Geese and generosity

I continue to  be amazed by the friendliness and hospitality of the Vietnamese of the Mekong Delta. Strangers sit in small plastic chairs or lay in hammocks outside their houses or shops and wave at us everytime we pass by. The house across from our "hotel" has two small children (a girl of ~4 and a boy of ~6) who run outside their house to wave at us with adorable beaming faces EVERY single time we return to the hotel, which is at least twice a day, every day. Our bus driver and his wife made us all a special crab and quail egg soup. He shared the leftovers of this Ngong (delicious) soup with all of his neighbors.
Nhu, one of my favorite students, is a mischievious but adorable 9th grade girl who bought both Devon and I bracelets over the weekend. This is very generous inthe context of the class, given that we had just heard from the students about how they have to help their families fertilize and put pesticides on their farms or rice paddies when they get home.

Our adorable neighbors!

There is a young girl (about 8 years old) who is not old enough to attend CFC but who watches in on all of the classes I teach (both physics and life skills) and grabs the basketballs to practice when they aren't in use. I taught her how to dribble and shoot with a goose ("vit") follow-through. She is so cute and wants to learn so badly. I always greet her with a Xin Chao, and we once had a successful two-sentence conversation during which I discovered that her name is Ngan (pronounced Nyan). She often presents me with a small gift of a mint or candy and a huge smile. I hope that she will grow up to be an athlete!

Nhu learns the "Vit" follow-through

My 12 year old friend, Ngan

On our way walking to the internet cafe today (we have no wifi at the "hotel"), we passed by many houses and had a couple of close calls. Some of the bridges across the river are sturdy, concrete bridges that a bike could ride over. Many of the bridges, however, are two wooden poles very close together with little scraps of wood nailed on them like a flat ladder. They are pretty precarious! Lots of families raise baby ducks and chickens (to eat, I presume), but a few families also had some big, adult geese. As we were passing by, 3 big geese came out squawking loudly with straight necks, and turned toward us as if they were about to charge. We (four girls) were pretty intimidated, and we were considering finding another route, until a woman from next door came out with a machete and laughed at us, and grabbed Tessa by the arm and dragged her toward the ducks. We knew she was friendly, but it sure looked like she was ready to chop up Tessa to feed to the angry ducks! Instead, she kept the geese at bay and we scurried past while the geese squawked angrily and the Vietnamese lady cracked up. Tessa saw her life flash before her eyes. I'm pretty sure we are going to find a different route back!!
 

Tonight  we are celebrating two birthdays of our Vietnamese friends (Thao and Mai) with birthday cake (courtesy of the French influence) and Vietnamese spring rolls. Maybe some karaoke if we are lucky?

Much love to you all!