Last night I went to Fr. Ming's parish. He was in my first class at Phat Diem. Here he is on the left in the blue shirt. He has been back three years after getting a second masters in Paris. You can see what a crazy crowd there was.
The moms of the parish prepared the food, and this is how the watermelon came. It did not only look good, but was delicious. These are all farmers, so they know their produce.
I sat at the head table with the parish council. Fr. Ming, as you can see, almost never sat down. He's quite the extrovert and joke teller.
Here are the moms finishing the preparation of the food. They are a great bunch and got me laughing.
The young ones prepared the spices and sauces. Everyone takes part in the preparation of a party and everyone gets to enjoy it.
One thing we did was a lot of toasting. The favorite drink is called "Vietnamese wine," but it's really a liquor made from fermented rice...and boy is it strong. The men use shot glasses, fill them up, and then say, "Cham va cham," or 100%. You don't get to drink too many shots at that level.
There are so many children here this year that I have a difficult time trying to get a photo of everyone, so here is a sample of their smili...
Yesterday, I went with Fr. Hien and my English students to Sam Son beach. This is my third time there and it was beautiful as usual, alth...