Faith and Joy on a ride--with their helium balloons!
Jillian and Anna Mei at the park.
Faith and Joy in the ball pit.
The girls with An, their ballet teacher, and her two daughters (on the back row). The fountain in her house is on the left.Hello, all--
We are coming to the close of our first Tet holiday. It is amazing to me that most stores are still closed. All the local hair salons, bookstores, bike repair shops, furniture stores, and most everything other than food places still have their doors locked. It is slightly easier to get a taxi, but still requires patience. From everything I had heard about Tet, I was expecting more frustration. Not that there haven't been moments...
The day before yesterday, the girls and I walked a few blocks to a local "carnival" that opened on an empty lot for Tet. There was one kiddie ride, and several "games of chance." Vendors also sold balloons and food. We met a couple of friends there--ladies who are here teaching English. A Vietnamese man started talking to me (as much as he could with very little English). First, he wanted me to buy balloons. I told him "not yet." Then, he seemed to take a keen interest that the man in charge of the ride did not charge too much for Faith and Joy. When he seemed to get a little too attached, Dawn, Susan and I decided we had better leave, and maybe we could come back and he would be gone. That was our hope, but we never expected him to leave with us! He came with us down the street, first arguing with Dawn that I must be kidnapping Vietnamese children, I couldn't be the mother of three Asian girls! She assured him that I was their mother, and pointed out that they all spoke English. That did not satisfy him. He kept walking with us--I kept the girls at the front of our procession with me, then Susan was the buffer, and Dawn (who speaks the most Vietnamese, having lived here for 2 years) kept the man at the back and tried to persuade him to leave. After awhile, he told her that he wanted me to give him money for all of his "help." By this time, we had walked several blocks, and when we came to a cafe, we went in and sat down for a soda to try to get away from this man. He continued to call into us. Finally, the lady who owned the cafe told him that if he did not leave us alone, she would call the police. Finally he left. Whew!
A couple of weeks ago, the ballet teacher invited us to make a Tet visit to her home on Jan. 29. So, yesterday afternoon, the girls and I took a taxi to her address. I tried to prepare the girls to be polite and to withhold comments about the house, the food, etc. Although the outside was very plain with a heavy iron gate for a front door, the inside was lovely. There was even a waterfall beside the stairs, with fish in a pool at the bottom! The teacher An and her two daughters (ages 13 and 14) were so gracious. They brought out candy, coconut, nuts, cookies, a Tet cake, some kind of "gelled" meat, and orange soda. An offered me beer, but I stuck with the soda. They gave the girls the red envelopes with some money. It was very sweet. An does not speak English, but her 14 year-old daughter, Tran, translated for us.
During the visit at An's house, she invited us to a dance performance at a local park tonight. While Tony worked, four of the girls and I went out again (Elizabeth decided to stay home)--with Dawn, and went to the park. It turned out to be an amusement park with many small rides. Dawn told us there is also a zoo there (with less than 10 different animal species). Rides cost about 25 cents each, and a helium balloon was about 55 cents. Cotton candy is about 18 cents. The behavior of the crowds is something else. There is so much pushing--the lines do not form in any kind of orderly fashion. Everyone just stands in a mob near the entrance, then pushes to the front when the gate opens to admit people. Faith and Joy had balloons tied to their wrists. We had trouble getting them off for them to play in a ball pit--the attendant broke the string with her teeth! For the moving rides, I was allowed to stand next to the ride or the track while the girls rode--no waiting outside the fence. And, when Anna Mei and Faith rode a mini-roller coaster, the attendant told me to let them stay on for a second ride without a ticket.
So, it has been an interesting week. In these and other events, I have been reminded that much of my frustration comes when life does not match my expectations. How much more peaceful to recognize that things are just "different"--without judging them as "bad"--and let God's grace flow through me.
One other note, something that I did not expect during Tet...with many people flying the Vietnamese flag, I have been so happy to see our American flag hanging in the classroom. How thankful I am to tell people we are from America. I never really thought before of the great blessing it is to have been born in the United States. Perhaps that is the way people feel all over the world about their own country.
I hope that your joy, strength and peace today exceeds all your expectations! May you be surprised continually by His great love!
Grace and peace!
