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:

My Favorite Snack

My consecutive blogging streak came to an end yesterday as I was bed bound all day with the stomach flu. However, thanks for the incredible nursing skills of Huyen, I'm back on my feet today and ready to keep blogging.

(PICTURE: Passion fruit and goat milk yogurt.)

I thought I would share with everyone my favorite snack that I like to think I personally created. It's quite a simple snack but I haven't seen it served anywhere except in my kitchen. The ingredients:

1. A few passion fruit
2. Fresh goat milk yogurt

Directions: Cut open the passion fruit and scoop out the seeds and juice. Then add fresh goat milk yogurt. Mix together and then eat.

Yes, it's incredibly simple but it's absolutely delicious. If you don't have goat milk yogurt at your convenience (I've got a place that sell is about 75 feet from my house) then regular cow's milk yogurt works just fine.

That's A Vietnamese Wedding Custom?!!!!!

A minute ago, I was typing a blog when Huyen started laughing. I looked over to my right and saw her reading from this book:



After giggling for a minute, Huyen told me to listen and then read a passage from the book. Here's the passage:



If that isn't a reason to get cold feet then I don't know what is!!!!!