As Promised

From Sunday night:




L'haim, everyone!

The Holidays in 'Nam, continued...

Just sharing a few more photos to show how insane the Vietnamese get with Christmas decorations. This is Le Loi Street, which is one of the main streets in Ho Chi Minh City. All lit up, I would call it Vietnam's answer to the Champs-Élysée. Except that the Champs-Élysée is classy, and Le Loi looks like the Christmas spirit vomited all over it. I know this picture is blurry, but it shows both the lights and the traffic:


And this is Saigon Centre, which is a big mall on Le Loi. The square in front of it was filled with people taking pictures in front of the lights, as well as many Vietnamese Santas selling things like light-up tiaras, Santa hats, and other miscellaneous goodies.


It was pretty blinding, that's for sure. Also, I took a picture of my menorah yesterday, the last day of Hannukah (and yes, I realize that I'm spelling it different every time. Sue me.), but I can't be bothered to upload it yet. When I do, I'll post it.

Cheers!

Shots from my holidays

Here is my homemade menorah, from a few nights ago. I put it in the foyer of our house, since everything is tiled and there's nothing that could catch on fire out there. Plus, it means people passing by can see it through our front gate.

For Christmas day "dinner," a few friends and I went to a big fancy hotel on the river for a Christmas brunch buffet. This was an absolute feast, complete with a million kinds of main dish (lobster, duck, goose, ham, steak, turkey, sushi, salmon, etc.), and unlimited wine. Needless to say, we started drinking champagne at about 11:30 a.m. and didn't stop until 6. However, we were eating a lot and frequently chasing down a tiny child, so we didn't really have the opportunity to eat or drink ourselves into oblivion. I think that this is a good thing.

Here is a shot of part of the buffet:


In dessertland, there was a little village made entirely of chocolate cake.


And the lobby had a gorgeous tree, which Wallace adored. That's her, in her new Christmas dress (you can't see the chocolate all over the front).


All in all, a great day. We stayed at the hotel for about 5 hours, eating and drinking and talking, then went to a restaurant nearby for happy hour, and continued our sparkling wine revelry. Around 7, I went with Julia and the Walrus back to their place to put the little one to bed, and Julia and I watched Hot Fuzz on HBO and finished a bottle of red wine that she had. It was great.

Unfortunately, today (Friday the 26th) I have work. I will do my best (or...almost my best) to be productive.

Hope all of you had wonderful holidays, spent with friends or family or both, surrounded by love. I'm sending you some from over here; hope it makes it all that distance.

Hugs and Kisses,

A

One of my very best friends in Vietnam

This is Bwoon. She's the puppy that lives across the alley from me. Her family keeps their front gate open frequently, and when she hears my keys she runs out to say hi and jump up on me. Then she zooms around in figure eights in the street before coming back to me to play. I must say, it's really nice to have someone who is always happy to see me.

In other news, I'm really exhausted and at a loss of things to write. So, hopefully I will be inspired later.

Eight Crazy Nights

I'm thinking of celebrating Hannukah this year. Is that weird? It probably is. All my life I've considered myself an atheist, and wrestled with the concept of faith, settling to call myself agnostic and not devote too much energy to the subject altogether.

In my family, we always did both Christmas and Hannukah in the most secular of ways--lighting the candles, having a tree, exchanging presents. This year, when I won't be seeing my family or most of my friends, or having a tree, I have this strong desire to light the menorah (if I can find one). I read an article recently that was written by a Jew working in Saigon about his experience being Jewish here. And he mentioned that for Hannukah, one of the main principles is that the menorah lights the night, and shows other wandering Jews that they are not alone. I really, really like this idea; I like the idea of putting candles in windows in general, but I like the idea that I would be doing something that Jews all over the world would be doing at (almost) the same time (time zones permitting, etc.). As much as I can say that I don't believe in God, I do like the idea of feeling like part of something bigger than me, of participating in something big. Especially since, while I've been making friends here, I still feel alone sometimes, and if lighting these candles can help alleviate that for me and possibly for others (granted, there aren't many windows in our house; I'll probably put it on the roof somewhere.), then I think it's worth doing.

There is a Chabad center in Saigon, and I've got their information. I'm going to see if they loan out menorahs, or sell them and Hannukah candles, or something. I'll see what they say.

[Update: I went to the Chabad after work, and--after a somewhat awkward conversation about my status or non-status as a Jew, and my desire to light the candles--was told that the Rabbi would email me when he gets back in town about picking up a menorah and some candles. So, success! They seemed really eager to have found a possible new Jew in town, so I felt kind of interroggated: Are you Jewish? Were you raised Jewish? Would you like to come to Shabbat services on Friday? So I kind of shuffled around the hard questions. I might go to the Hannukah party on Monday evening, for the lighting of the candles and a good Kosher meal. Because who doesn't like a good Kosher meal, eh? So we'll see how this little adventure goes.]

A photo from Mui Ne

Mui Ne, Rematch

Weekends in a row spent in Mui Ne: 2

Amount of mosquito repellent used: 0

Mosquito bites: 23ish. I keep discovering new ones.

Amount of sunburn from laying out by the pool/beach for a whole day: unsure

Seeing an 18-month-old's first time at the beach: priceless...She decided that the sand was horrible but the ocean was terrific. This called for some heavy lifting (of the baby) on Julia (the mom)'s part, since Wally wanted to feel the ocean but not the sand. Hilarious!

Haven't gotten photos yet from the girls (my camera was dead), but once I have them I'll put 'em up.

Adventures in Mui Ne

Last weekend I had to get out of the city, so I decided to brave the rain and go to the beach. It's about a 4 to 5 hour bus ride, which costs about $6 each way, and the hotel cost $15 a night, which is a bargain. I took the night bus on Friday and got there at 2 a.m. Friday night. Saturday I walked around the town, and then got a coffee and lounged at a beach cafe. Here is the main drag of Mui Ne, which is basically a series of hotels, resorts, restaurants, massage places, and souvenir stores. So, everything one could possible need, right?

Saturday afternoon I took a xe om to the major sights near the city. First, the fishing village:

Then the white sand dunes, which were incredible. They were so QUIET--even with the tourists, all you could hear was the wind. All the sound was absorbed by the sand. And I had to keep reminding myself that I was actually in the middle of the countryside in Vietnam, and not in, like, the Arabian desert.

Then we went to the red sand dunes, and even though there had been no sun all day I was given a glimpse of a sunset:

Beautiful. All in all, a relaxing weekend, spent wandering, lounging, and reading. For more photos, you can check out the Facebook album that I made.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was enjoyable--I spent mine at a potluck with a small group of people, and it was nice. I am thankful for this adventure and opportunity, and for all of you. You are missed.