Saigon
I can’t remember what day it is anymore, as I’ve nothing really to keep track. I also can’t remember what I’ve already said, so if I repeat, please forgive. Did I tell you we’ve got apuppy in the house? Just a few weeks old and my aunt paid $3 USD for it – her butler/house guardian told her she overpaid. There are two pekingnese (sp.?) in the house too. One I call Quasimodo – it’s gotten into two fights and has lost an eye and its face is totally disfigured – it’s actually very cute in an ugly kind of way. :)

This morning when I got up, my aunt 9 joined me at the table and told me that since my room is upstairs, and my bed below the roofpeak, I should not sleep below the peak, as it is bad luck. Mom says that’s why I’ve been waking up with headaches. I’m supposed to sleep to the side of the roofpeak, rather than directly below it. The Chinese say so, I’m told.

Did I also tell you that I met lots of family? Last week I met my Uncle 2’s wife, Aunt 2, and their 4 children – my cousins – Pinky, Lily, Tu Bua, and Tuyet Dung. They’re very sweet, but shy, and I have trouble communicating. Pinky has 2 girls, and Tu Bua one, so they are my nieces. It’s very weird – the 8 year old was teaching me Vietnamese (they of course, all speak much better than I). Then last night, I met my dad’s first cousin, and her mother – my dad’s aunt (my grandmother’s sister/ my greataunt). She’s so cute – at 94, she still has perfect hearing and good eyesight, no teeth. I love old asian people – they are so damn cute. She recognized my mother easily and then looked at me and said I look just like Ong Cam – I don’t know who that is, but I think it’s a great uncle of mine.

Yesterday my aunt 10 decided she would buy a refrigerator to keep upstairs in her “apartment� – the entire upstairs has an open terrace with beautiful garden. She wanted a refrigerator up there so she and I could keep some food upstairs so we could have breakfast on the open terrace. Anyway, the guy who delivered the fridge delivered it on his 2-wheeled honda motorbike – with one hand holding the fridge on his seat and the other hand navigating through the traffic jungle. No bungees, no cords, nothing! They just carry the fridge with one hand! My aunt says they do the same thing with televisions, ovens, whatever.

This afternoon I have to go to the tailor. My new aunt (my Uncle Tony’s bride) bought some Vietnamese silk and brought it to him to make me a new ao dai, the traditional vietnamese dress. Mom took me to another place where I’m having another dress made. It costs about $30,000 VND for labor to make a silk shirt. That’s about 2 dollars and a few cents.

Had a lunch interview with a US Viet Kieu (it’s what they call vietnamese people who have “come home.�). He wants me to be the Marketing & Graphic Design manager of his company. I’m still trying to figure out what he does! I also just met a guy here from Chicago who has friends at J Walter Thompson, and I think Bates Worldwide. Never hurts to make contacts. It’s hard for me to do business in Vietnamese with my limited vocabulary, and in business, it’s certainly different! The gentleman I met this morning speaks English though, so he helps me understand. My aunt 10 joined us for lunch – she said she was embarassed because I eat so much – he said never mind, he likes that.
Can’t help it if I eat twice my weight. By the way, today we had fresh raw fish (along with about six other dishes). By FRESH, I mean FRESH. The fish had been sliced readily and the slices were placed on a bed of ice. The rest of the fish was placed on the plate, full fish (head and all), with it’s side sliced. What a shock it was to me when I saw the tail flop and the fin flap!!!! OI! I ate it anyway (It didn’t wink at me so…)

My sisters have been forwarding my emails to everyone for me, since I’m unable to send so many out myself, and have trouble connecting to hotmail. Anyway, sorry for the mass mailing, but it’s the only way I can manage to get this out. I will try to post to www.hanihong.blogspot.com instead, so you can read it freely there. Oh, by the way, please do not send me any forwarded mail to my email. It’s difficult to get through the email here, so I can live without. THANKS.
I miss the U.S. and most of all New York (next to my dad, of course). Will write again.
Cheers.