In Vietnam, one must remain flexible-something I am not very good at, but getting much better. At UEB (University of Economics and Business-where I teach) undergraduate research is supported and encouraged, as they want to be known as the very best research university in Vietnam. Last Thursday I was asked to talk with the students about how to conduct research- a half hour presentation with an accompanying powerpoint presentation. About 50 students attended. I have now been contacted by several students to talk with them about their research- you can see how the work just continues to stack up- which is why I am here, of course.

 Following the presentation, Eric and I were invited to attend the Teacher's Day performance by students and staff- a gala affair- an evening of singing by students and staff. The Vietnamese have very high respect for their teachers throughout the country, with celebrations that can last up to four days. Flowers, lunches, dinners, singing, dancing...it just goes on and on. The US should definately consider adding this to the 'holiday' list.

 The very next day, Eric and I (along with 2 faculty/3 staff and 50 students from UEB) boarded 2 buses and headed to Hoa Binh to learn about the Muong culture. We all slept in stilt houses, attended the performances in town, passed through the markets, ate traditional Muong food, played games, sang songs, etc. As you can imagine, no one slept at all Saturday night and the bus was very quiet on the way home to Hanoi.

 We returned Sunday night and on Monday, attended a traditional Vietnamese wedding! My friend  Lan Ahn, along with her sister, Lien, invited us to Minh Anh's (Lien's daughter) wedding to Viet Thang. First, the picking of the date of the wedding is VERY important, and usually done with the help of a fortune teller. The day before the wedding, male representatives from the groom's side arrives at the bride's house to ask permission of the bride's parents. The next day, the groom's family arrives at bride's house for tea (the picture below is set in Minh Anh's livingroom) and the bride and groom, with the bride's parents, go upstairs to the room where the ancestor's alter is (every Vietnamese house has an altar for ancestral worship. Incense is burned, a letter to the ancestors is read allowed by the bride's father and then they go back downstairs to join the party. At that moment, everyone leaves the bride's house to drive to the groom's house.

 Eric and I were allowed to follow and observe the ancestral worship ceremony.

 The bride and groom leaving to go to the groom's house (with Lan Thao, Lan Anh's daughter) holding Minh Anh's dress.

 Now we are at Viet Thang's house to drink tea- after about 30 minutes, we all left to drive to the ceremony and reception hall.

 Prior to the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom have there pictures taken with family and friends. Above, from left to right: Huong and Lien (Lan Anh's sisters), Viet Thrang, Minh Anh and Lan Anh. Below is Lan Thao with her little friend...

 A happy Grandpa......after all 600 guests (yes, 6-0-0) arrived, we were ushered into dinner, the groom's guests sit in a separate room from the bride's guests...we ate, ate and then ate some more- the food just kept coming as seems to be the case when celebrating anything in Vietnam.

 Big projector screens in each dinner room show the bride and groom exchanging rings which took about 5 minutes and then more pictures of the bride and groom (taken at a whole separate occasion) were projected in slideshow mode throughout the dinner. After dinner, guests are welcome to meander out- and like all weddings, some stay for more tea, others stay to chat with friends and family...it was a grand affair.

 Eric enters the bunker below the room that was used by the North Vietnamese generals in Hanoi during the Vietnam War to plan their battle strategy. General Giap, who has a name plate on the

      table just died, at the age of 103, in October.

 The headquarters for war strategy was built in an area called the Citadel, which spans several city blocks. Also in this area are the remnants (some being unearthed) of hundreds of years of empire building- basically, a new empire would build on top of the earlier one- they are now conducting an archeological dig to uncover many artifacts and structures from multiple empires dating back to the 9th century. Cool stuff. Below is one of many mini-trees surrounded bu miniature pagodas and

village scenes. I couldn't help but think how much fun it would be to have my "little people" photo session.

 This is Linh- she is our Vietnamese language teacher and we surprised her with a little birthday cake-the "Hello Kitty" design signifies my favorite word for 'cat' in Vietnamese..it is "meow". She is very patient with us as we attempt to learn the tones and the sounds of combined consonants...tough language to learn! AND we are not very good students...

Another field trip with my students to the Honda plant just outside of Hanoi. Dr. Anh, far left, brought some of his students to the plant-Eric is somewhere in the photo- they love it when he attends the field trips- they go out of their way to remind me to invite Mr. Eric.

 Lunch with the International Development office staff-they love their chicken feet! The only thing left is the toenails. Yum.

 Eric and I took a motorbike ride to a dam about 1 hr. drive north of Hanoi. You can buy 20 acres of lakefront property for $2000. Hmmm...we may be owners of property in Vietnam...you never know.

I couldn't help but include this photo of a renovation effort of this Catholic Church- the bamboo scaffolding is quite amazing- why am I so intrigued by the building construction?