Time for Tet!
So it's 7:00 AM right now. Oh yes, I woke up at 6:00 am to the sounds of our neighborhood rooster who apparently got 5 new friends. In a big urban city of 8 million people, I wake up to rooster crows.
Anyways, out of frustration, and an empty post-drinking stomach, I decided to get out of the house to enjoy my favorite breakfast, hu tieu hoanh thanh xa xiu (aka rice noodles with wontons and marinated bbq pork). Like the elusive McDonald's breakfast, I usually sleep in too late or get too busy to get it (it's not really a grab-and-go thing). This is why I am blogging at 7:30 in the morning.
Tet, aka Lunar New Year, is on Saturday, so the city is alive and frantically decorating the city, preparing gift baskets, and cleaning away the old year. Think of New Years in NY, then multiply the enthusiasm by about 8 million. The streets are inundated with motorbikes carrying everything from bags to flowers to trees (yes, real ones, ready to be planted). I would take pictures, but my camera has officially decided it wants to stop working (SOOOO pissed).
Last night, I came across some guys dressed like they were about to perform a dragon dance. Like the rest of the curious motorbikers, I stopped to take a look and see when they were going to start. In less than 2 minutes, I wasn't able to move on; over half the busy, busy street was filled with people who stopped to wait and watch. I'm glad I was loafing around because there was very little chance I was getting out of that crowd before the parade finished. It was actually kind of nice to see how no one really minded the fact that over half a street became blocked off by bystanders. People who didn't want to watch just went their merry way. Many people also left their motorbikes on the side of the road to get closer to the action. In a city where motorbike theft is ridiculously rampant, people were surprisingly trusting of the others around them. Even I was encouraged to leave my motorbike for a better view, to which the man behind me who kindly suggested it faithfully made sure that no one stole it. It would have been pretty difficult anyways, seeing how I was trapped in by so many others; I guess people figured that if anyone wanted to steal their motorbike, they would first have to get it in a position to where it could drive off, and they would have plenty of time to catch the thief.
The parade was small, but really pretty. The dragon dancers led the way, followed by people dressed in old royal garb. Behind them was a fake emperor who was riding in a "boat," which was actually people holding up a long red piece of fabric, while a guy in the back held up the sail. It was rather clever, I thought. Next followed the models doing a fashion-like show, and the dancers brought up the rear. I wanted to go away for this week off I have, but there is too much to see in the city!
Many people said around Tet, the city shuts down and goes dead because all the store workers are spending time with their families. Most expats and travellers, as well as a lot of locals, leave for other places. I have friends who went to Da Lat, Hoi An, Phu Quoc Island, Cambodia, and even the States. Luckily, I have family that I want to spend time with learning about all the Tet traditions. On Mon, some of my students took me out to eat and to see some local artists drawing Vietnamese calligraphy, called "Thu Phap." It's influenced by the Chinese and French, so it uses a lot of Chinese-originated words, but they are written with alphabetical letters. The coolest words are the letters they make look like one character. As I was watching the fascinating strokes, my students presented to me a scroll with the word "tam," which means "with your whole heart." The word is often presented to teachers who teach...well, you get the point. After spending so much time fighting stereotypes that I would be a less qualified teacher because of my appearance, I felt so touched. It was also cool just to be able to hang out with my students. It felt like a complete role reversal as they showed me around that part of the city, teaching me Vietnamese words and telling me about Vietnamese traditions. I tried to get them to talk about traditions in our class, but they were more at ease out on the street where they could point and use Vietnamese. One girl, Nam Hai, was most impressive with her English skills. Her English is WAAY better than my Vietnamese!
As much I would have liked to travel (we don't get many week vacations here), I'm glad I stayed. The excitement is palpable, and quite unlike any holidays we celebrate in the States. Because everyone has the same traditions, everything seems to be coming together as a unit. I think we miss that in the States. Everyone comes from somewhere different, so we have many different traditions, which is great, but no one holiday is celebrated so grandly by the whole country. It's quite thrilling to be here to experience it.
Anyways, out of frustration, and an empty post-drinking stomach, I decided to get out of the house to enjoy my favorite breakfast, hu tieu hoanh thanh xa xiu (aka rice noodles with wontons and marinated bbq pork). Like the elusive McDonald's breakfast, I usually sleep in too late or get too busy to get it (it's not really a grab-and-go thing). This is why I am blogging at 7:30 in the morning.
Tet, aka Lunar New Year, is on Saturday, so the city is alive and frantically decorating the city, preparing gift baskets, and cleaning away the old year. Think of New Years in NY, then multiply the enthusiasm by about 8 million. The streets are inundated with motorbikes carrying everything from bags to flowers to trees (yes, real ones, ready to be planted). I would take pictures, but my camera has officially decided it wants to stop working (SOOOO pissed).
Last night, I came across some guys dressed like they were about to perform a dragon dance. Like the rest of the curious motorbikers, I stopped to take a look and see when they were going to start. In less than 2 minutes, I wasn't able to move on; over half the busy, busy street was filled with people who stopped to wait and watch. I'm glad I was loafing around because there was very little chance I was getting out of that crowd before the parade finished. It was actually kind of nice to see how no one really minded the fact that over half a street became blocked off by bystanders. People who didn't want to watch just went their merry way. Many people also left their motorbikes on the side of the road to get closer to the action. In a city where motorbike theft is ridiculously rampant, people were surprisingly trusting of the others around them. Even I was encouraged to leave my motorbike for a better view, to which the man behind me who kindly suggested it faithfully made sure that no one stole it. It would have been pretty difficult anyways, seeing how I was trapped in by so many others; I guess people figured that if anyone wanted to steal their motorbike, they would first have to get it in a position to where it could drive off, and they would have plenty of time to catch the thief.
The parade was small, but really pretty. The dragon dancers led the way, followed by people dressed in old royal garb. Behind them was a fake emperor who was riding in a "boat," which was actually people holding up a long red piece of fabric, while a guy in the back held up the sail. It was rather clever, I thought. Next followed the models doing a fashion-like show, and the dancers brought up the rear. I wanted to go away for this week off I have, but there is too much to see in the city!
Many people said around Tet, the city shuts down and goes dead because all the store workers are spending time with their families. Most expats and travellers, as well as a lot of locals, leave for other places. I have friends who went to Da Lat, Hoi An, Phu Quoc Island, Cambodia, and even the States. Luckily, I have family that I want to spend time with learning about all the Tet traditions. On Mon, some of my students took me out to eat and to see some local artists drawing Vietnamese calligraphy, called "Thu Phap." It's influenced by the Chinese and French, so it uses a lot of Chinese-originated words, but they are written with alphabetical letters. The coolest words are the letters they make look like one character. As I was watching the fascinating strokes, my students presented to me a scroll with the word "tam," which means "with your whole heart." The word is often presented to teachers who teach...well, you get the point. After spending so much time fighting stereotypes that I would be a less qualified teacher because of my appearance, I felt so touched. It was also cool just to be able to hang out with my students. It felt like a complete role reversal as they showed me around that part of the city, teaching me Vietnamese words and telling me about Vietnamese traditions. I tried to get them to talk about traditions in our class, but they were more at ease out on the street where they could point and use Vietnamese. One girl, Nam Hai, was most impressive with her English skills. Her English is WAAY better than my Vietnamese!
As much I would have liked to travel (we don't get many week vacations here), I'm glad I stayed. The excitement is palpable, and quite unlike any holidays we celebrate in the States. Because everyone has the same traditions, everything seems to be coming together as a unit. I think we miss that in the States. Everyone comes from somewhere different, so we have many different traditions, which is great, but no one holiday is celebrated so grandly by the whole country. It's quite thrilling to be here to experience it.
posted by Vivi at 6:10 PM
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