Two Nuns And A Frog

It would be crime not to have phở in Vietnam, so I ordered myself a bowl this morning at a little dive by our hotel. I believe my mom ordered a bowl as well, but her's was chicken. I prefer the beef. This phở definitely had a different taste than what I am usually accustomed, but it it really did hit spot. I paid $15,000 for that phở. That's a whopping $1 US.

We spent today visiting family members whom my mom has not seen in over thirty years. Because Di Minh tagged along, we decided to get a taxi cab rather than scooting around Saigon. Personally, I like being on the back of Honda because it's more of an adventure, but being in a cab suits me fine, thanks to the air conditioner. We visited three of my mom's first cousins today, two of whom are nuns. There seems to be quite a bit of cloistered folks in my family. The cab driver schlepped us around Saigon, and one by one, we visited these relatives. I have an interesting anecdote for each visit.

One Second:
The cab pulled up to the convent where my Aunt, Di Thanh Ngoc, lives. Di Minh saw her pulling out of the driveway. My cousin Trang shouted, "Di Thanh Ngoc! Di Thanh Ngoc!" My aunt turned around, saw Trang, and instructed her xe om (this is Vietnamese for someone who drives customers via Honda, sort of like the taxi driver for scooters) to pull over. The driver stopped, and Di Thanh Ngoc got off. She smiled at Di Minh and Trang, and then looked straight into my mom's eyes and said, "Bach Yen!" She knew right away who my mom was. One second later and my mom would have missed seeing this cousin.

Frogger:
Getting to my aunt Di Bong was like a game of Frogger. Di Bong lives on a very busy narrow road. Scooters, bicyclists, and cab drivers are on this dirt road every single minute of the day. There are no stop signs, yield signs, or traffic lights, so every pedestrian had to fend for him or herself when trying to cross. The street is only about 10 feet wide, but it did take us about 10 minutes to make it across. Can you picture two old ladies dodging traffic trying to get to the other side of the road? One wrong move, and my mom and Di Minh would have been squashed like the little frog who couldn't make it to his lily pad. When we finally made it across the street, the first thing out of Di Bong's mouth was, "Quang Khoi is so skinny." I can only assume that this was Vietnamese sarcasm. Do I look unusually large in the photo below?

Bars In The Convent:
Don't be mislead by the title of this third anecdote. "Bars In The Convent" does not refer to happy hour at the Our Lady of Inebriated Hope. The bars, in this case, refer to the prison like manner in which we visited my aunt, Di Thu Huong. Apparently, this convent is so cloistered, that a wall must be kept between the the nun and the visitor. I really felt like I was visiting a criminal at San Quentin, which is really odd because across from me is a nun! My mom explained that this is actually actually toned down, because back in the day, they actually put up a curtain so you can't see the nun. You could only talk to them. My mom was very happy that the church loosened up, because she was able to see Di Thu Huong's face.

I can clearly see joy radiating from my mom. She was smiling ear to ear all day today. Today wasn't as emotionally charged for her as when she first landed in Saigon and reunited with Di Minh, but it certainly made her feel good to reconnect with relatives whom she deeply cares about.