Monday, December 27, 2010

Chúc Giáng Sinh Vui Vẻ!

That means Merry Christmas in Vietnam although at this point it is two days after Christmas. Around the middle of December it got pretty cold here in Vietnam. I had to break out my winter coat. However, weather here in Hanoi is fickle. At the time I jokingly told Bryn that in a week we'd be in short sleeves again. I was wrong. It only took one day for it to again be warm.

By Christmas Eve it was even warmer.  That night I met up with Trinh, a Vietnamese girl that I met at an art gallery a while back.  We had been meeting every so often to teach each other our respective languages. I picked her up from the art gallery around 8:00pm and we went to have Pho, which is a very popular type of noodle soup (it's actually a little strange for me at this point to believe that four months ago I had never even heard of Pho). Trinh is Catholic and wanted to check out the nativity scene at the nearby cathedral. So we went there and then walked around Hoan Kiem Lake (all of this is located near Hanoi's Old Quarter).

There were tons of people out. Christmas is celebrated in Hanoi but not many people really celebrates it. Mostly young people just like wearing Santa hats and getting their picture taken next to fake Christmas trees. I'm not the biggest Christmas person, but it was a little sad that the only Christmas festivities (despite the nativity scene I suppose) were extremely commercial in nature. I also really miss egg nog.   

However, despite this, I had a good time on Christmas Eve. Earlier that week MCC threw a Christmas party. I invited my host brother and some of his friends to come along:






Also, earlier on Christmas Eve I made salsa (it's like the only food I know how to make) which actually turned out well. I couldn't find corn chips but I did end up finding tortillas and so I made my own corn chips. I think my family liked it. Either that or they humored me.

On Christmas day a friend of mine invited me to her birthday party. I went with her and her friends to sing karaoke. Unless someone slipped something into my egg nog in a past Christmas that I don't remember, that is probably the first time I've sung Vietnamese pop songs on Christmas. It also got cold again on Christmas day. I think because of the great temperature change, I caught a cold. Despite this, yesterday I visited my colleague Anh's house for the first time and hung out with her husband and two young sons.  I also Skyped with my family earlier that day.

All in all it was a good week. It doesn't feel at all like Christmas/New Years but I'm glad I could see family and friends.

1 comment:

  1. HI, Nathan, Great Blogs and photos! It was so wonderful to see you on Skype! Please give my best to your host Family. When in Wenatchee, I kept thinking: 'Where's Nathan?', 'Did he go snow boarding on Mission Ridge?'...then I'd remember that you are in VN. I missed you! Puffy slept on my bed every night. LOL! Hugs, Auntie Non

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