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.
Here is Nam Vu working his keyboard. Now entering 8th grade, he is quite the conversationalist. It's hard to believe that I have kn...