An Eventful Saturday

First, I went with Quyen to give the baskets from Mr. Monaghan to the basketball guys. They were blown away and said they missed the Serra guys. I told them some more would come back next year but they said it wouldn't be the same. They sure were appreciative.










Next I went to see Joseph Thien and his family. Joseph befriended Fr. Tony and I our first year in Phat Diem five years ago. Ever since, I have visited his family each each and it's a high point of my trip. Joseph has finished his third year of seminary in Ha Noi and is going to spend the next academic year in a parish near the mountains.







This is Joseph's mom, me, his father, and Joseph. The stonework and gardening is all done by his father.

Now it is Joseph's mom, his brother Peter, Peter's wife, me, dad, and Joseph. Peter just got married a few months ago and everyone loves his new wife. It was a great visit, talking about old times and looking at the wedding photos. All in all, a great time.

Finally, I got to spend time with Sr. Hien, the eldest sister at the convent at 79. I teach pronunciation (pro-nun...very funny) to two of the sisters who teach the children English. We were working hard and sister walked in. The Serra guys remember her from our tour. She was one of the nuns who restored the convent after the Americans bombed it. Well, Sr. Hien started right in on here English pronunciation, which was not bad at all. Her mother just died a while ago at over 100. The white piece of cloth on  her habit is a Vietnamese sign that she is still in mourning. You are loved, Sr. Hien.

Around the Grounds

Each morning, this elderly woman picks up the leaves and fallen  flowers on the grounds. This is a shot of her across the pond.

The lotus flowers in the morning and closes in the hot sun.

This is the pond across by the girls' dorm. I love the way it looks in the morning haze.

The bonsai in Viet Nam are larger than what we in the States are used to. Here is a small one, about 18 inches high. Some of the mature bonsai get up to four feet and are seven feet wide.

The walk from the dining room to where we stay.

A long shot of the soccer field.

This is the dorm between the chapel and where we stay. In the summer it is used for travelers.

The front of the chapel where Vietnamese mass is celebrated each morning and where we had English mass at 10:30 a.m.

Even More Food Stuff

This morning right after breakfast I stayed for a bit around the kitchen area to see what was being prepared for the festival. The first thing I find is three of the boys enjoying fishing. I have to say I think they chose the best job.

Sister is having some of the boys cut up what look to me like the absolute biggest cucumbers ever. They were great at lunch...crisp and cool.

Staying with us for a few days is a group of overseas Vietnamese from New Orleans. One of the men is a renowned chef and was conned into cutting up the chickens. He has a famous restaurant in the city and man, can he cook.

Helping with the chicken dissection is another of the students. I don't know...something about that leg sticking out...

Hard boiled eggs are the best because then they are put in a barbeque sauce with fresh pieces of bacon. The girls are crinkle cutting the eggs.

More Food Stuff

At the same time as the pigs were being processed, Can was doing some canning (pun intended). What he is getting ready to make is the Vietnamese version of hot dogs. The cans are lined with clean plastic bags, then the meat slurry is poured hot into them. After refrigeration, the bags of meat are then taken out of the cans and the meat is ready to eat.

Someone has to wash the cans and the lids.That's Quyen doing the honors. We're proud of you, buddy.

The rice is made in these rice cookers. The hulls of the rice are kept and burned to provide the heat. You can see the trough of hulls. The hulls are just pushed into holes and fall into the fire. The openings underneath are to take out the ashes.

The sisters do a lot of pan frying, and nothing goes well with meat like green onions. Here, sister is being sous chef for the day.

Thanh is holding the pig's face and ears. This will be cut up for two specialties. The face for the hot dogs and the ears for, well, for pigs ears that are sliced, lightly marinated, and then cooked. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can go to waste when so many mouths need to be fed.

Festival Tomorrow, Pigs Today

Festival tomorrow, so it was time again to stock up on pork. Two professional butchers  come and do this, humanely slaughtering the animal (the sisters would have it no other way).

To keep the blood from getting in the way, the carcass is constantly washed with water. To take out  the organs, the men reach in and pull with all their might.

The guts are carefully taken out and separated so that they can be be prepared for meals. They are washed in the kitchen and put into plastics bags and then either refrigerated or frozen.

Quang (left) and Can (right) help with carving the large pieces into smaller pieces.

What do we make from pigs that everyone loves? Yes, boys and girls, bacon. The good sisters are carving up the soon-to-be-frying bacon.

And here we are a few hours later at lunch. Now we have on the the table both intestine (white) and heart (red/brown). The Circle of Life...well, not actually a circle because it kind of stops with us. So maybe the Great Line of Life, or something like that.

Fr. Vinh

A few days ago, the priests who are changing parishes this summer along with the new priests gathered for two days of retreat. Among them was Fr. Vinh, a man who loves languages. He loves to study English and is getting very good at it. His present parish consists mostly of Muong people, an ethnic minority. In only 10 months he learned enough of their language to preach in it. The only problem is that there are so few Muong that Rome has no approved translations of the sacraments he can use. I say, Fr. Vinh, you can be Alexander de Rhodes for the Muong!

Here is my table those two days. Lots of fun with the young priests and way too many jokes.

Things that Make My Time Here Special

Last week when I went to Ninh Binh City to buy textbooks, Fr. Hien had us stop in the art shop next to the bank. I saw my old friend who deals in art silk painting. Each year I stop in and we chat for a bit. And yes, those framed works behind us are all hand embroidered silk-on-silk.

Just a picture of some of the younger boys waiting for the seminarians to bring out the badminton equipment. Here's a reminder for Chris Chen that we talked about sending over some used rackets next summer.

One of the retired teachers, Mr. Khoan, at the seminary lives here. He is getting frail and forgetful. A student stopped him and mentioned that his shirt was not buttoned correctly. When Mr. Khoan fumbled and could not do it himself, the young student did it for him. This is normal when all generations live together.

 My sister-in-law Marita made an iPhone app with my niece Melanie called ABC Animals to help children learn English words. I pulled it out and the children went through it completely three times, practicing as they went along. A fun way to learn.

For dessert at lunch I got a small plastic cup with what looked like a light brown pudding. Fr. Vinh told me it was made with eggs, milk, sugar, and a little chocolate. Wait a minute...flan! Yes, it was chocolate flan. I had never had it before and even stole a second helping from one of the other tables. Oh, the things you'll find.

Miscellaneous Videos

Just some ants that seemed to have too much to drink before walking in the hallway.

When we went to the market the other week, I made a point of checking out the fresh seafood.

Birthday(s) Party

Sunday we all had a reason to celebrate because it was both Tuan's birthday and Vang's feast day (St. John the Baptist). So, after night prayer, it was party time.

Here is the birthday card to Tuan and Vang.

Everyone got a bowl of sweet pudding. It consisted of all sorts of wonderful fruit, beans, and peanuts.

As you can see, the pudding comes in a plastic bag, each bag the perfect size for a bowl. Added to the pudding was crushed ice for a really cool finish to the day.

Tuan made sure that everyone was having a good time. On the right, Quang is making the last bowl of pudding.

Here we all are ready to feast.

Tuan enjoying his gifts and  hearing Happy Birthday.

Van got a toothbrush as a gift and he is showing everyone how to properly take care of your teeth.

Me, as usual, being taking the brunt of the jokes.

Invite the young ones to the  party and they find funny things to do, like hold your nose while you try to eat. Poor Thanh can't breathe.

There is always a singer in the crowd. I left after Thanh's eleventh song. It was getting late and I knew the party was going to be going strong for a few more hours. Congratulations to Tuan and Van.

A Good Cleaning for the Chapel

Sunday is cleaning day in the chapel. While the boys are outside working, some of the girls are washing pews, windows, fans, and stairs.

The dust does accumulate because of being open to the outside, so the best way to clean is by a simple wet rag. At left is Vang who got the fun job of mopping the floor.

There are no screens on the windows because there are hardly any bugs flying around, although I have seen many large black and yellow butterflies on the flowers.

The "V" sign many of the students hold up is really for the number 2. In Vietnamese, 2 is hai, so they are saying "hi."

Yes, that really is a baby bird. I'm not sure why she has it or where it came from.

Cleaning is not hard work, but it does make the place a bit nicer, and working in cool water is never a bad thing during the summer.