As soon as Mitchell's little English speaking cousin (I blogged about her a few days ago) saw him coming, she started running in the house yelling, "Oh no, he's coming. Oh no, he's coming." When we made it into the house, they had a birthday cake set up for Mitchell, and his little cousin brought him a gift. They had even found candles that said, "33" for him to blow out. They sang "Happy Birthday" to him in English (some better than others).
Mitchell's dad had bought all the ingredients to make hamburgers for him. I think the kids enjoyed the French Fries more than we did, even though they dipped them in fish sauce instead of ketchup. The hamburgers were almost the same. They couldn't find hamburger buns, so we had our burgers on french bread. Mitchell said College Street Burgers is one of his first stops when we get home. (Mine is Mexican Food.)
Then it came time for the gifts. Mitchell received a hammock, shoes, shirt, and a little craft item that said "Happy Birthday". Besides birthday gifts, the family wanted to just give us gifts to remember them by. I received a couple of outfits. We also received coffee, cashews, hats for the kids back home, and banana candy.
It was a great day with the family. Many of them didn't want to leave because it would be the last time they saw Mitchell and his dad. We have been asked several times if we will come back next year. One of Mitchell's aunts said that as soon as it gets easier to travel out of Vietnam, they plan to come to America for a visit.
We have two days left here. Tomorrow, we are going to see the Mekong River with some of the family. It will be our last outing.
Pics from today: http://gallery.me.com/mitchellandwendy
