On the morning of 5/14 we drove the Evergreen group to the airport. I had been looking forward to reuniting with my students for so long, I forgot how sad it would be when we separated.
Group shot just before the students entered securityI now have four more days in Hanoi before I fly to Laos. It will be nice to have no schedule again. I will be staying with Ha for two days, and then Mike for two days.
Ha's homeHa bought 43 square meters (about 490 square feet) in a village about an hour from the center of Hanoi. The new houses are all thin and tall because land is so expensive. The entire 43 square meters is used up by the footprint of the house - there is no front or back yard. On each floor are two rooms, with a stairway up the middle. There are bathrooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The bottom floor has the kitchen in the back and a family in the front, but Ha says that someday the front room is be used just for the motor scooters. There is no dining room - a mat is layed across the floor and meals are eaten while sitting on the floor. The top floor has a room in the back for drying clothes, and the front room is a beautiful shrine to Ha's ancestors.
The gate to Ha's neighborhood. There are over 200 families that live within this neighborhood. This is the only entrance in and out. Some day the main floor of Ha's house might be used as a shop. Since Ha's house is the first property inside the gate, it is an excellent location for a shop.
Mike at a local restaurant in Ha's village
rice field view at Ha's village
Dinner at Ha's home. The upper left dish is a plate of strips of pig ear, coated in rice flour. It didn't taste so good after I found out what I was eating.
Ha and his son Minh Ha's friend Sy explained to me that every meal must have four dishes: rice, a vegetable, soup, and a meat dish. At my first dinner in Ha's house, the women all took rice first while the men did not. I asked if men don't eat rice, and it was explained that while drinking alcohol, you do not take a bowl of rice (women do not drink alcohol in Vietnam). Taking rice means that there will be no more alcohol (so it might be a while before you get some rice, with all the beer and wine consumed). Every time Sy said "alcohol," it sounded like "Uncle Ho," which is sort of appropriate for Vietnam. (All Vietnamese refer to Ho Chi Minh, the George Washington of Vietnam, as "Uncle Ho.")
View from the balcony
pickled eggplants - I thought they were baby eggplants, but this is a special type of eggplant, and is full grown. It is very delicious.
Over the course of the two days I stayed with Ha, we went to visit a couple of Ha's friends unannounced. Each time we visited someone, Ha would shout out their name from their gate. We would always be invited in, and then served green tea. They do a ritual each time a drink is served, whether it is green tea, wine, or beer. I bit of the liquid is poured into a glass, then the next glass. After the bit of liquid was transferred to all the glasses being used, the liquid was poured out. I asked why they do this, and it was explained to me that it was how they clean out the glasses. I think it is from a far more ancient custom of offering a bit to the gods before drinking. When I suggested this reason, they just laughed, though the hill tribe people still practice this custom. At one friend's home, they offered me bananas, though most were still green. I asked what they do with the green bananas, and Ha said that they make a green banana soup. I told Ha that I had never tried this. Without my knowing, Ha phoned his wife, who made the soup for dinner.
lunch, including green banana soup (top right)
Ha's wife Huong and baby Thanh
Ha and Minh
View from the balcony
pickled eggplants - I thought they were baby eggplants, but this is a special type of eggplant, and is full grown. It is very delicious.Over the course of the two days I stayed with Ha, we went to visit a couple of Ha's friends unannounced. Each time we visited someone, Ha would shout out their name from their gate. We would always be invited in, and then served green tea. They do a ritual each time a drink is served, whether it is green tea, wine, or beer. I bit of the liquid is poured into a glass, then the next glass. After the bit of liquid was transferred to all the glasses being used, the liquid was poured out. I asked why they do this, and it was explained to me that it was how they clean out the glasses. I think it is from a far more ancient custom of offering a bit to the gods before drinking. When I suggested this reason, they just laughed, though the hill tribe people still practice this custom. At one friend's home, they offered me bananas, though most were still green. I asked what they do with the green bananas, and Ha said that they make a green banana soup. I told Ha that I had never tried this. Without my knowing, Ha phoned his wife, who made the soup for dinner.
lunch, including green banana soup (top right)
Ha's wife Huong and baby Thanh
Ha and MinhFavorite quotes from Ha:
Ha was explaining the need for flexibility. "If everyone goes the same way, . . . traffic jam."
The last evening at Ha's home, from the balcony on the top floor overlooking the rice terraces, we were sharing our life stories, and Ha said to me, "There is only so much you can hold in your hand. You cannot hold the whole world. You cannot hold the sunrise or the sunset."
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