Brent engulfed by birthday flowers, a Vietnamese tradition.
Brent's host family.
Friends Brent and Cường.
Brent and I in front of a minority-style house at the Ethnology Museum.
I love hanging out with my host sister Em Ngọc and attempting to make jokes in Vietnamese.
The groom and his family prepare to enter the bride's house bearing many gifts.
Pumpkin seeds abound. I still haven't really figured out how to crack these open in my mouth and end up with a neat pile of shells like the Vietnamese.
The bride serves green tea to the groom's family.
The oldest members of the family sit together and discuss details of the wedding.
Learning the word for nose: mũi. Hooray for picture dictionaries!
Typical breakfast of sticky rice wrapped in newspaper and banana leaf.
The wedding ceremony in front of the family ancestor altar.
Exchanging rings in front of the oldest members of the family.
A few speeches by the oldest. Too bad I didn't understand anything of what was being said... :-\
The wedding reception after the small ceremony.
Em Thủy and me wearing the áo dài.
Lots of food!
My wonderful host family.
Em Ngọc and me.
I really like the faces of old Vietnamese people. So much character... :)
One afternoon I took my camera for a walk. The next few images are from the streets near my house.
Women sit by the side of the road selling sunglasses. Not a job I envy.
In the midst of busy roads and construction, this pond remains.
These bicycle repairmen are my heroes when my bike breaks down.
Flowers and fruit make the streets very colorful.
A vegetable vendor on the side of the road.
That's the little entrance to my alley, where the green sign is. Even after 3 months here, I still miss it sometimes...
A woman walks the alleyways calling out in a sing-song voice for people to bring out their recycling goods.
I went with MCC to an HIV/AIDS music and dance competition outside of Hanoi. Here, Lowell gives an introductory speech with Cô Bảy translating.
Traditional clothes over tight jeans and stilettos. Nice.
A drama about HIV/AIDS.
Afterwards, the kids were SO excited to take pictures with us.
The winners receive flowers from Lowell.
After the competition, we went out to a village where MCC has helped build a school.
A bomb left by the Americans from the war has been transformed into a school gong.
A Catholic church dome pokes through the school volleyball net.
I asked one girl what her name was, then she introduced me to all her friends.
A cross from two tree trunks, with the church in the background. This village is unusual in Vietnam as the majority of people are Catholic.
