Sai Gon. May 17, 2001
Mike,
I think you're the only person who still reads the blogspot, as you're the only one who replies to any of it, and so, I will write them for you, and all other readers will plunge to from their receiver status to mere eavesdropper status. I've noticed lots of interesting things lately, but haven't had the time to organize my thoughts, so I will just haphazardly write about them here.

For one thing, there are vietnamese people who use a cart to wheel around a scale (the kind Americans usually keep in their bathrooms) with a little sign that says "health meter" and they go on pushing their scale through the streets wearing their conical hats of palm, and collecting a few hundred VND for every person they weigh. It's

May 19, 2001

That's as far as I got on the last blogspot message, and didn't even manage to send it. It's not that I'm bored of blogspot, but I am wondering if everyone else is.
I've also been really busy. Haven't had a day off for too long. Worked seven days last week (spent my weekend at the printer's, which is useless, by the way, since they print however they feel like printing after I sign off on a proof, which is why we have books with different colored covers), and then I spent all day today working on Di 10's menus for Dong Du Cafe. Menus, specials, signage, bags, the whole works (even though I know that printing any of it is ultimately going to be a chore, and the quality of printing will be the same as getting it done at Matrix, New York's Chinatown's worst printer).

Right now Di 10 is watching a Korean TV movie, dubbed in Vietnamese. Everyone in town earlier was talking about it. The funny thing about dubbing is that all characters have the same voice of one person. She is the voiceover for father, mother, child, friend, adultress, big boss, and whomever else is on the show. It's more like listening to a UN simultaneuos translator since you only get one voice and the sound from the original show is still heard. Not UN material, I don't think.

This morning we brought 200 cream puffs shaped into swans to Ba Tam's (great-aunt Tam) house for Trinh Cong Son's That Tuan commemoration. That Tuan (pronounced like "tuk twun") means "Seven Weeks" using the word that's borrowed from the Chinese language (rather than "bay" -- 7 in Vietnamese). It is the Buddhist ceremony that follows the death of a family member after 49 days. Trinh Cong Son is the famous Vietnamese composer that passed away on April 1. His younger sister is married to my paternal grandmother's cousin (though they are all younger than my parents), and I first heard of him when I went to his birthday party back in late February. The family members wear white gowns and have white cloth bands tied around their heads. Those who choose to, eat vegetarian during these 49 days because it is believed that the soul of your loved one is searching for its peace and berth in "heaven" and that during this period of time, you should not eat meat (killing animals and souls), and you should lead a most altruistic life (in helping your loved one find a good place with the gods). In the meantime, you say your Buddhist chant (of which I only remember the first line of "nam mo a di dai phat") daily. Mom says about 25 times a day should do it, minimum. You have to say the name of the person so that the spirits know which soul they're supposed to guide.

Most Vietnamese people think it is VERY VERY challenging to eat vegetarian and that you are making SUCH a sacrifice when you do it, and that you must REALLY have loved the person you lost to have done it. This is what I'm told when people find out I did it for my grandfather. I think it's a lot harder to do it in Vietnam because we eat nearly everything with fish sauce, and without fish sauce, who can eat vegetarian? And frankly, couscous and tabouleh are not widely available here.

The commemorative event basically entails a lot of people assembling at the home of the deceased where the family members are distinguished in white, and then each person present lights a stick of incense (one for the Buddha who gets 4 bows at his altar, and one for the deceased, who gets 3 bows at his altar), and then there's a lot of eating and socializing, and then everyone goes home. There was a professional team of 2 videotaping the event.

Now I've lost my train of thought; I'm watching "A Perferct Murder" bootlegged and sold with Vietnamese subtitles, so I'll send this and continue later.
H.