Strange Findings So Far:
1. Horn Honking: In the United States when someone honks their horn it is out of anger. Here horn honking is a common occurrence. It is not done out of anger however, it is simply used as a way to warn people you are around. With so many people riding motor bikes, they do not know when a larger vehicle is coming up beside them. Honking your horn is a way to say, "Hey, I'm here. Watch out."
2. The Dentist: Mitchell's dad decided to go have his teeth cleaned at the dentist while we were here. In America, you would have to make an appointment way in advance. Here his dad just walked right in and said I want my teeth cleaned. 30 minutes later he left with clean teeth (done by the dentist himself, not a hygienist) and only cost him about $5 American money.
3. Small things: There are so many small things that just seem to make no since. For example, in our hotel room is this beautiful, solid wood door that would cost no telling what in the United States. Then on the door is what appears to be just a cheap, plastic door knob. Another small thing is that two of Mitchell's aunts have Christmas trees in their house as an everyday decoration.
Our day:
So, today was spent half between Mitchell's great-aunt's house and his grandmother's house. Once again we were served more food than we could ever want. Once we arrived at Mitchell's grandmother's house today everything seemed to calm down. We had finally met all of the family and the BIG dinners were over. This afternoon was much quieter even though several people were still at the house. We broke out Skip-Bo to play and invited Mitchell's cousins Linh, Thao Linh, and Thao Anh to play. It was quite an adventure trying to explain the rules of the game to them, but they caught on quickly. They seemed to really enjoy the game. The two older girls could of course speak some English due to their training in school.
Tomorrow we are headed to another little town called Tan An. One of Mitchell's aunts live there, and we will be spending a few days with her. On Sunday, she is taking us to her church. It should be interesting to sit through a church service in Vietnamese. After that, we are headed to Dalat for the week. This is a tourist spot for many Vietnamese. I do not know the next time I will be able to have internet, so it may be next week before I am able to post anything else. We will see.
Before we leave tomorrow, Mitchell and I will be venturing out by ourselves for the first time. We hopefully will be able to purchase ourselves coffee and breakfast. This should be fun.
More pics posted at: http://gallery.me.com/mitchellandwendy#100031
