Great days in Vietnam

Yesterday may have truly been one of my all-time favorite days in Vietnam.

It started with an opportunity to introduce MJ to banh muot, my all-time favorite food in Ha Tinh, and possibly in Vietnam! Sadly, my usual banh muot place was closed (MJ and I weren't early enough risers, I guess!) so we tried going to the "famous" place in Ha Tinh which is open all day. While I'm glad to know that a banh muot place exists in Ha Tinh that is open past 8:30 AM, I didn't find its fame to be proportionate to the tastiness of the food. I still think the place across from my school makes it best, so I will continue setting an early-morning alarm so that I don't miss my favorite breakfast treat for the next two weeks of my time here!

After banh muot, we drove to Thien Cam Beach, one of my all-time favorite places in Vietnam. The weather was only so-so when we left - still very hot but definitely cloudy with some dark clouds promising rain. On the way to the beach, we drove through a light rainstorm, but sure enough, the clouds parted and the sun came out!

Once the sun came out, I went for a beach walk and collected some beautiful shells!

I had never seen a green mussel shell before! So pretty!

When the sun started to go down, we went for seafood at my favorite Thien Cam Beach restaurant. We ordered the tomato-stewed tuna (my personal favorite), lemongrass shrimp, and a surprise dish that was thrust onto us before we could even comprehend what it was: cockles. No complaints there - it was delicious!!

 On the way back from the beach, Murphy's Law came into effect and we got a flat tire. Surprise, surprise, but it was the same puncture hole that got patched last week. Once again, the adhesive from the patch had melted off in the heat. This time, MJ convinced me to stop patching over the same hole as a temporary fix (and also possibly as the definition of insanity) and to splurge on new tubing: a whopping 70,000VND. Tire repaired in under 15 minutes, we continued back to Ha Tinh University where I was commissioned to give a presentation on American culture to the whole English department.

I've been nervous about this presentation for the past few weeks, only because the request to "talk about American culture for a few hours" was so vague, and I had no idea how to interpret it - plus, a few hours?! Really?!. I decided to talk about one of my favorite cultural values in America: the American dream. I gave an accidentally overly-patriotic presentation on the Declaration of Independence, Barack Obama and "Yes We Can!", and my own ancestors coming to America looking for religious freedom and opportunity, all in under 30 minutes (sorry, Mr. Duc, that it wasn't 2 long and arduous hours!). The auditorium was packed only because students were required to attend (not my ideal characteristics of an audience, but I'll take it), so not everybody seemed that engaged. However, the first couple rows were filled mostly by my best and most attentive students, and I could see all of them nodding along and looking interested and seeming to understand what I was talking about, which felt like a major victory.

I also got to debut my iMovie video documenting my time in Ha Tinh, which seemed to be received incredibly well. Certain photographs and video clips got the reactions that I wanted - either applause or laughter - and I received lots of requests for people to upload the video onto their USB thumb drives for posterity. I was honored by the requests. Some of my students told me that they wanted to cry while watching the video, and I'll admit that even I got teary watching the video on the big screen, looking out into a packed auditorium filled with familiar faces of students who I've grown to love.

I should have realized that MJ's unexpected presence would have been the star of the show! Everyone was so excited to meet her!

And take pictures with her!

Some of my faves from K2B.

Earlier this week, MJ had made a semi-joking-semi-serious request of "Can we get drunk with K2B English this week when I come to visit?!" Never one to want to let MJ down, nor never one to pass up an opportunity to hang out with the lovely and ridiculous girls of K2B, I made it happen. The girls were all very excited to come out for drinks, and we also invited some of the members of K2A along, which added some new excitement into the mix.

After the presentation, I told K2B "I just have to run to my room to put away my computer. I'll meet you at the front gate in five minutes!" I figured that MJ would come with me, but K2B had other plans. "No, Ms. Allison, you can meet us at the restaurant. We will take Ms. Madeleine with us!" Oh God... I feared that I would show up and find MJ abandoned and lost, or, more realistically, uncomfortable and weirded-out at having to hang out with my students without me as a chaperone.

I shouldn't have worried. This is the scene that I came across when I caught up with everyone:

Guess I needn't have worried! MJ looks right at home with all of my students twined around her!

We arrived at the restaurant, and of course, the party began shortly after.

Luong Man from K2B (above) and Anh from K2A poured the beers for all of us.

Dung and Giang

Hien and Dieu

Anh Nguyet and Cat Tuong

MJ and Ngan

Luong Man- per usual

Then the food showed up. Trung vit lon, or embryonic duck eggs, to be exact. I had already been initiated into this cult of bizarre Vietnamese beer snacks, but this would be MJ's first time digging into an embryonic hard-boiled duck.

So innocent and inoffensive in its shell. No one would guess what is lurking beneath.

 I am still not the biggest fan of trung vit lon, but MJ seemed to like it. Then arrived the jellyfish salad, a food I've gotten used to in Ha Tinh but may be more of an acquired taste amongst new initiates. Cat Tuong drunkenly revealed to us that it was her first time eating jellyfish. When we asked her what she thought, she made a disgusted face and said, "To be honest? It's......................... good" in the most unconvincing way possible.

 More drinking ensued.

Then the girls suggested we go dancing. At the time, this seemed like a brilliant idea. I'm still deciding whether or not it actually was (but am leaning towards a definite YES).

For those of you who requested video evidence of this hilarity, I apologize for the possible strobe light-induced seizures.

And there you have it: my possible favorite night in all of Vietnam. I guess I could have realized that the coming-together of two of my favorite entities in Vietnam (MJ and K2B English) would yield such epic results, but I was still surprised at the level of wonderfulness that ensued.

Oh, what a night...