It's really morning and the guys are up looking over the campus of the cathedral grounds. This is the second floor where we all have our rooms.
Watching her people, Ms. Farrell smiles on the world, greeting the new day.
Eddie and Andrew had coffee with Mr. Hieu. He is fast becoming the person teaching us about Vietnamese culture. Also, he knows where all the fans are, not a small bit of knowledge to have.
This is the second floor common area in front of our rooms. The view is amazing and the breezes are always welcome. Here, Carlo is winning another hand from Cooper, Chris is trying to bluff Eddie, Mike is getting something out of his teeth, and Andrew is meditating on the importance of bottled water.
We have three tables for breakfast where the students mingle with the seminarians and adults. It's a great way for everyone to learn a bit more English.
The second table is enjoying fresh bon (a light broth with meat) and fresh bananas just picked from the tree.The third table has rowdy Quyen, always the life of the party. As you can see, Nam loves to eat.
All of the children who attend classes work every morning after breakfast and before school. Here are some of the girls cleaning vegetables by one of the ponds.
After we all ate breakfast, we went to thank the sisters for the wonderful food. They were all delighted and here is a grand photograph of all who ate and all who prepared.
Then Thich led us on a tour of the cathedral grounds with Nam (right) helping to translate. Thich helps teach music to the children (a graduate of the Ha Noi Conservatory in choral conducting) and a third year seminarian now in Ha Noi.
At the top of the bell tower, Michael got the chance to ring the giant gong. We sat around the tower top and he swung that log with all his might. And even with that, it didn't hurt our ears. It's interesting to note that it will ring for a minute no matter how hard or soft it is hit.
