What a night we had last night! Long lives about an hour outside of the city, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore” and while it wasn’t as urban as downtown Saigon, it was still busy! We took a cab to get to his house where we were welcomed by his father, mother, sister, brother in law, baby niece (9 months) and his grandmother who is 80 and visiting from the north. At the end of the night he told us it was his grandmothers first time seeing Americans, very cool! Last year when I was visiting his family his sister was pregnant, so it was awesome to see her with her 9 month old baby girl!
We started out with tea while his mother finished cooking dinner and then we all sat on the floor for our meal. The meal began with peel your own shrimp and then we had deep fried and regular spring rolls. They cooked us SO much food that I felt bad because I knew we wouldn’t be able to eat it all!
They all thought mom was hilarious because she would comment on how much bigger we are and how she and I can barely sit together on the bus (seats made for two Vietnamese people). Long was so great and spent the whole night translating. It was very interesting to hear his parents say (again) that they don’t harbor any resentment towards Americans for the war and that we are all brothers and sisters.
Throughout dinner they were all so sweet and made sure we had PLENTY of food. They even got us champagne and we were explaining how in the US that means a celebration and Long said it was to welcome guests (we also learned to cheer in Vietnamese). Half way through dinner Long’s cousins or uncle and aunt or SOME couple showed up (it kind of got lost in translation!) and they were great! The uncle was so funny and asked questions about life in America and our thoughts of Vietnam.
After dinner and lots of laughs, Long explained how they had a room for us upstairs. We did get a late start to the evening, but we were not prepared to stay over, although it was so sweet that they expected us to! We kept saying how we didn’t bring anything and we were going to get an early start tomorrow and his dad kept insisting we stay! We felt bad as we didn’t want to offend anyone, but we were ready to head back and go to sleep! After grapefruit for dessert (good for digestion) his uncle/cousin had a friend in the cab business he called to take us home. He told us (through Long) that it was late and he wanted to make sure we got home safely, which was very sweet. We were tired after the drive back, but the experience was MORE than worth it!
We didn’t end up getting a ton of sleep as we got back late and were up early this morning. We headed out to breakfast and also to drop off our laundry. We wanted to drop off the laundry first thing in the morning as we were washing towels and blankets and needed them back in the evening.
We then went to catch the bus to take to the orphanage and to the Big C to get some more supplies for the orphanage. On the bus we ran into the other volunteers (small world) and told them we would meet them at the orphanage as we were stopping to get some supplies. We were able to get everything we needed (and could carry) and brought the supplies to the rooms in the orphanage.
We then brought Thoung out for his walk, where he had a BLAST laughing with mom and still remembered how to tickle! He was so cute and would start laughing before we got to a certain area because he remembered something funny him and mom had laughed about yesterday. He also loved using her camera today! He remembered how to zoom and started directing some of the other volunteers in order to create the picture he wanted!
I feel so bad because “Cho Con” was the little boy my mom fell in love with last year and she was so excited to meet him but he has not been in at all!! I think the women were saying that he is still at home (he is a day student) but I wish she could meet him! Today a new little boy fell in love with her. It is the same boy Khaly helped feed last year and today during feeding time mom was helping him eat. It is amazing because last year he was completely dependent on someone feeding him puree food and this year he can eat real food on his own! Anyway after his meal he gets a bottle which he wanted on the mats that they have nap time on. Mom sat next to him and rubbed his head and then all of a sudden he just climbed into her lap to snuggle. It was SO cute!
We took the bus back to the hotel for lunch and an afternoon of resting. We didn’t get much sleep and tomorrow will be a long day as we are going to the Mekong Delta with Long. We ended up both taking naps and it was so nice! I then headed off to the gym (I am trying) and mom met me after so we could head out to the market, which was conveniently closing for the night! We then decided on dinner in the backpacker’s district at one of the main restaurants on the street as it has GREAT people watching! After our tummy’s were full we headed to my new favorite massage place for WELL needed massages and after some showers and some packing we are ready for our Mekong Delta trip tomorrow!
Hugs and kisses from the real Vietnam!
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