Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Happy New Year--Lunar New Year, That Is!

For p-day this week, our plan was to go to the Imperial Citadel where we had just gone with Kevin, because it was decorated in such a fun way for Tet, and we thought our missionaries would really like it. We were on our way there in 2 different Grab cars when the 2 Elders who rode their bikes there reported that it was closed for Monday and Tuesday. Shoot! We had to hurry and change our plans! We ended up at Hoan Kiem Lake to wander the streets and see the sights. Guess what we found there? Yes! Ao Dais and flowers!

The ornamental peach trees are all over Hanoi for Tet...

They are BIG on balloons! You will find them for sale on many a street corner.

This is the ice cream place of choice in Vietnam. It's everywhere.

You've got to make your cooked chickens look good, so of course you put a rose in each one's mouth.

They color the rice and shape it...

???

And then we went home for a picnic in the lobby of the Sisters' apartment building.

Tuesday was the actual day of Tet and the entire Hanoi zone had an activity planned for 3 hours in the afternoon. It was a trick getting to the lake and beach (manmade) where the activity was because no one wants to work on Tet, but there were enough cars and buses working to transport us all. Allen and I took the bus, which was free, and ended up walking about 1/2 to 1 mile to the park.

It's a really nice park. It's called Whale Park because of this "whale-like" structure, and it has mermaids all around.

Our district.

Wheelbarrow Race!

We played all kinds of organized games, as well as frisbee, football, cornhole, spike ball, etc.

Two of our Elders biked it! It's about 9 miles back to the apartment, and a sure way to get home. Buses were running, but Grab cars were hit and miss.

Wednesday was our District Planning Meeting, which was pushed off from Tuesday, which was Tet. And Wednesday night, a sister in our branch, Quynh, who has been back from her mission to Adelaide, Australia, for 8 months invited all the missionaries in our branch to dinner. Her home is just outside the Hanoi boundaries so missionaries can't go there, so she brought dinner to the church! She was so sweet! She is the only member in her family, with parents, a younger sister and a younger brother, but they all support her. Her mother helped prepare the dinner, and when we had all finished eating, she invited Allen and me to eat at her home on Friday night with her family, the Anthons (another senior missionary couple), and a few YSA members. Wow! Dinner Wednesday night was all traditional Vietnamese dishes, much like we had eaten at President Hieu's home last Sunday. These people are so very kind and generous!

On Thursday, we went for a walk in our neighborhood, and we went to the mall to see what it would be like. We had heard that things would still be shut down for Tet, but we wondered if the large grocery store in the mall would actually be open. Nope. Not only were the stores shut, but the halls were blocked off and security guards were stationed every once in a while. Kind of spooky.

That's Winmart at the end of the hall, our main grocery store.

We walked around the neighborhood streets, usually so filled with hustle and bustle and crowds, and found only shut doors and closed stores. It was eerie.

We had only one member come to English activity that night, so our English learning night became a Vietnamese learning night. We enjoyed that!

Friday was a wonderful day at Zone Conference. The focus was on the fact that Gordon B. Hinckley had dedicated the land of Vietnam 60 years ago and then again 30 years ago for the preaching of the gospel, and the Vietnam Hanoi Mission will soon be celebrating it's 10th anniversary, and so we watched a video on the history of the Church in Vietnam. It was just what I needed to see. Wow. It was amazing to see how the presence of the Church began with the servicemen during the war, and how President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the land. It was inspiring to hear the stories of the earliest members of the Church, and how their lives were thrown into chaos when south Vietnam fell to north Vietnam, and then what happened after that. This land is beloved of God, and we are privileged to be here. We love working with President and Sister Howell, and with each of the young and the senior missionaries. It has been a growing experience, and one we will never forget and never regret. We have been blessed to be a part of the Vietnam Hanoi Mission and will always cherish our time here.

The Tet activity on Tuesday was a competition between districts, and so awards were given, smallest to largest.

From the District Center after zone conference, our friend Jonathan picked us up along with Larry and Susan Anthon, the senior couple, and drove us 30 or so minutes away to Quynh's home for dinner with her family. YSA members Duy Nam, Duong, Duong's sister Ling (not YSA), and Huong were there, as well. It was another lovely dinner and lovely evening. Jonathan had brought "li xi", or lucky money for all the missionaries. This is a Vietnamese tradition at Tet, and the girls especially had a fun time with it. That was really sweet of him; he had as much fun doing it as the rest of us.

Here is the traditional peach blossom tree...

...and the kumquat tree.

We played some games after, but I had to disqualify myself on the "what's that hymn?" game. I know too many hymns.

Saturday was another amazing day because Allen had researched and found a festival that was taking place in Hanoi at the Dong Da Mound and temple. Oh. My. Goodness. We struck it rich with Vietnamese pageantry on this one! We arrived around 8:45 am and had missed a bit of it--maybe some big drums--but we saw lots of colorful dancing and re-enacting of a battle that was fought and won in 1789. It was a famous battle, and a great king, and we walked through the small museum there afterwards.

We were surprised to meet our friend from English activity, Thien, or Erwin (English/German name), who came up to us in the crowd and was able to tell us what was going on with the re-enactment. The king, Quang Trung, is his hero.

The pageantry just went on and on...

This is Allen and Thien standing in front of the mound. Supposedly, the bodies of the dead soldiers were heaped up into this mound and covered. There is a shrine on the top to honor the lives of the dead, and to keep them from haunting anyone.

Here is the shrine.

Here is the entry to the mound from the top of the mound-side.

Some people were selling mementos on the grounds. We have a few.

This is the entrance to the mound from down below, and in front.

When we left the Dong Da Mound, we walked to a neighborhood pagoda to see what we would find. It was a small one, much like every other neighborhood pagoda.

We made it to our church in the afternoon in time for Allen's meeting and my piano class. It being the 5th day of Tet, I didn't have any students come today until after 3:15 pm (I'm always there at 2:00 pm). It was strange to be so quiet when I usually at least have Hoa with me, and her son Khang, who loves to learn and make noise. I imagine that next week the world will be back to it's normal self.

We did have English at 4 pm and had a few people, and then at 5:30 pm, Duong came again (with her sister Linh) and brought us dinner! We were blessed this week of Tet to be given many meals of traditional Vietnamese food; I really do need to get the names of the different dishes!

We have reached the end (basically) of Tet; tomorrow most people will be back at work. Today was the day to wear ao dais to church to take pictures of our branch to begin the New Year. We were missing quite a few people, but we had fun taking pictures anyway.