Chúc Mừng Năm Mới (Happy New Year!)

As I mentioned earlier, every American student is matched with a Vietnamese partner.  My partner's name is Dinh and soon after I got here he invited me to his hometown for a holiday known as Tết (i.e. The Lunar New Year).  Widely celebrated throughout Vietnam and China, Tết is a time when everyone leaves the city and returns to their hometowns.  I was not too sure what this entailed, but I was sure to keep an open mind.  The time came for us to leave on so Dinh took me to the bus station.  He mentioned that these buses tend to be a little crowded due to the fact that everyone and their mother was leaving the city at more or less the same time as us.  Cool. It can't be too bad, right? We enter the bus and almost every seat was taken, so the bus must be at its capacity, right? No. The workers broke out the good ol' stools for about an additional 10 people.  So we sit on this bus for about 4 hours with one break and finally arrive in Dinh's hometown.  I was extremely excited to finally visit a traditional farming town and that is exactly what I got.  Located near the highlands, his town was surrounded by gorgeous mountain ranges.  Large fields of rice and corn covered the land.  We walk about half a mile and finally reach his home.

I could not have been greeted by a more generous, humble, and caring family.  His family is farming family.  During the dry season (Nov-April ish), his father plants corn.  During the wet season (May-Oct ish), rice is the main crop. Dinh had two younger brothers and a younger sister.  His parents and siblings welcomed me into their family with open arms.  And not only was I greeted by family, but also food. Food. What I did not realize about Tết was how much food I was about to consume.  On average I probably ate 4 meals a day and these were not small, light meals.  These were full on feasts.  We traveled to his nearby family members homes and every time we came to a new home, we were presented with more food. I visited probably 5-6 homes one day... So much food. This food was also extremely fresh and quite delicious.  

These are the meals we ate everyday multiple times a day for about a week.  Yes, I did gain about 5 lbs.  These meals fed around 15-20 people on average.  We all sat on the floor in a massive circle eating family style.  It was very interesting being in this situation in which none of his family spoke English decently.  Much of our communication was through body language and odd gestures. But we all did have a common language, food and booze.  Tết is also a time where large amounts of alcohol, usually beer or "banana wine" (not wine at all, fermented rice alcohol, pretty much the moonshine of Vietnam), is consumed.  The family relationship is extremely communal and based on sharing, making sure that everyone is content.  The banana wine was stored in large vats then poured into smaller containers.  The men usually drank the majority of the alcohol.  The banana wine is consumed from a shot glass, and the contents are split between two people.  Often times the sharing of wine is to welcome people to their home and to say, in a way, that they are glad you are here.  The dishes were usually fish, chicken, pork, rice, and noodles.  There were times where we would literally eat for 3 hours consecutively.  I couldn't do it.  I asked Dinh if they Vietnamese ever get full, and he just laughed replying "No!".  

Lucky Money

Vietnam culture is often very traditional and in some senses this may mean superstitious.  They believe that the first day of Tết (3 days long in total) sets the tone for the rest of the year: lucky or unlucky.  So on the first day of the lunar new year, the older members of the family give the younger members "lucky money".  Usually freshly printed bills ranging from 2,000 to 50,000 dong (10 cents to $2.50) in special red envelopes.  Red is considered to be a lucky color here in VN.  Before you hand out these envelopes you must be sure to say "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!" which translates to Happy New Year. 

The red envelopes in the both of the girls hands are for lucky money!

Gambling!

In Vietnam, gambling is currently illegal except for the 3 days of Tết, so naturally there is going to be immense amounts of gambling to get it out of their system for the next year.  The most often played game with my host family was "bầu cua".  In this game there are 6 different objects: fish, chicken, shrimp, crab, deer, and squash" and 3 dice with pictures of all the objects.  You placed the money you wanted to bet on the object and if the diced showed your object you won!  I lost about 200,000 dong overall (about $10).  Whoopsss.

The Waterfall

When we weren't eating or drinking, Dinh helped me to explore around his hometown.  He took me by motorbike to a nearby waterfall/waterslide/swimming area up the mountain.  It was quite the experience.

Sliding down a natural water slide!

Making lunch!

Diving into a reservoir

Mud Fishing

Dinh asked me one night if I wanted to go fishing in the morning and of course I agreed.  I was not really prepared for what this "fishing" actually entailed.  We drove over to a field and since it's dry season the water level of this pond was quite low.  Low enough to actually catch the fish by hand! So I trekked knee deep in mud to the pond and went at it.  I caught a couple small ones that I found out would soon become lunch.  

 That's me in the center-ish in the blue shirt and white hat! Digging my hands into the mud to catch lunch

You could say I was a little dirty afterwards

This is Dinh wearing using a "fishing" device.  Two bamboo poles with metal rods attached to a car battery that electrocutes the fish.  Typical Vietnam. 

Just grilling some fish on the side of the road

Fish stew with herbs and chilies

My homestay was absolutely amazing.  I am so glad I got spend so much time with such caring and loving people.  I spent about a week with Dinh and his family and then we headed back to HCMC by bus.  The buses are even more crowded on the way back...