Tomorrow morning I officially return to work, marking the end of my first Tet holiday in Vietnam. I have had a fantastic time, and honestly wish the holiday would never end. Between the food, the parties, the lucky money, and the festivals happening all over the city, Hanoi really does feel like it has been the place to be the past week.
My friend Natalie (who’s visiting until this coming Sunday) and I have been lucky enough to visit a number of houses for traditional Tet meals. There are a few dishes that we’ve seen at every one: gio (pork and/or beef that is mashed up and steamed, then cut into tiny pieces), nem (fried spring rolls that you see all year round but are at every Tet table), bamboo and other vegetables soaked in a delicious salty broth, rice wine (because what would a Tet meal be without it), and my absolute FAVORITE has been banh trung (a very traditional Tet dish that consists if three layers – sticky rice on the outside, then green beans, and pork – all wrapped in leaves that give it a greenish color). The Vietnamese save banh trung for the end of the meal because it’s sure to fill you up quick. Luckily, Natalie and I just got back from our very last Tet meal where Linh (one of my translators) had made his mom well aware of my love for banh chung so she gave us a few pieces to take home. Now I get to have it all week. There are also a few deserts that we’ve had after most Tet meals – o mai (dried apricots that are usually covered in ginger), sunflower seeds, and pomelo. Below are pictures of Natalie and I at our Tet feasts (some of the pictures were taken with my cell phone so they're not the best quality):
^The above two photos were taken at the dinner Natalie and I had tonight, with Linh, one of my translators. His mom is the BEST cook, and has promised to teach me how to make pho and mien (my two favorite noodle dishes). In the bottom of the second photo is banh trung, and to the upper left gio and the upper right nem.
^Here's a photo taken during a Tet lunch I had at my other translator, Tung's, house. In addition to the nem pictured here, there was chicken (off to the upper right), lots of vegetable and soup dishes, and banh trung which isn't pictured.
^This was a pre- and post-dinner snack that Natalie and I had during our Tet dinner last night with some of the bankers I tutor. You can see the quats (kind of like tangerines), pistachios, o mai, and other candies (as well as the drinks they had us cheers with many times).
^Natalie and I, along with Mr. Hoang (one of the bankers I tutor) and another banker's son, who was also at the dinner.
^This is the Tet dinner we had last night, equipped with banh trung, nem, gio, and lots of vegetable dishes.
We haven’t just been eating over Tet, though. We’ve also gone around the city and seen some pretty cool stuff. In addition to the fireworks that I wrote about in my last post, we’ve gone and seen the water puppet show right near Hoan Kiem lake. there are people who stand in water about knee high behind a curtain and use water puppets to convey traditional Vietnamese activities ranging from farming and fishing to wedding ceremonies and traditional ancestral processions. This was my third time going to the show, and they’ve cut it in half and taken out about half of the numbers since I last saw it two years ago. It’s still a very interesting cultural experience though. Here are some pictures from the show:
^The talented puppeteers.
And today Natalie and I and a few friends from Save the Children went to the Museum of Ethnology where they are having a three-day-long Tet festival. Vietnam has fifty or more ethnic minorities that live in provinces nationwide, and the museum has displays that provide information on all of the minority populations. During the Tet festival, all over the museum, there are people from a number of the groups putting on games and performances. We saw people walking on stilts, playing “clay crackers” (where they throw dry clay on the ground as loudly as they can to see who will make the loudest noise and thereby have the most luck that year), playing on swings, drawing messages in Chinese, making paper flowers, etc. I even got to join in on the fun – a Vietnamese guy and I paired up with two people from one ethnic minority group to see if we could repeat traditional chants after they said them for us. At first, the woman I was imitating said I was doing a pretty bad job, but I learned quick and eventually was able to grab a lucky money envelope from a nearby tree (and read the Vietnamese message to the crowd that was watching!). Below are some pictures from the day's events:
^These statues surround one of the traditional huts featured at the museum, and are meant to represent the circle of life.
^Groups making paper flowers.
^My friend Mai attempting to walk on stilts.
^A balancing beam they had.
^Natalie and I tried to swing on these swings, but there was too large a crowd to get a spot.
All in all, it has been quite a few days. I recommend that everyone try to spend at least one Tet holiday in Vietnam, it’s a great experience!
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