More Adventures at the End of the Year

 Yes, the year is ending, even though it's already February. This coming Tuesday is Tet (the Lunar New Year), so next week we'll share Tet adventures.

This past p-day was a rainy day, so we thought the missionaries would like to stay close to home and see some Tet decorations in the city at a historical site, but they opted for a 16 mile bike ride in the rain and a bit of a muddy hike in the hills. Allen and I opted for a Grab car to take us there instead of a bike, but the missionaries LOVED their ride. 

We've been to Nui Tram before, but not in the mud or (light) rain. And the place is getting fixed up! They've put down pavers outside the cave and cemented the floor inside the cave. But the bats are still there! We were told that they've moved Ho Chi Minh's monument elsewhere; this is a cave where he hid out from the enemy during the war in 1947. 

Back outside, time to get on the trail...

...and go find the views!

It was getting a little tricky to maneuver through the rocks with an inch and a half of mud stuck to my shoes, which no long had any traction.

But the views were worth it...

Here you can see all the rice fields planted and flooded.

I'm beginning to realize that I'm not unbreakable, and those rocks were slimy.

These very nice construction workers offered to squirt off the mud.

Time to head for home! It was fun to see all the missionaries so excited to ride another 16 miles.

We followed closely behind as we walked to the bus stop. We chose another adventure to get home, and decided to walk to the bus, ride to the train, travel to the next bus, and ride the bus home. We have developed our adventuring spirits in the 17 months that we've been here!

This is another small pagoda they're building down the road from the cave.

We walked past a lot of statuary that would be fun to have at home.

Through the countryside...

Onto the bus...

Onto the train...

And the last bus home. Fun day.

Tuesday we got back into the swing of things after our "Kevin" week by having our District Council meeting at our apartment. It was nice to be a part of the missionary life again, and I celebrated by making cookies for them. I do have a reputation to uphold. 

Wednesday was filled with studying and a Mission Health Council Meeting in the morning, and we managed to have a date night in the evening. The Pizza Company in the mall has a "buy one, get one free" deal on Wednesdays, so we took advantage. 

Thursday turned out to be a special day. First thing in the morning, we spent 40 minutes on a Zoom chat with a senior couple who will be coming to Vietnam in October. She will be taking on the role of Mission Health Advisor, and they both had questions about what their responsibilities and life will be like once they arrive. It was fun to talk with them, but was too short. We'll repeat the call next week.

After the call, we got a Grab car to take us to a village about 26 km away. This is the hometown for a recently released Sister missionary, Chi Duong, who ended her mission by serving in our branch for the past 6 months. She invited us to her home for lunch and a tour of the area and we quickly and happily accepted. She's only been home for 3 weeks and is still finding her feet as a returned missionary, but she is very sweet and special, and is making great plans for her future. 

Duong met us on her scooter and took us to her uncle's business--a karaoke bar. Karaoke is very popular in Vietnam. Everyone loves to do it...and thinks they can.

I had to try my hand at it!

And then we had lunch. This is an aunt, cooking hot pot.

And this is pigeon.

And this is octopus. Which Allen ate. 

After lunch we went to the historic village of Nom.

These places are all family homes, or temples for the families. The oldest son or male of the family line usually owns the home and maintains it for the family gatherings, which occur at Tet or weddings or death-day celebrations, etc.. So these are homes (most of them) but also temples belonging to the family.

This is a very elaborate home. And this shrine was inside.

This was a beautiful, well-kept lake in this ancient village, surrounded by family temples.

The village well...

This was an old pagoda in the village. The blossoming tree you see in the courtyard is perfectly placed to be in the sunshine. It is in an open courtyard; there is no special lighting--it's only lit by the sun.

The dragon is on the left and the "unicorn" is on the right.

Here, the turtle is on the left and the phoenix is on the right.

                         Here I am, on the phone again, taking care of missionaries and their insurance problems.

A very, very, very old stone bridge. It looked like it and it felt like it.

This was in the market of Nom, just outside an AMAZING pagoda complex. These Ao Dai were all for rent so that you could look your best for pictures inside the pagoda. And the pagoda itself was huge, with buildings and fields that extended to great lengths once you were inside the gates.

The Year of the Horse

Back out in Duong's hometown, she showed us around the places she grew up.

This is a tree for Tet, but it was all lit up like a Christmas tree.

And these are watermelons, decorated for Tet.

We wandered into another pagoda in the town just as they were performing a ceremony for the holiday. We asked permission to take pictures, which they were happy to give.

Back to the Uncle's business, where the action was! There was to be a family party this night with about 60 people attending; the family needed to make Banh Chung, or chung cake. Duong's grandfather is next to her, and showed us how it's done. They had a lot of family and friends helping with the process and they made 100 cakes that day.

This is the rice. It's the staple, and main ingredient. It has a green hue because they wash it in something special that gives it a better flavor. Can't remember just what that is...

The yellow is the bean curd; it goes on top of the rice.

This pork is marinated and put on top of the bean curd, in the middle of the chung cake. It's then covered with more bean and then more rice.

And it's all wrapped up in banana leaves--4 leaves per cake.

This is Duong's mother. They were all very sweet to us.

We managed to get a Grab ride home without any trouble, which was a relief. Being so close to Tet, we had our doubts, and we still needed to hang out with the missionaries that night for English.

After English activity that night, a friend who is a faithful Buddhist but who comes to church because he likes the way it makes him feel, gave me a gift that he had painted himself on a silk scarf. It was incredible. He was so kind and said it's because of how the music in church brings peace to his heart, so he wanted to thank me. Wow. Suitable for framing. His name is Heron.

Friday was another day spent like every other. I spend a lot of time with missionary health issues, and Allen spends a lot of time with bike issues and reimbursements, and right now he is planning another senior missionary retreat. We will have one more before we go home in May. And we both spend a lot of time studying Vietnamese and forgetting Vietnamese. We also did our Tet shopping, where we made sure we were stocked up on the necessities for the next week, in case the stores are closed because, you never know. And so it goes...

Saturday we had our busy afternoon of meeting and music, although it seems people are leaving town early for Tet. Many people leave the big city and go to their hometown for the 3-4 days surrounding Tet, and that's why we worry about Grab drivers being available and stores being open. The English activity was sparsely attended due, I'm sure, to Tet. Everyone is excited for this greatest of all holidays. It almost made me forget that IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY. But not quite.

Our branch president invited all the missionaries plus a few returned missionaries to come to his home for a dinner of very traditional Vietnamese foods. We gratefully accepted. 

Here's a toast with watermelon juice. I kinda like this!

Here's another drink we tried. The missionaries told us it's bird spit; the branch president called it bird nest drink. It's made from the bird's secretions with which it holds together its nest. It's actually pretty good, especially if you don't think of it as bird spit.

The day ended on a very special note. President Hieu and his family gave Allen and me a gift to remember our service in the Hai Ba Trung Branch.

This is a beautiful silk scarf representing the legend of the Hai Ba Trung sisters who saved Vietnam from the enemy, and for whom our branch is named. It is such a cool story, and such a beautiful scarf; we will treasure it forever. 

Today was a good day at church. We thought we would be missing a lot of people due to Tet, but it wasn't too bad; we had quite a few people here. Next week may have more people missing; time will tell.

We've had a lovely week. We hope you have, too!

Happy New Year!  Chuc Mung Nam Moi!!