It's back to teaching now after two weeks off for Tet New Year. I had a really good time, although I didn't make it out of Vietnam like I had planned. When classes ended, I took off for Saigon. My plan was to stay there for a few days and then head to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for a few days. I didn't do a whole lot in Saigon, but we did go see the Super Bowl. The game started at 6:30am on Monday morning. We went to a bar and watched the game with a packed house full of Americans, it was fun to do something very American like that. I met with my friend Ren one night. It had been almost 4 years since we had first met in China. I also met up with several other VIA volunteers (Ai, Mark, Kim, Aileen, Brandon), which was great to see some of the others and see how they are doing. I ended up deciding to stay in Saigon instead of rush to Phnom Penh (I have been there before too). I just relaxed most days and went out with friends at night, so it was fun. I did have my phone stolen one night (very late at night…remember, nothing good happens after 2am!). It was my first time to have anything stolen here in Vietnam, so I wasn't too happy, but I was able to get back my same phone number and buy a new phone the next day, so it wasn't a big deal.

After Saigon, I headed back to Tra Vinh to celebrate Tet with my friends Ai (from VIA) and Huyen (from Tra Vinh University). Their family was really welcoming. Tet is not like American holidays which are typically one day (one evening really) and revolve around one meal or a meal and opening gifts. Tet is a three day celebration where people get together with all their extended family and eat many meals together, gamble, drink, relax, talk, etc. I was welcomed into Ai and Huyen's families home and was fed (thankfully because very few places are open) and invited to drink, gamble and join in the fun. I did pretty well gambling too. The second day of Tet, I went with Ai and Huyen to the countryside to a cousins, wife's home. It's always nice to see the countryside here, so we had another great time.

On the third day of Tet, I woke up around 8:30am (very late for Vietnam) and at about 9:00am the Vice Director of the University unexpectedly showed up at my door. His English is not very good, so he just said, "You come with me, now. We go Director Khanh's home." I had the Vice Director inviting me to the Director's home, so of course I said yes. We showed up there about 9:15 and immediately I was given a whiskey shot to take. I tried to argue, but it's useless, so I started drinking. I can understand some Vietnamese now, so I knew what they were talking about most of the time. It was almost entirely arguments about how and who we should cheers with our next shot ("I think we should say, 1,2,3 Happy New Year," "No, I think we should say 1,2,3 Happy New Year Mr. Khanh, Drink Drink Drink."). A group of us men from the University ended up going to three different houses and eating and drinking at all of them. By the time we were done (around 1pm) I had about 7 shots of whiskey and 3 beers. Luckily I was able to go home and sleep for a while. That night I met with Ai and Huyen again and we went to a coffee shop. Ai had to leave for Hue the next morning, so that was the end of Tet.

After Tet, I had a few free days and wanted to go somewhere, so I decided to visit my friend Tam in her hometown of Tay Ninh. On my first trip to Vietnam 2 years ago I celebrated Tet with Tam and her family, so this was my second visit. It took me 9 hours to get there, involving 1 shuttle and 3 local busses, but I made it. The first night we went to a kind of amusement park outside town. There was a lake, some rides and a lot of area to picnic and relax. The next day, we went to a mountain outside town to visit the monastery there. It's usually pretty quiet, but because it was still the holiday, the mountain was absolutely packed. There were thousands of people walking up the mountain even though it was probably in the mid-90's. Tam and I made it to the top, and there were some nice views. Coming down was much more fun though, because we took a ride down the mountain (a little car with wheels that follows a track down).

Anyway, so Tet was really good, but now it is back to teaching. All is well here and I hope everyone is well back home.