"Tet Trung Thu"

This is commonly known of as "Children's Tet" or "Mid Autumn Festival". It is an exciting time in Hanoi for parents and young children (big kids enjoy it too!). There are so many beautiful colors on the streets. One of my language teachers along with her family took me and the boys out to experience some of the celebrations. It's difficult to describe because there are so many customs and stories that go along with it. The Chinese have a similar one but Vietnam has applied it's own uniqueness to their celebration. Typically, parents will buy toys for their children during this time. The toys are not expensive and sometimes they are very traditional hand made toys. I tried to take some pics of the street but they didn't turn out too good. There are also several traditional foods that are eaten during this time such has grapefruit and "banh trung thu" (a type of small cake made just for this celebration).

The pics below were from the home of one of my teacher's good friends. The party table was decorated with fruit and a "dog" made out of a grapefruit. The "flower" looking thing was carved out of papaya. The picture of the family is very special for many reasons. If I understood accurately, the older lady is 93 and her late husband was a friend of Ho Chi Minh and served in his cabinet. This particular family has a long list of political ties. I'm not sure why we were there? The lady on the far right, front row is one of the most well respected professors in Hanoi. She speaks exceptional English. They were all very kind and gracious to me and the boys. When we left they gave us several gifts to take home in honor to Tet Trung Thu.

JOSHUA'S 11th BIRTHDAY!

Now the entire Miller family has celebrated a birthday in Vietnam! That's worth at least a... hooray!... yee ha!... or something like that! Joshua's birthday was an adventure! It took the help of some sweet friends in the states to secure his gift and a group from Tennessee to get it here. If that wasn't enough, on the Saturday that we had planned to take his buddies to the water park everything was going great until... we arrived at the water park. In typical Vietnamese style, once we arrived we discovered that on this particular Saturday the entire park had been reserved by a petroleum company! I stood at a distance to watch Robin's facial expression and body language as she experienced "c-u-l-t-u-r-e s-h-o-c-k!" I will not go into the details!... It wasn't pretty! Just kidding. She handled it very well. It must be an indication that we are adjusting. When you come to Vietnam, flexibility is just the beginning! You must be "fluid." Therefore, we gathered everyone up and "poured" (pun definitely intended) ourselves into a nearby swimming pool. The boys still had a good time. You will notice in the pics that none of Josh's buddies are American (Vietnamese, Taiwanese and Indian). You will also notice from the pics how big he is getting. We are so proud of him!

Our Visit To "An Tru"
Where is "An Tru" you ask? Or... maybe you didn't ask! Anyway, "An Tru" is about 75 km from Hanoi. It is a 1:30 hour ride by auto; 2 hour ride by motor bike; and a three day ride by water buffalo. We opted for the motor bike. "An Tru" is a small (by Vietnamese standards) village. Most of the people who live there were born, raised and will probably die there. Their main business is farming and specifically rice farming. We ventured there because it is the home of a friend of mine who I met in 2005. He used to work in a book store in Hanoi, but now works for a Japanese company in the city of Hai Duong which is only about 35 km from An Tru.

It was a real adventure for our family because it was our first time outside the city limits on our motor bikes. Because we were wearing our helmets I don't think we were stared at too much. Our only mishap was a flat on Robin's bike. Fortunately, the flat occured within about 20 feet of a repair shop. Of course in Vietnam there are motor bike repair shops about every 100 ft! Once we met our friend on the main road, we followed him the rest of the way to his home. It was a traditional Vietnamese countryside home. The traditional home has a main house where people sleep and where the family altar is located. Outside there is another building where food is prepared. There is also a well for water and a garden in the back along with a few livestock. I will not describe the other necessary room or hole!

Tru's family welcomed us with open arms. His mother retired this year from teaching school. She had taught her entire career in the same village. Tru, his wife and daughter and his younger brother lived with his mom in the same house. Tru's family had prepared a delicious meal for us and before the day was over a number of the neighbors had come by to see the foreigners. I asked Tru's mother if she could ever remember a foreigner, much less an American, visiting their village in the past... she could not! Who knows maybe we were the first! As you can see from the pics, we had a great time.