Lazy Weekend

As an exciting end to the week, the package that was supposed to arrive on the 7th actually arrived on Friday, the 11th (Lily's birthday)! It was pretty banged up on the outside and had definitely been opened and searched but nothing was confiscated so I was happy to receive it. Anna was very excited when I gave her the Lego set that my mom sent for her and we put it together after dinner. Then I went over to The Anh's apartment in Block D3 and we watched "Wreck-It Ralph" on his computer. The movie was very cute and fun to watch but I had to hurry home to make sure I wasn't locked out of the apartment. Once Dung puts Anna to sleep she likes to lock the door; lucky for me, Anh was also out, so the door was still open.

On Saturday morning I had planned to have a language class but due to mobility issues, I was unable to go. Instead, I went rock climbing again at the gym in Hanoi. It was less crowded than the previous weekend (though there was more street traffic) and the weather was a little cooler so it was more pleasant inside. After trying out some new problems and getting sufficiently sweaty and tired, I headed back to the Ecopark for the afternoon. I did some math and

laundry after I had lunch and a much needed shower. In the evening I went with Anna to the playground and she went on the slides and swings. She finally wanted to go home after she had played so much that she needed water, so we walked back to A1 and up to the apartment.

On Sunday I got to sleep in which was very nice, though sleeping in for me still only means sleeping until around 8:30.. When I went out to the kitchen I looked in the sink and saw that there was an entire chicken in it! With its head and feet! It had been plucked (which I was thankful for) but it was still quite alarming to see a whole, dead chicken just sitting in the sink and I thought humorously to myself, 'only in Vietnam..' My host grandmother proceeded with butchering the chicken as I ate my breakfast of noodles. Anna also ate noodles though she had hers uncooked and munched away on them like they were chips. When I finished breakfast I did more homework and started another math lesson until my dad called on Skype around 11. At first it was just him since everyone else was still eating dinner but throughout the duration of the call I talked to everyone in my family as well as Emma's best friend Sophie, Lily's boyfriend, Nick, and Emma's boyfriend, Josh. It was nice to meet Nick and Josh though the video quality was so bad that I still don't really know what either of them look like... Josh had to leave pretty early but Nick stayed a little longer so I got to talk to him and Lily more. He's very nice and smart and I was happy to finally meet him. Everyone was over to celebrate Lily's birthday and my gift for her, a rice bowl and Vietnamese recipes, is actually good for Nick too. He's allergic to many things, including dairy, which the Vietnamese hardly ever use to cook so it seems like a good cuisine for him to try out with Lily. I talked to my mom next about college applications and school credit since I have to make sure I have all of the right credits to graduate at the end of the year with everyone else. Emma took over when I started to get a little stressed and it was really good to talk to her. I haven't gotten to talk to her as much since I've been in Vietnam because she works so much, especially during the times that I usually get to Skype home. But because we were Skyping at night in Seattle, I got to talk to her for a long time and it almost felt like I was home again. We finally said goodbye when I had missed lunch by a long shot and she had to go take a nap before picking up Josh from the Kevin Hart show. I hung up around 2 and went out to the kitchen to find that my grandmother had left me a serving of rice vermicelli noodles with beef. She sat with me while I ate since Dung and Anh were out and Anna was napping. I tried to help her clean up after but she insisted, "không rua, không rua" (don't clean) so I brought my computer out to the kitchen instead and finished my math lesson. Dung and Anh returned around 3 but left again a little while later for their second driving lesson! I wished them good luck and continued with my math. I did cleaning and homework for the rest of the day

until dinner time where we had an immense spread of chicken, spring rolls (which I helped roll), shrimp, soup, and bitter melon. As I learned at dinner, the car driving lesson went much better than the last one though it was still quite scary for Dung. Anh joined us at the table after the big motorcycle race ended on TV. He still finished eating before Anna who sat for almost 2 hours while she picked away at her rice and shrimp.

It's getting late now and I've got to get ready for school tomorrow. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great Sunday!