September 2 was Independence Day (from the French). To celebrate, mobs of people came out to the Old Quarter for a variety of entertainment. I watched from the crowd for a while, then decided to get the spacious, birds-eye view from a coffee shop.
Trained monkeys demonstrate Vietnam's transportation system on Independence Day. They jumped on and off bicycles and a cyclo, sometimes colliding, sometimes tipping over, sometimes riding beautifully.
The crowd after the Independence Day entertainment finished. I decided to stay put for a while!
The night market in the Old Quarter--many blocks of stalls with food, clothes, jewelry, etc.
Brent gets a haircut. With craft scissors.
Two men head down the ally by my house on a motorbike.
Women whitewash the exterior of a pagoda.
Pagoda
Inside a pagoda, ready to receive prayers and gifts.
Rush hour! I sat on my bike in this jam for an hour. Blech.
One of my host sisters and private language tutor par excellence.
Eating phơ gà at home--broth with white rice noodles, chicken, green onion, lime juice, processed meat, and egg slivers. Yum!
An outdoors traditional music concert downtown. They attracted quite the crowd!
My flute teacher playing a solo at the concert.
A motorbike provides a good seat for this audience as they watch and listen to the traditional music.
My coworkers from Action for the City getting a drink on the street after lunch.
A vine drapes elegantly down the staircase in my house. I share a room on the second floor.
My host family's house (with blue skies, unusual for Hanoi!).
I share a room with my host sister, who is 19. It's not usually this messy, I promise...
The view from the balcony outside my room.
Getting ready for lunch at My Chau, where our church went for a small retreat. My Chau is a traditional Thai village.
The rice in My Chau was soon to be harvested.
Rice fields with an irrigation system.
These fish were lined up, gulping down *something* that came out of a tube. I've no idea what it was, and am not sure I want to know...
Giang (with her daughter) started Action for the City and goes to my church. She's a great boss.
A traditional music and dance performance at My Chau.
Notice anything funny about this picture, oh flutists among you? Yes, he's holding the flute in the opposite direction than usual.
Playing cards with the church group at My Chau. The houses are on stilts, so we were underneath the house.
Dawn creeps up on a still pond in My Chau.
Never too old to jump rope.
A little church service.
Singing together! Hooray!
We climbed, and climbed, and climbed... and climbed! to a cave. After over 30 minutes of these steep stairs, the cool air of a cave felt wonderful.
We met a group of students learning French in the cave. They sang us some Vietnamese songs, and we sang them some Western ones. Then we all sang one everyone knows--the Beetles!
The view from the cave, looking down towards My Chau.
A preschool class music lesson. MCC has a project here to help provide nutritious lunches and equipment.
Vinh (MCC staff), Rachel (SALTer and photographer!), and I talked to many different people, including the headmistress (center), in order to put together a report to send to sponsors. I enjoyed being a reporter for a day...
A few kids wander out to the playground at this school, ready for a break! They are here from around 6:30am until 5:00pm, a long day!
This young girl's father fought in the American War (as they call the Vietnam War here) and was affected by Agent Orange. The poison was passed down to her, so she has trouble remembering her name and was very quiet and withdrawn with a sad spirit about her.
A teacher serves lunch!
Washing up after lunch.
The cook using a well that MCC helped to provide.
Nap time! I love this about Vietnam. Even at my work places, lunch is usually from 12-1:30, so after eating everyone brings out a mat and takes a little snooze. It's a really great way to recharge for the afternoon. I've had absolutely no trouble adapting to this cultural element. :)
Teachers, leaders, MCC staff, and government officials pose for a picture outside the commune school. Notice how I'm taller than the woman behind me... who's on the next step up.
The mid-autumn festival is a holiday for children, when youth flood the streets with colorful costums and fun toys. Unfortunately, it rained hard all day and we had to huddle under umbrellas for a while. These youth made a break for it when the rain cleared for a few minutes.
This woman made these amazing grasshoppers out of palm leaves for the mid-autumn festival. These were the only hand-made items that I saw--other toys were plastic, likely imported from China.
My two host sisters, Thủy and Ngọc. The mask is from the mid-autumn festival.
Action for the City held a PhotoVoice workshop (see my blog for more on that). Here, the facilitator guides everyone through a meditation.
Participants drew outlines of themselves and then described what they are passionate about.
A participant describes her vision on the river, before it was polluted.
Dinner with some friends. We made a type of soft nem, or springrolls. Yum!
Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Opera House.
Some of the youth in my ESL class at the Massage Center. We have fun together as my Vietnamese is about where their English is.
