Happy Holidays

Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. It just wasn't the same over here, given the fact that it's so hot and the Vietnamese way of observing Christmas is, well...pretty bizarre. Even though my students claimed not to celebrate, this December I witnessed the most outrageous display of Christmas cheer imaginable. Ho Chi Minh City was draped in tacky ornaments and a light display that caused traffic jams in the center for over a week.

The best part of my holidays was definitely having my friends Anna and Ben come visit me. We kicked off the holiday by going to eat at a traditional Vietnamese restaurant. This place is enormous - like a Vietnamese Hickory Park. And of course it was glowing with Christmas lights, laser beams, and hundreds of locals. While we were eating an mc appeared on the staircase to announce the arrival of Santa Clause. A Vietnamese Santa descended the stairs, followed by a procession of women in extravagant ball gowns and Christmas elves, who handed out gifts to every table.

Did I mention there were pyrotechnics!?

I had been told by my colleagues that the city center explodes every Christmas Eve (even though Vietnamese people "don't celebrate." I was prepared for madness, however this year, a Vietnamese football victory fueled the festivity.

This is what the city looked like for at least a square mile. Before plunging into the crowd, Anna, Ben, and I bought yellow and red headbands to show our support for team Vietnam, which really excited some of the locals. A lot. Actually, I felt like a rock star. When we walked through the crowd, everyone around us would start cheering and fist-pumping. Random strangers requested to have their photos taken with us.

We tried to get a photo with just me and Anna, but as you can see, a Vietnamese kid popped in for this one. And we were completely overtaken in this next photo.





After Christmas we left Saigon to recover on the beach - the perfect ending to the holidays. Here are a few pics from a motorbike ride out in the country.

I'll leave you with that last one. Isn't he cute? I hope 2009 is off to a good start for all of you. Home has been in my thoughts a lot this last month - I miss you all very much! Please be in touch:)