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I felt like I'd made it when I was left unsupervised to fry the spring rolls. I was in the farmhouse kitchen at the home of one of the young teachers, helping prepare food with his mother, girlfriend, his friend's wife and a colleague. We'd been invited to visit the house in a rural area about half an hour's drive from the city centre to see the family farm and have a meal together. On the previous occasions we'd visited homes we'd both been sat down in the living room and served tea until the food was ready - but I knew the local custom was for the men to sit and drink and the women to retire to the kitchen to prepare the food. This time I'd been allowed to help in the kitchen and been shown how the dishes were prepared. I'd rolled my share of the spring rolls and now I was (just) managing to keep them turning in the pan using the long chopsticks provided. I felt accepted.
We're back. Having had a month's break in Australia over Christmas, I've found it hard to get back into the blogging, so there's a lot of catching up to do. We left Quang Ngai at the end of November for a two-day AVI evaluation workshop (of the now ending China programme) in Beijing. It was freezing having come from the heat of QN where we're not equipped for Chinese weather (I wore four layers of tee shirts and jumpers and tried to make sure any photos taken were head only) but it was wonderful to catch up with friends we'd left in Lanzhou. We even managed a quick dash one evening to visit Tiananmen Square for old times sake.
We've now moved into our house, in a lane way off one of the main streets. Any thoughts of a quiet existence soon evaporated, however, with kids playing and calling out, shouted conversations, people and motorbikes passing up and down constantly, along with carts selling bread snacks, ice cream and brush ware - as well as a few I haven't yet worked out what they have. There are small trucks delivering gas and water bottles and goods to the tiny shops - also some rather large trucks and even a bus pass regularly to an open air motor mechanic's squeezed into an empty block half way along.
Soon after moving in there was a wedding a few doors down. I went out to get some water from the little shop nearby and as I turned out of our gate I was confronted with a string of cars, festooned with flowers, parked along our little lane way. Just then the wedding party appeared in procession and hopped on motorbikes and into the cars and disappeared. By the time I ducked back inside to get my camera I was too late - just caught a couple of girls as they left. Later I could hear the sound system being tuned and after a lovely rendition of "Ave Maria" it was down to a steady brisk beat, which I'm sure Roger would have a name for, which went on for the rest of the morning.
It's the month leading to Tet, the lunar New Year, a very important festival in Vietnam. It's not unlike the build up to our Christmas season with shopping, cleaning, cooking, decorations and flowers. Houses get spruced up, everyone buys new clothes, has a haircut. Special food is prepared. It's a popular time for weddings and end-of-year parties are everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Every day we can hear parties nearby, we pass them in the streets anywhere we go, often spilling out onto the footpath. Each street has a communal party. We missed ours - by the time we'd heard about it we'd accepted an invitation elsewhere, but it was still going when we came home, so as we passed we got roped in to stopping for a quick drink and song or two. (A "tent" was erected in the lane leaving a narrow one-bike-wide path down one side for traffic). It feels a bit like we're having two Christmases this year.
The Vietnamese have a tradition of "washing" new things - certainly big things like houses, but also new clothes, bikes, phones ... This can involve anything from going to coffee with a friend to a full on party. We'd been wanting to have a house washing party to celebrate moving into our house, but weren't confident of how to go about it. Seeing it's so close to Tet it was suggested we have a combined house washing and end of year party jointly with the Foreign Languages Department at the university, using our place as the venue. We jumped at this idea as it meant they would help us with the organisation and catch any dumb foreigner faux pas we were about to commit. We're excited at the prospect but also a bit nervous. It's on tomorrow night so watch this space.
- comments
Zig I can see you're settling in very well. The house looks great - I even think the furniture is a treat! The parties sound like an ideal way to get to know local people and customs. It's the humidity that could be the worry - are you getting used to it? It's our Runners Breakfast tomorrow morning.....you will be missed!!!
Glenys Davies Great pics! I espoecially liked the one of the chooks - reminded me of my neighbours back yard in Inglewood.She is an 83yr old widow who has been in that house for over 50 years and keeps 5 chooks and grows bananas! Her family just wish she would settle into a little unit somewhere! Not likely to happen if she has her way!! Best wishesGlenys
avenel Your neighbour must have a big yard, not many people with chooks in the metro area nowadays. Good luck to her.