Leaving

With Binh at the airport. It was a fun month, but all good things must come to an end.

WIth Vinh.

Binh and Vinh.

So, at the airport, Binh got me the seat near the emergency door. I was so pleased when I got on and then, no one sat in the next two seats. When I went to the lavatory, I found that none of the emergency door seats had been taken. Who knew? Anyway, it was nice to have the room.

Just before landing in Taipei, I noticed all of these lights on the ocean facing mainland China. I don't know what they were, but it was beautiful. And far away I could see lightning.

The Last Day in Vietnam

After getting up late and Binh trying to change my airplane seat to the emergency door aisle (more on that later), we stopped to pick up the family care that was being fixed by a friend.

Here is the mechanic's son, one of Binh's students, and an English award winner. He's on an Indian motorcycle that his dad restored.

The streets in Hanoi were crowded, as usual. This is the corner where we are waiting for Vinh to bring the car around.

We then went to a special German panini shop. This is the owner who worked for 15 years in Germany, then brought back the secret of the panini to Hanoi. He's pretty famous here and the food was fantastic.

This is the poster for the restaurant. He got lots of publicity when the restaurant got reviewed in the papers, and now there are a slew of knockoffs around the city.

The restaurant itself is just a passageway that people use to access the apartments above. Donerkebap is the name and the food is tremendous.

Then we went to see Nam Vu's new school. This is the mother of one of Nam Vu's classmates. She is an engineer by trade. After school, she helps the two boys with their math and Binh helps with English.

 After saying goodbye to Nam Vu at his school, we went to this pho shop. It was pouring outside and it was good to be dry. Part of a chain, the interior was spotless, the workers wore plastic gloves, and the food was fresh and clean.

Iced tea to drink for Vinh and Binh and myself.

There was just enough time for me to go back to the house, shower, and get ready. Since the street is not wide enough, Vinh took us by motorbike to the car. It was an exciting way to end the visit.

Going to see Vinh, Binh, and Nam Vu with Nam and Quang

Quang drove the car and Nam and Tien came with us. Here is Quang relaxing at Vinh and Binh's house in Hanoi after the two hour ride.

Tien and Quang enjoying refreshing smoothies Binh made. The room is air conditioned and it felt really good to relax.

Binh and Nam talking about teaching English. Nam is going to be ordained a transitional deacon this December and he is in charge of the summer program for the children of the diocese.

We all decided to go out for pizza for lunch. This is leaving Binh's house. The street is barely wide enough for a motorbike, but really easy to walk around in.

Quang drove us to the biggest and newest mall in Hanoi. This was his first time parking in an underground garage and he did a great job.

Pizza after being in Vietnam for a month. Well, it's not really Italian or American pizza, but the taste was close.

Vinh (right) joined us. He picked up Nam Vu (lower left) from school. There was lots of pizza and Binh even ordered chicken wings.

Nam Vu and me mugging for the camera.

Me and Nam Vu again.

We spent almost two hours eating and talking, and eating...and more talking.

Nam Vu and Quang pushing hard, but it never fell over.

The mall had a large aquarium that enthralled Nam Vu.

Tien and Nam checking out the faux tree.

Me and Nam in front of the elephant that was at the entrance to the indoor waterpark...yes, and indoor waterpark. On that hot day it looked cool and refreshing.

Nam Vu checking out the skating rink. The mall takes up three levels below ground. The ground floor is a very expensive private school, and above that are very expensive apartments starting at $1,000 for a studio, really high for Hanoi.

The escalator was long and gave us time to take it easy before the next floor of stores.

After checking out the mall and having lunch, we said goodbye to Nam, Tien, and Quang. All good friends. Then Vinh, Binh, Nam Vu, and I walked outside to the fountain and large outdoor pedestrian mall. And yes, those statues in the back are real Carrera marble. We then went back to the house and relaxed some more.

Last Breakfast and Leaving for Hanoi

Monday morning I had my last breakfast of 2014 in Phat Diem. Lots of thanks to Bishop Nang (on the right) for being a great host.

This is the bunch I ate with every meal, give or take a guest or two. We spoke in Vietnamese, French, and English, with the occasional Italian thrown in by Fr. Minh.

Fr. Bo came over to say goodbye where I was staying. That's the umbrella he loans me each year.

Fr. Minh, Bishop Nang, me, and Fr. Bo.

Me and my good brother Hieu. We have coffee every morning. Even though he speaks almost no English and my Vietnamese is nascent, we communicate.

One final post.

I leaned out the window to take this one.

And on the way out, Tuan was gardening. I yelled and he waved. See you next year, Tuan.

Tuan's Family and Visiting the Sick

This morning I took my annual trip to spend time with Tuan's family and with some of the neediest of Van Hai parish. Here again I visited Ba. She just got back from a month in the hospital in Hanoi. She is getting very tired, but still has tremendous charisma.

Chao is, of course, the best. He lights up the room. We had a great talk, not just about the weather, but some personal things too.

Here are his sisters and his father. We all laughed a lot and really enjoyed just hanging out. Seeing Chao and and his family always makes me feel good.

Then we went to see one of the elders of the parish. Thu is now 100 and has difficulty hearing, but not in speaking. He made me promise I would pray for him because he was going to pray for me. That's a good deal. Oh, and this is his granddaughter who likes to speak English.

Next we went to see Ngoc. Since he was a child, he has a condition where his muscles contract and finds it difficult to move. In spite of this, he is always smiling. In fact, his parish priest calls him Mr. Smile. This is his mother and his niece. He is a great guy.

Next we visited Dong. As a teenager he lost one leg, then another had to be removed when he was in his 30s. He is a great talker who likes to joke and, like everyone I know, smiles all the time. This is is mother and father.

We went back to Tuan's house and had a wonderful lunch. Tuan thought I might like some cheese, and some of his nieces and nephews tried it. A whole new experience.

Not only cheese, but a cheese sandwich. About half of the kids liked it, the other half just smelled it then gave it away.

This is Tuan's youngest nephew. He slept during lunch, but was wide awake for the talking afterwards. He's all of six months old.

Picture of the some of the boys and then more of the family. The third picture is Tuan with two of his brothers and his mother.

Finally, the whole family. It's become a yearly thing that we all want to continue. It's always good to come back to some home cooking and good friends.