A Quiet Christmas

Greetings!  I didn't mean to wait quite so long to post but I know Christmas is a busy time back "home..." and it seems not much happens here until all of a sudden I load in all the photos I think are worth sharing!

Our business cards came back so now we don't have to feel silly not having something to hand back to a person who hands us his or her card.  I was proud they turned out correct since I ordered them from a totally non-English speaking Vietnamese fellow.  And I had to find the street with a lot of signs marked "danh thiep" which is "business card."  He wanted to sell me 1000 (!) because as in the US, it's not much more to buy in huge bulk amounts.  But I told him I only needed 100.

Independence Palace, also known as Reunification Palace.
This is not the main entrance, but we thought the trees
bending toward each other were cool.

The Presidential bedroom in the palace, including a sitting
room with groovy 60's/70's furniture

The projection room to watch movies in the palace!  Such
cool old equipment.

These are said to be "severed elephant feet" given as a gift to
the president.  Ewww!  Are they real?

 On Saturday Dec. 10 Bob's knee was still healing (it's much better now, although he is still wrapping it up for a long walk, for extra support) so I spent the day being a tourist with my colleague Hui Hiang and 2 of her optometry friends visiting from Singapore.  We saw several sights I'd seen before but it was my first time in the Reunification Palace.  This was the home and workplace of the president of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese army tank crashed through its gates. (there's your history lesson reminder).  The 1960's architecture and decor was interesting to see, as well as the basement "war room" and telecommunications center with old radio transmitters and maps on the walls.

The following Saturday I helped with the party my local church threw for a the Sunlight and Sunrise Shelters.  The pastor calls it an orphanage but he also told me many of the children are abandoned and yet they are not up for adoption.  They are sheltered here and educated (but they didn't know much English so I could only interact on a limited basis, sadly), and 3 of the home supervisors came along; according to the pastor they are to be watchdogs so the church only has a party and does not evangelize the children, since the shelter is run by the government.  The children were so sweet and the girls sang us a song at the end.  All the students knew the words to "We wish you a Merry Christmas" in English!  We had lunch (Domino's Pizza and Popeye's chicken!!!  Not my choice, lol, but the kids of course loved it), played games, had a skit and a story, and gave each child a gift bag.  It was nice but I do wish I could communicate better!

The above picture is an alley-way nativity scene I walked past.  Lots of foil used for a "snowy" look.  I like the snowman in the bottom and the Santas sliding down the roof.  Lots of blending going on!

Christmas Eve we headed to the City Center and the historic Notre Dame cathedral (established by French colonists, built between 1863-1880).  Mass was to begin at 8:50 and we were advised to arrive around 5 pm because of the crowds.  There were masses of people!!  We wandered around and ate dinner but still stood outside the cathedral for a long time, chatting to other tourists and locals who wanted to practice English on us.  We weren't sure if we'd get in because of some confusion about needing tickets, but we learned some Vietnamese were let in first and they had tickets (perhaps they were church members?) and instead of leaving we stayed, having some hope of getting in.  Then a man told Bob foreigners could get in without a ticket!  So we were let in after all.  The mass was in Vietnamese but it was still pretty cool to be in that church.  They had a small portion (abbreviated homily) in French and in English.  The photo shows the lights decorating the cathedral, as well as the many, many motorbikes!  (my captioning isn't working all of a sudden...sigh, me and computers)

 

This Santa dude made us laugh, he wanted a picture and he kept saying "Ho! Ho! Ho!" in a deep voice.  I think he was getting the biggest kick out of himself!

On one of my walks I saw for the first time puppies being sold streetside.  I resisted the sale, haha!  

Finishing up with a few random things.  The health club I joined was having a time of having a photographer in for some sessions, apparently for a promotional video.  Last Friday evening I went there, invited for a party (wasn't sure if it was a Christmas party, but I learned it was the promotional kickoff party).  Before I entered the building I saw this huge streetside screen playing a video of different classes--that's me in the turquoise in the back towards the right side!  The party consisted of different class demonstrations and some good Vietnamese party food!  

Gotta have a couple food photos.  This is a dragon fruit (5728 dong=25 cents) bought from my local supermarket.  The husk/rind/skin peels off quite easily and that's what it looks like inside!  It was OK, kind of bland, but not sour or anything surprising.  Today I bought a mango from a street vendor, all peeled and cut up and with a bag of chili salt mix (how Vietnamese eat a lot of their fruit, dipped into that mix) for 44 cents US.

And lastly, we had noticed a new restaurant in our neighborhood (mostly an outdoor place with canopies to sit under and a nice fountain) so tried that over the weekend.  Here is the menu:

Argh!  I hate it when there is not a lick of English to help us!  "Banh" is common because it's bread (banh mi, a tasty sandwich), but it can also be noodles, or dumplings, or more like a pancake.  Still lots to learn!  We took a chance on 2 things that Google Translate helped us with and they were both tasty.  The English on the street sign (probably why I thought the menu might have English subtitles) said "Hong Kong dim sum" and dim sum, if you know it, are small dishes.  So we each got 3 pieces of our shrimp roll/pork and seaweed roll, enough to share and perfect to take a chance on!

Well, that's about all our latest adventures.  We are finishing our 13th week here.  Teaching is winding down a bit since lectures are mostly over and now we are having more labs/practicals to teach students procedures, especially in preparation for their semester-end practical exams in January.  New Years' Eve we may head downtown again to the City Center, Vietnamese folks seem to love to be outdoors for these celebrations. The weather is perfect for being outdoors in the evening!  Still in the 80's....

Happy New Year and health and happiness are wished to all our friends and family. Thanks for following our blog!  Kim and Bob