Vietnam Team Journal


Thursday, November 24, 2011

American Thanksgiving in Vietnam


Following breakfast at the hotel, team NBK,  minus Mary, who had caught a cold,  left for school accompanied by Pam.  The exciting forty-minute taxi ride brought us to the gates of NBK where Joe marched off to face the elementary school denizens and Sim took on the high schoolers.  Pam, meanwhile, conducted a fruitless search for Mr. Quy after which she found an exotic café for our lunch.  The exotic aspect involved the removal of shoes to enter, sitting on the floor and waiting for order-out servings of pho which, we discovered, could not be eaten with chopsticks from ground level.  WE were then permitted to go back outdoors and dine at a sidewalk table.  Our – or at least my – curiosity about pho satisfied and having been granted the afternoon off by NBK. We returned to the hotel.

Joe went to see about Mary, while I, assisted by Pam and a young man employed at the hotel, purchased a new cell phone at a nearby store.  The remainder of the afternoon was spent getting the wifi modem in my room fixed, arranging for laundry service and taking a walk around the lake.  I heard later, make that overheard, that during the day, Ingrid had visited ‘Uncle Ho’s’ mausoleum and home and that Ali went to the ‘Women’s Museum’.  The event of the day was the team’s Thanksgiving Dinner provided by the hotel and served up with great pride and a certain amount of pomp by the chef.  The team members to a person were grateful and appreciative of both the food and consideration that went into providing this recognition of a favorite holiday.   From all reports, everyone enjoyed a good night’s sleep.

- Sam

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