Very Brief Update on Thanksgiving

If I don't write something today, I will have missed the whole, eventful month of November.  So this entry is about lost opportunities.  Not opportunities to do, just opportunities to blog.  With a little luck I'll be able to catch you up over the next few weeks on what's been going on.

The short version is that I've traveled in the mountains--Sa Pa and Lao Cai on the China border--and the sea--Ha Long Bay, which lives up to it's reputation--and all over the Red River Delta to small towns and villages specializing in wood carving and lacquer and embroidery.  I've meditated on the difficulties of learning this beautiful language.  I've thought about food.

And I've struggled with the aftermath of pink eye which has made it hard to read at night and by artificial light and the slow abating of dysentery which has had me re-thinking food.

It's all led up to Thanksgiving which we, SYA, celebrated as a community with a traditional US meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and apple and pumpkin pies that we made at a cooking party in my apartment with two toaster ovens (the pies, that is--the meal was in the upper room of the stylish Baci Cafe).  The upshot was a wonderful meal that our Vietnamese guests found very strange and sometimes distasteful.  As we occasionally find the food, some of the food, here.

And, by the way, it turns out Hollandaise Sauce is really good on mashed potatoes.  Just so you know. We forgot the gravy.

Maybe I've re jump-started myself.  Maybe I'll keep up with this.  Lord knows I have plenty of news.  I'll try to tell these stories as stories.

But you need to know I'm very thankful.  Deeply.  Broadly.  To have the privilege of being in Viet Nam, to be the guest of these wonderful people, to be the colleagues of Vuong, Lisa, Ted, Amy, Lan, Phuc, Thuy, and Giang.  To be the teachers of these privileged but not entitled students.  To eat this fabulous food.  To see this astonishing country at something like a leisurely pace.  For my children and grandson.  For my partner who's already visited once and is coming in a few weeks despite getting sick the first time.  For email. For friends like Susan and Karen and Sujan.  For Skype.

Even for Facebook.

From Hanoi with love.