Pizza, My First Vietnamese Lesson, and Hot Pot!

As I wrote on Friday, I headed off to Nhi's house for out literature skit practice. What we hadn't previously realized was that the skit was scheduled for Thursday, the day I leave for a short vacation to the South. We realized this about an hour into the skit rehearsal but I stayed anyway to hear the rest of the skit. I think it was resolved that Quy will play my part instead since I wont be in town for the performance.

I left Nhi's house around 9 and walked with The Anh (Te Ain) back to the apartment since Dung wanted to meet at least one of the people that I was hanging out with. After she extensively questioned him about his willingness to help me learn Vietnamese, we watched YouTube videos until he realized that it was late and his Grandmother might be mad at him for not coming home sooner. So, I said goodnight and went to bed.

On Saturday

morning I woke up early and had Pho for breakfast with the family. Dung left for a business meeting, Anh went to work, and Anna went with Dung's parents to the city, so I had the apartment to myself. I spent most of the day doing laundry, ironing clothes, and shopping at the grocery store. Because everyone was gone, I walked to the store to get some food for lunch and on the way back, it started pouring! I had decided to put on sandals to walk to the store, which ended up being a smart decision but I hadn't thought to bring an umbrella since it hadn't been raining when I left... Luckily, there's a continuous parking lot underneath the apartment buildings that connects all five so I was able go downstairs and walk through the basement to get back home, otherwise I would have been absolutely soaked. It rained for the rest of the day so I made the decision to not go out again. At about 1:30 after sending a picture to Lily, we decided to Skype. We ended up talking for a couple of hours until she had to go to sleep; it was nearly 1:00AM in Vancouver! The rest of the day was spent doing cleaning and laundry until Dung and Anh came home for dinner. They ordered pizza, spaghetti, and salad from a restaurant in the Ecopark.

The pizza was.... bad. I'll be honest. It had almost no sauce on it which was meant to be supplemented with ketchup; they had given us a few packets in the pizza box, and it was oddly sweet, as I've noticed most bread-based dishes are in Vietnam. The spaghetti was fine, you can't really go wrong with pasta and tomato sauce but now I know, Vietnamese-style pizza is not for me. Anyway, after I finished dinner I FaceTime-d my family and got to talk to a few cousins too. Most of you probably know about our annual "Cryan Cousin Convention," a fun family reunion that takes place every summer at a different cousins' home. This year, my Great Uncle Peter and Great Aunt Terry hosted the convention at their home in Massachusetts and since my family went, I got to see a bunch of cousins on FaceTime. I had planned on going as well until we found out that I had to leave for Vietnam earlier than expected and I (of course) couldn't go. It was nice to talk to a few familiar cousins and meet new ones too, it looked like everyone was having a great time. After I hung up, I watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (in Vietnamese via YouTube), then went to sleep.

Sunday morning we had more Pho for breakfast before Dung and Anh left for the city. I left at noon for my first Vietnamese lesson at a Travel Company centered in Hanoi. My teacher's name is Viet (like the country) and he greeted me outside the building when I arrived. The owner of the building used to be an artist so the building is sort of an art gallery with paintings lining the walls on each floor of the building. There is an old, but beautiful wooden staircase in the middle of the back room that continues up in a square spiral for (I think) 5 floors; my classroom is on the 4th. Though I was hoping for more phrases and conversational tips in this first lesson, we mostly went over accents and pronunciation. However, accents are a vital aspect of the Vietnamese language since an accent can be the difference between the words 'ghost', 'mother', 'cheek', 'horse', 'but', 'tomb', and 'rice seedling'. Usually the class is structured with a four hour lesson in the morning and four hours in the afternoon for sightseeing but because Viet was busy in the morning, we just had the lesson today.

Afterwards, our

driver picked me up and then Dung, her parents, Anh, and Anna from their downtown house. When we got back to the Ecopark we had 'Hot Pot' for dinner! Vietnamese Hot Pot is a variety of meats cooked in a pork-bone and spiced herb broth and then eaten over a hot plate while continuously adding greens, noodles, and other ingredients to the pot. You cook and eat as you go and it is delicious! The pictures are of the before shot with crab and shrimp cooking in the pot on the table and greens, beef, and noodles laid out for cooking.

Tomorrow is the official "First Day of School" and I'm a little nervous for Physics and Chemistry in Vietnamese.. but I'm looking forward to improving my language and comprehension skills.

I'll most likely post again on Thursday after we arrive Quy Nhon on our vacation. The weather is supposed to be stormy all weekend so we may have to change our beach plans but I'm sure I'll have some cool pictures either way. Hope everyone has a great Sunday and as always, thanks for reading!