in a pocket you get to throw down your cards. The first one to no longer have any cards wins. It's that simple...minus a few other little rules:

Rule 1: You can't throw down any cards until YOU hit in one of your balls.
Rule 2: If you scratch two times you're out of the game...and must do ten push-ups.
Rule 3: If someone throws down all their cards before you have made any shots you must do ten push-ups.
Rule 4: If you scratch you must pick up two more cards. If the corresponding balls for those cards have already been sunk, you have to pick up two more cards until you get ones that represent balls on the table.
Rule 5: Whoever has the most cards left after someone is out must do a push-up for each card in their hand.

It's a fun game and if you suck at pool like me, it's an easy way to get a good chest and triceps workout.

Chicken Speakeasy

Last night was an interesting one. After working all day, Huyen and I went to her friend Tu's birthday party at a hot pot restaurant. Following the birthday feast, Huyen's friend Hien and her boyfriend Dzung asked us if we wanted to shoot some pool. I agreed with the clause that I'd only like to play for an hour or two since I had some work to do. At this point it was just about 8pm.

Well, we got to the billiards hall and met up with three of Dzung's friends where we proceeded to play pool for the next couple of hours. Just as I was getting ready to depart, the owner of the billiard's hall invited our group to the VIP room. Everyone was so excited to get VIP status -- including myself since I didn't know you could be a VIP at a billiard's hall -- that I decided to stick around for "a half hour more."

We followed the owner up a metal winding staircase to the upstairs VIP lounge. Basically the room was VIP because:
a) It had plush couches.
b) Fancy pool cues.
c) Waiter service.
d) A clean, quietish bathroom.

Two hours later, somewhere in the ballpark of 12:30 AM, we asked for our bill to leave. As we were taking off one of Dzung's friends invited us to get some "very good chicken." I asked him where he wanted to go since it was already past midnight and the city wide curfew was in effect (the front gates of the pool hall were already locked and we had to exit through a side door). He told me there was a chicken place up the road that was open all night.

Well, he wasn't lying. We rode our bikes about a 1/4 of a kilometer up the road and stopped on the side of the street where a man was sitting in a chair. One word was exchanged: "Ga?" The man nodded yes and motioned for us to turn off our bikes. Just then a few teenage boys came hustling out of an alley and collected our bikes and ushered us through a door which was slightly cracked open. Inside the door was an all white room with two tables set up in the middle. From what I could tell it was just a garage that had had its walls painted and tile put on the floor. For all intensive purposes we were in a speakeasy...that served chicken.

A minute or two went by and a woman brought us out a couple plates of chicken. I can honestly say with no exaggeration it was by far the best chicken I've had since leaving the states. I now have my Thankgsiving plans if no turkey pans out.

Huyen's Visa Story Part 1

Huyen is officially invited to two of my friends weddings next June. In order to be able to go to America she's going to need a tourist visa. As I'm sure you can imagine in this post 9/11 world, that's not an easy task. I have read all the literature about getting a visa and combed through all the information online and I know it's going to be an uphill battle to get Huyen her visa. Basically Huyen has to be able to prove that she's not going to land in America and skip out on her flight back to Vietnam. This requires tons of documents, copies of bank account information, property ownership papers, work contracts, etc. etc.

The first step to getting Huyen her visa though was for Huyen to get her passport. Like 99.99999% of Vietnamese people, Huyen has never gone to another country and thus had no passport. Well, check it off the list because she's now got a brand spanking new Vietnamese passport. Huyen even bragged to me that she, "Has more blank pages than me which means she can travel to more places than [I] can."

Get Over It, Pete Cullen

One of the great things about the blog is that it has put me back in touch with a bunch of old friends. Well, this morning I awoke to find an email from an old friend -- Pete Cullen. For those truly avid readers, you'll recall me mentioning Pete in a post back in May (http://ahoyhanoi.blogspot.com/search?q=Pete+Cullen).

Long story short, in 1997 I tied Pete for "senior athlete" in our senior superlatives at Livingston High School. Some people considered my tying Pete to be an obvious case of voter fraud (mostly my close friends and family). Even now many people think my tying Pete was more disturbing than Bush winning the Presidency in 2000 despite losing the popular vote.

Over ten years have passed since we posed together with _______ (I can't remember which girl one it? Jill Gordan maybe?) in the school paper. You would think that a decade plus would be enough time for Pete to get over me tying him but apparently he's gonna need some more time. Check out some excerpts from his email he sent me this morning which is SEETHING with bitterness:

Hi Ben,

I just wanted to say hello, and let you know that I am an avid reader of your blog (TRANSLATION: You should stick to blogging and not playing sports, pansy). Everyday when I get to work the first site I go to is yours, and it is great to see your adventures day in and day out (TRANSLATION: I just want to check every day that you're still not living in America because if you were I'd challenge you to the sport of your choice anywhere, anytime). You are really doing something special out there, and I am sure your family is so proud of you despite you being more than halfway around the world! I enjoyed reading all the recaps of the days they were out there visiting you. I missed seeing your father at all the football games this year, and I hope he is feeling better. Tell him I said hello (TRANSLATION: I bet your dad wishes he spawned a real athlete like me).

I hope everything works out with Huyen, you guys really seem to genuinely enjoy each other every second of the day (TRANSLATION: Huyen doesn't seem like the athletic type so any kid you two might have will be inferior athletically to any kid I'll have). It’s so great to see you having a once in a lifetime experience out there (TRANSLATION: You know what else is once in a lifetime? My LHS basketball scoring record).

Keep up the great work, stay safe, and continue to enjoy yourself (TRANSLATION: If you know what is good for you you'll stay away from NJ until our 20 year reunion) .

From an old Livingston pal, (TRANSLATION: Your nemesis)

Peter Cullen

Great to hear from you, Pete! Oh, Dad, Pete says hi!

Huyen's Grandfather

(PICTURE: Huyen and her Grandfather)

I've met Huyen's Grandfather a few times and every time leave with a growing fondness for him. The man is one of the nicest, most genuine people I have ever met. Every time he sees me he wants to make sure I'm comfortable and has personally taken it upon himself to teach me Vietnamese (using the same resources he uses to teach Huyen's 2 year old nephew).

Huyen recently told me a story about her Grandfather which I think is worth repeating. About two months ago Huyen's Grandmother had surgery at a hospital in Hanoi. Huyen's Grandfather stayed with his wife for the whole seven days she was in the hospital. He literally slept on the cold hospital floor to keep her company. Well, one night while he was sleepig someone picked his pocket and stole his wallet (Yeah, what kind of scum of the earth robs people at the hospital?). Besides his money being stolen, Huyen's Grandfather lost his ID cards and other important information/documents he kept in his wallet. Well, about two weeks after the incident a package arrived in the mail for Huyen's Grandfather. In the package was his wallet with a note from the person who sent it saying they had found it near their house. This wouldn't be so strange except for the fact that their house was 300 kilometers away! Huyen's grandfather was so thankful that these strangers sent him his wallet that he bought them presents and drove 300 kilometers on his motorbike to personally deliver them. Yes, this 70+ year old man drove 300 kilometers there and 300 kilometers back to say thank you. That's the type of man he is.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

(Huyen and her 97-year-old great grandmother. She isn't blind, I just caught her while she was blinking)

In another time space continuum leap, today we're going to travel back a month or so to when I visited Huyen's Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle, and Great Grandmother. I would have posted this sooner but I didn't bring my camera that day and it has taken me a long time to figure out how to get Huyen's camera to work on my computer.

The journey to Huyen's Uncle's house took us about an hour or so....minus natural obstacles. After driving for a while Huyen told me to turn down a dirt road. At the end of the dirt road was a large river I was told we had to cross since our destination was on the other side. At the river bank was docked an old boat. There didn't appear to be anyone in charge of the boat or for that matter anyone else in the vincity who needed a boat ride. Huyen pointed at the boat and told me that it was our transportation and we had to wait for some other people to come before the boat would leave. I asked, "How long will that be?" Huyen shrugged her shoulders. After about ten minutes an elderly woman rode up on her bicycle. She proceeded to talk to Huyen and then handed me a little plastic bag. The woman thanked me and rode her bike away. I asked Huyen what just happend and she said the woman's relative has diarhea on the other side of the river and this was her medicine. Yeah, I was crossing the river with some ladies Immodium AD.

Eventually we made it across the river and found Huyen's Uncle's house. Despite not being able to communicate with anyone except her six year old cousin who spoke five words of English, I had a lot of fun. It probably helped that I spent the afternoon taking shots of vodka with all the male members of her family.