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Apart from English Club, occasional visits to classes and attending celebrations/ceremonies, I don't spend much time on campus at the university. It's mainly domestic stuff for me. Luckily I'm enjoying exploring the food scene. But I'll leave that for la later post. So, a bit on day to day life for me.
After our visit to Quang Ngai and Hoi An we returned to Tuyen Quang on Tet Eve to cheery hellos from people in our street, some of whom were surprised to see us back before Tet. I'd cleaned the house up as best I could before we left, but apart from buying a nice big red lantern to hang at the front door, we weren't around to arrange the last minute preparations and decorations. (Perhaps it wasn't such a good Idea to go away so close to Tet). So it was a delight to return to find our colleagues had got us a huge blossoming plum branch (traditional here) and filled the fridge with food for the holiday. I'd been so focussed on getting in enough of the bits and pieces to feed to visitors I'd neglected to get in meals for us to eat. (I'd expected the markets to re-open after a couple of days, but they actually closed for a week). I think the supermarket would have been open but we didn't find out as we had so much food we didn't need to go into town. I portioned out the chicken, pork, beef and fish (!) and froze it, but I'd learnt from experience in Quang Ngai the traditional banh tet doesn't freeze well. We'd been given so many I knew we'd never be able to eat them all - and we ate out so many times that week we didn't get a chance to eat it anyway. I ended up surreptitiously giving two to the next door neighbours. I hope people who gave them to us didn't hear. I just used the last of the frozen food - the head and feet of the chopped up chicken - I'd been saving to make stock for a large pot of soup last week!
We decided to skip the fireworks at midnight on Tet Eve (although we heard them) mainly because we weren't confident we'd be able to find a taxi to get home afterwards. However the landlords came over to perform the family ceremony at midnight and we then feasted with them until 2.00am! The first day of Tet is traditionally for close family so we settled in for a quiet day (and sleep in) by ourselves. Then came a week of pretty solid eating and partying. After the week of continuous eating in Quang Ngai it wasn't very good for the waistline! Delicious food though. Tet week culminated in a meeting of all staff in the university hall, with a few speeches and presentations of lucky money followed by the inevitable karaoke session. The Rector, would dash up on stage and present the singers with the red envelopes with lucky money and toast with tiny glasses of wine. I sat during proceedings and couldn't help trying to imagine a similar start to semester at my old university back home.
Careful ...
While here we find we are conscious of living in a developing country, and in a reasonably isolated location at that, and that affects the way we live. We are extra careful of breakable things like spectacles and other appliances, keeping up stocks of medications, preserving what's hard to come by (no wet spoons in the decaf coffee jar), food safety (putting eggs in water to check for freshness even though I've never had a bad one), never leave the house without phone, keys and money. The list could go on. It's not that we live in a constant state of anxiety, we're just aware it's much more difficult to fix or replace things here than at home.
Don't put off till tomorrow ...
Also, forward planning isn't big in this country - so don't put things off till tomorrow. We often learn about events or meetings at the last minute. Almost inevitably when just about to catch up on the stockpiled laundry there'll be a phone call - "Are you busy? I'd like to invite you to coffee/lunch/visit the countryside. I'll pick you up in 10 minutes/half an hour". One recent Saturday we emerged from the supermarket and ran into a lecturer from the university and his small son. He immediately invited us to his house. So off we went in a taxi following his motorbike and we ended up having a delightful meal with his family then went in to town for coffee afterwards - with our weekly shop-up, plus assorted gifts of food they'd given us, in tow.
Hair Today ...
Desperately needed a haircut. There are tiny salons everywhere. Most women have long hair here but many go regularly to the salons for shampoos, curling, colouring so the salons are everywhere. I'd learnt in China and Quang Ngai that there was a lot more to having a haircut than there is at home. The shampoo involves a scratchy head massage with the inevitably long nails, prodding of pressure points up and down the head and neck and clasping the jaw and tugging upwards on the head. Then comes the facial. Massaging and cleansing, and manoeuvres too hard to describe around the temple and eye sockets. Despite the testing of pain thresholds, fearing blood might be drawn and pondering spinal damage to the neck - I actually love it. The haircut wasn't bad either and I'm now friends on Facebook with the salon owner.
Building up
The landlord called in. "The next door neighbours are going to do some building to their house. They want to put the materials in your yard. Okay?". Fine by us. It seems they are going to add rooms upstairs, enclose the front patio and put a room above the kitchen area at the back. Next day a truck delivered a load of bricks, then bags of cement and a pile of sand. Also a pulley setup to haul the bricks up to the second floor. They've been busy ever since, providing a show for the neighbourhood children and topic of discussion for the adults (and me!). Needless to say Australian Occ Health & Safety would have a fit!
In The Street Where You Live
Tuyen Quang, and I think most Vietnamese towns have undergone a huge building boom since independence. There aren't many of the old style single story wooden houses left. We find them dotted around, literally squeezed in between newer three or four storey houses. We often point them out to each other and wonder how long they have left. While I find them attractive, they no doubt have pretty basic facilities so I guess I can't blame people for wanting something new. There's been one we pass each week on our way to the supermarket. It was half demolished last weekend.
Our little street has typical modern Vietnamese houses - with the exception of one little old traditional house a few doors down. It looks a bit run down and I saw the occupants move out a couple of weeks before Tet. It's still there but I wonder if it's days are numbered too.
- comments
Zig Hi Avenel, Love this post as it covers many interesting things, some I couldn't help but smile at. Such an experience, though you've done it all before!I can just imagine me (with my bad knees) getting up and down for meals on the little chairs or the floor. I wonder how the oldies cope!The view from your roof is lovely. Stay well and happy and keep those posts coming!Cheers, Zig x
clifmaree Hi Avenel, Our Manda would be having a fit with the bricklaying !! Safety being her priority.. The food looks wonderful, their seems to be lots of (nibbles) seeds and garnish's to go with the main course. Love all the photos especially overlooking which looks like a market garden. I'm not sure if I told how beautiful your home looked especially the staircase! Wow!So happy to read your post, your are having such an exciting time, everyday there is a new adventure! The people all seem so warm and friendly. Keep on enjoying! Maree xx
Moira Hi AvenelLife is certainly full of surprises for you. I'm not sure I could cope with so many spontaneous activities as I rather like things to be in the diary so that I know what's coming. Lucky it's hard to shake your equanimity! The countryside around your house looks beautiful; more rural than Quang Ngai I think. I enjoy reading your posts.Moiraxx