The Day in Ha Noi

Yup, Ha Noi, two words. You see, each word in Vietnamese can only have one syllable, so they make two syllable words into two words. The word for auto is o-to. And it goes like that.

Here are Dinh, Fr. Bill, and Son (our driver for the day) walking around Turtle Lake. There is a great story about why it is called that. You can see how the rain keeps the grass so beatifully green.

Part of what we had to do was to mail 116 letters to France. These were written by the children in Vietnam who are being sponsored by very nice people abroad. The children write their letters in Vietnamese, and Dinh and Vinh get the ominous job of translating all of them, all 116 of them. Then, when the return letter arrive from France, Dinh and Vinh have to translate from the French to Vietnamese. This is a never ending cycle, but one that helps the children immensely. The sponsors pay for the children's school fees (it costs to go to school here) and their supplies. Here, Son is stamping Par Avion on each letter.

It took us 45 minutes to mail the letters because each had to be individually weighed and stamped. While we were in the main post office across from the lake, it stormed. It was like a monsoon; it looked pretty, but it was very very wet.

Before we left Ha Noi, we were visited by two friends of Dinh. On the left is Hiep, an engineering major in college, and in the middle is Ha, a teacher of French.

Son finds friends wherever he goes. While waiting, he took up a conversation with a fun lady who was coming out of the cathedral bookstore. I didn't get her name, but she was smiling all the time..

And finally, we got a visit from Nam and his mother. It was great to see them again (Hi, Nam!). It is always good to see good friends. We will not see each other for a while, so it was a sad parting.

Our New Shirts

When I heard last week that we could get shirts made to order by a real tailor, I jumped at the chance. You see, Vinh has a real nice blue shirt that seemed really comfortable, very light and cool. So Vinh, Dinh, Bill, and I went over to the market to get measured. It took a week, but we each got a shirt. Well, Bill got two and Dinh got one also. We had to buy the material first and then bring it to the tailor. Bill decided on a cloth that would only have a little bit left if he bought just what he needed, so he bought all of it. Since there was material left over, the tailor made him two. It was not really that expensive, about $3.00 per shirt total. I found out that pants are about $5.00 each. If I lived here, it would make sense to have everything tailor made.


The tailor is young, the son of the master tailor, and this is his young pregnant wife who also sews. They graciously posed for the picture even though they were very busy. You can see our blue shirts on the table.

Pictures of the Children

Again this year, students from ages 10-16 are studying music. They practice keyboard each day, with classes in the morning and afternoon, along with sight-reading and singing. These are the best from last year's large group. There will be one more summer of study, and then another large group will start the process. They are so much fun. Often, we just sit around and sing, or we play keyboards together. Their favorite songs? Happy Birthday and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, along with many Vietnamese songs. Ah, the international language of music.

The Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

Two Sundays ago was the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the patron saints of Phat Diem diocese and the cathedral. It was a big time, with a procession to the cathedral, a high mass with all the incense and music, and then a procession outside to the statues of the saints where the marching band played (yes, with all the brass and the loudest bass drum ever). I got to sit in the choir loft, so the pictures of the inside are from there.




Here Sister May is playing the organ. Well, actually, it is a keyboard that is hooked up to the sound system. You'd be amazed at how great it sounded











The cathedral choir is magnificent and practices each week. Because the language is frought with many intricate nuances of pitch (six different ways to say any set of letters) their pitch in singing is exquisite. They sound like angels.








This last picture is of the work done to repair the cathedral. In 1968, it was bombed by the US. The roof was badly damaged, and some of the walls were damaged. Here you can see the newer stones that were inserted. It took the local farmers about a year, working every day between bombings and fighting, to fix the entire building.

Our Trip to Ha Long Bay

All I can say is that it was amazing. It took us about two hours to get from Hai Phong to Ha Long Bay. There were so many people in the parking lot, cars and buses everywhere, people hawking tickets to their boat cruises, and a general air of anticipation. This is one of the highlights of any trip to Vietnam, and being Sunday, it seemed that everyone in the country was there. Here is a picture of our driver, Thuc, along with Bill. They really seem excited, don't they?



Vinh liked to know everything that was going on. This is him looking out for enemy submarines from the bow. I felt so much safer with him around.










The interior of the boat was a long table with padded benches. There was also room on top for about five people to stand or sit. It was a family atmosphere and we got to enjoy each other's company.









We brought our own food, but I decided to get Pringles and Oreos when we stopped at the cave. Oh, yes, the cave. It was rather boring and jarring. We were herded into a line, walked up a billion steps (very steep), where hustled through the cave, and then out again to where there were souvenirs and snacks. Ah, capitalism rears its ugly head.






This is one of the boats. When we took off at 7:30 a.m., there was an armada of about 20 of these ships all trying to get across the bay to the island with the cave. The diesel fumes were choking us, but it was a fun race.

Here is the captain of our fair vessel. I know it's not a very exciting video, but it's the best I can do. The scenery went by way too slowly for me to get anything breathtaking, so you're stuck with this guy.

The Bunch

Here we are holding copies of Magnificat which were donated by the publishing company.












Our daily schedule:

5:00 Mass in Vietnamese
6:30 Seminarians eat breakfast
7:00 Priests and Gary eat breakfast
8:00 Study the readings and prepare the prayers of the faithful
9:30 Break; readers practice in the chapel with Gary
10:00 Mass in English
12:00 Lunch all together; then siesta (aaah!)
2:30-4:30 English practice
4:30-6:00 Badminton and table tennis (these guys are animals!)
6:30 Dinner
8:00 Evening prayer in the chapel

And so it goes.




A picture of Fr. Hien with Fr. Bill. Very photogenic.

















Fr. Khue, Vicar General, giving the papal greeting.


















Me and some of the bunch practicing pronunciation. As you can see, Vinh in the gray shirt is very excited about my teaching.

Visiting Lich and Minh

Last year, Lich and Minh were with us in Phat Diem. This fall they are entering their final year of study, and are presently in pastoral missions helping the poor. Before they left, they took me to visit their families. Here is Minh's family. He is in the back row, last person on the left. His father is next to me, and his mother is in the blue dress. They are farmers and were in the middle of harvesting the rice.

This is Lich's family. Lich is in the back row on the right. Next to him is his father, and his mother is in the black dress.

I had the best time at both houses. I was served tea and cold drinks, and we had many laughs. I have to say that the children were fun, and we played a while before I left.

Remodeling

The bishop's house is now almost 100 years old, so Fr. Khue, the Vicar General, decided some work was overdue. Here is an update on what is going on. Here you can see the front of the house that is being remodeled, and the rope the workers have put up to bring materials to the second floor.







The heart of the building is made of brick and mortar. There are no metal structural beams. Over the brick is troweled cement.









This is the inside of the new bishop's office. YOu can see how the wiring is embedded in the bricks. Each room will not only have air conditioning, but wiring for Internet capability.










The workers use trowels to apply the cement. This picture shows how smooth they can make a ceiling. All of the brick will soon be covered in cement also.











This is another view of a room. The back wall is new and helps make a new bathroom. Notice the coil of wires on the right that also includes landlines for the telephones.

Football

The big passion around here for the boys is football (soccer to us Yanks). They would play it all day long if they had the chance. Even the men love it. Right now the big European tournament is in full swing, and they think nothing of getting up at 1:45 a.m. to watch. Here is a video of some of the boys playing on the cement playground. The "field" (mostly scrub grass and rocks) is being used right now, so they have to play on this. You can see that either barefoot or with flip-flops, the passion is there.

And naturally, I have to put up a picture of the winning goalie who gave up only one goal in the entire game.

Dinh and the Bee

Yes, Dinh had a run in with a bee. It seems he was pruning the trees and a little one decided he did not like the look on Dinh's face. You can see how much it swelled up. Of course, we immediately applied first aid and then argued about who was going to get his computer and motorbike when he died. I'm getting the computer only because Vinh is the one with the driver's license.






Naturally, Dinh got lots of sympathy from the nurse, who told him to be quiet and just go lie down and sleep. Well, then Dinh took this opportunity to just stay in his room and not attend class. Yup, he can really play the system. But now he is much better and back to his old funny self. He will, however, gratefully accept any prayers you would like to say for him.

The Big Sunday

Sunday, June 23, I had two big events. First the visit from Nam and his family. Here is a picture of Nam, his mother Binh, and father Vinh, along with Fr. Bill and Dinh in the back. Vinh is a fine artist who works for the Vietnamese television station. He designs the backdrops for the news announcers. Binh is an elementary school teacher.





Here Vinh is sketching a picture of Fr. Bill. He also did one of Dinh and one of me. I have decided I would part with mine for only $1,000,000 if you would like it. Prints will go for considerably cheaper.







Here is a picture of Vinh's picture of me. I must say that I look dashing. It was sad to say good-bye to Nam and Vinh and Binh, but I enjoyed my time with them.




The second part of the day was my visit to Tuy Trung parish, about 5 kilometers outside of Phat Diem. Tuy Trung means Middle Village. It is truly the countryside, with beautiful rice fields and wonderful people. I rode on the back of Vinh's (the pre-seminarian) motorbike. Here is a video of my ride. Take a look at how the road is actually only a sidewalk, and how you can always run into a water buffalo or two.

I know, pretty amazing eh? And then we got to the church. It is in the middle of rice paddies, so the tower stuck up out of nowhere. Inside, the church, only four years old, was packed with every age, from toddlers to the elderly. Fr. Hien said mass and everyone sang beautifully, and I mean everyone sang. It was magnificently loud. After mass, the altar boys of the chapel (it is a mission of a larger parish), met me for a picture.

Then the elders of the church invited me in for tea in their new reception room. After some wonderful conversation, we took a picture. Here is a view of us under the statue of Mary. The background is the setting sun.

And finally, the bell tower. It was a magnificent sight that said goodbye. It is easy to see that God is blessing this place and these people.

Fr. Khue

There is no bishop of Phat Diem because the Vatican and the government of Viet Nam have not come to an agreement on who it should be. But for now, Fr. Khue is the Vicar General, which means that he is the one who makes most of the decisions around here. Fr. Khue's great fun is making jokes in French (he studied in Paris) and singing with the children. Here is a video of him hanging out before breakfast this morning and teaching the kids a new song.

A Vicar General also needs to be a good athlete so he can beat the seminarians in ping pong. Here is Fr. Khue (on the left) soundly defeating his opponent.

Some of the Girls

Here are some pictures of the girls. In the summer, there is a program for the children to stay on the grounds and study organ (keyboard), singing, and music theory. It is a three year program, and this is the second year. The best from the first year are allowed to continue, so this year there are less children. I've got to say that their voices are angelic, and I struggle to keep up with their sight-singing. We laugh all the time, and I get a chance to help them practice.