New classes, Christmas and weddings!

Yesterday I began two new children’s classes. After looking through the book the night before, I thought these classes were going to be a nightmare but it turns out that I actually like them. They are definitely going to be a rowdy bunch but at least they all respond to their names (unlike one of my other children’s classes) and they enjoy singing the songs! In fact, they ask to sing them again and again and again. And then in the middle of the lesson they voluntarily start singing AGAIN! It is impossible to teach for two hours off of the two pages we are assigned so as many times as I can play a song and have them sing…I will! I do miss one of my children’s classes but I still get to see them which is nice and I am really excited to teach these two.


Oh yeah, our school also decorated for Christmas and I got to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

So I don’t know how I am going to do this but I am determined to make one of the girls from a restaurant we frequent, my best friend. I was not working second shift last night so I decided to get some mi sao bo. Normally I get my meal to go and take it back to the school but setting my backpack down apparently meant that I was staying. Even though I was reading my book, I occasionally looked up to find multiple people staring at me, one of the girls who works there, being one of them. But her stare was unlike the, “you have no clue what you’re doing” stare. Instead, her stare was compassionate and she wore a big smile with it. When I finished my meal, I got out my money and looked around for someone to pay. When I looked at her she knew exactly what I was thinking so she called someone over. When I left, I got another beaming smile and that is when I decided I wanted to be best friends with her.

Tonight, Carolyn and I got the privilege of attending a wedding with our landlady’s family. It was definitely an experience but one that I am glad I got to have. When we arrived, we were escorted to one of the front tables, on our way, we were introduced to the multitude of family members. When we finally got to our seats, we waited for the bride and groom to arrive. Before they were introduced, we got to watch two dances being performed….both dances to American songs which I always think is funny. The bride and groom then entered and took pictures on the stage with their parents. I know all of the attention is supposed to be on you during you wedding day, but being on a huge decorated stage in front of hundreds of people, does not sound fun to me. After pictures they toasted each other and cut the cake. These practices sound like a typical American wedding but in Vietnam they are much more showy, with smoke machines, sparklers and tiny explosions of confetti which was, of course, my favorite part. When the bride and groom left the stage, we were served our appetizers, the first dish out of six!

Trinh gave Carolyn the lucky bouquet so she can have a lucky marriage. On the right is Trinh and Phuong.
The bride is at the bottom in the red...that was her third dress.

The bride and groom came out again, in different outfits now and took pictures with the tables. Then began the karaoke! Well not really karaoke with the words but the guests got chances to go up on stage and sing. Instead of dancing like our weddings, they sing and some not well. But it was entertaining, especially when Phuong leaned over to me and said, “he does not sing well” with a disgusted look on her face. I was a little bummed that there was no dancing…the bride and groom didn’t even dance! But I am being optimistic, with hundreds of weddings every weekend (tonight there were multiple at the same location), maybe there will be more opportunities to dance at another wedding!



It's a little shaky but it's because I was jumping with them. I think they got confused when I wasn't jumping.