Closed for Lunch

 Wait, What?? Who knew pagodas close for lunch? 

Only some of them do! And none of the other ones we've gone to do! Only THIS one, the one we purposely took a ride out to so we could show our District missionaries the very cool pagoda we found! Instead, we had to go walk 1/2 mile in the heat to the 2nd best pagoda of the day, which was a darn good pagoda anyway, and which was on the river. These are the 2 pagodas that Allen and I discovered on the day that we walked across the Long Bien Bridge (remember? Threat of death at every step, looking down between the concrete slabs that shook with every step?). We were so impressed with these 2 pagodas that we wanted to share them with our youngsters, and it was too hot to go anywhere that took more energy.

This little fellow was not having a good day, either.

(This is something we don't see in the U.S., and we've only seen twice in Hanoi.)

    Fish sold on the street; in this case, under the overpass.

The second best pagoda is a really sweet one! We got some pictures different from the first time...

We finished at this pagoda well before the first one opened after lunch, so we grabbed a Grab over to the Aeon Mall in Long Bien for some lunch in a cool place (a VERY welcome respite!) before grabbing a Grab back to Pagoda #1, which was just as pretty as we had remembered. The entrance is the picture above, and the picture below is a "hall" leading into a courtyard.

Tuesday was District Council Meeting, and my turn to pray in Vietnamese. I like the opportunity to challenge myself, and hope I don't say anything stupid, realizing that even if I do, I won't know it because the missionaries will be too polite to tell me what I said. Allen and I keep trying to learn and practice, then forget and learn again. After nine months in Vietnam, we've almost admitted to ourselves that it will never happen, and then we have a good experience with a Grab driver like we did this morning (Sunday when I'm writing this), where we say something and he says something back with a smile and we understand what he said, and haltingly we carry on a very simple conversation--both Allen and I adding a word or two here and there. If we're not already tired from the day, we actually have some fun with the language. And really, we know SO MUCH more than we did nine months ago! Haha, just don't ask us what anyone is saying!

Wednesday was a unique day: we were invited to join a group of BYU students who are in Asia for a business trip where they tour businesses in different countries and see how these businesses function.

We rode to the hotel where we were to join the students, and while we waited for them, we walked around the corner and guess what we found?? A pagoda!

This ramp is placed conveniently so you can ride your scooter up into the pagoda.

The time arrived, and we rode the bus with the students out to a couple of villages outside of Hanoi where first we observed a weaving company that was making woven mirror frames.

This man is putting a design in mud on the bamboo frame; the frame will then be heated and the design left when the mud is removed.

 

If you see these in a store for $200-300, you'll know they were made in a hot little warehouse in Vietnam!

Our second trip was to a factory that made mirror frames and boxes and other things with mother-of-pearl and other materials lacquered onto them.

On the way home, we got to stop for our first taste of water buffalo!

It was... meh...  I think Allen liked it.

Thursday, we got to experience our favorite part of missionary work again--sitting in on the lessons. Allen was in one room and I was in another for two separate lessons after we had finished our English activity. 

My music class was hopping on Saturday! My regular student was there at 2 pm to practice, and at 2:30 pm the Elders needed my help with a lesson with a new friend. Allen was in a meeting with the Branch President and we needed one more person, so we had the lesson in the music room while my student practiced and was the extra person needed. Then at 2:45 pm, the friend's friend came and joined the lesson in the piano room. But at 3 pm, a brand new student came, so I took the 7-year old new student downstairs for a lesson while the Elders finished the 2 friends' lesson, and then the Elders came down and said the 2 friends were waiting to be part of the piano lesson... ayayayayay. It all worked out and was crazy and turned out to be fun.

The week went by really quickly; I didn't try to mention every little thing we did because I don't want my audience to  be bored to tears. Just know that we fill our days with studying and learning and shopping and walking and riding and waiting and waiting...  Life is challenging and interesting and boring and hot and humid and fun and tiring and all those things. And we wouldn't change it for a different mission anywhere else!!