An Enchanted Evening

Our 10-week cycle ended on Friday and the students from my Monday/Tuesday class invited Kathy Thompson, their main teacher and me to a picnic. Well, we thought it was going to be a picnic, anyway. We gathered after work and several of them were waiting to take us to the park, which was called the Binh Quoi Tourist Village or Làng Du Lịch Bình Quới. Kathy and I were the responsibility of the two oldest students, Vu and Phat, (with me having the oldest, of course ^.^) and we went in a convoy. Organization was a little loose, and not everyone knew the way, so thank goodness for mobile phones! They were used to good effect. We had to go all the way through Ho Chi Minh City and eventually came to an island of tranquility. I guess the park was set up some years ago by the government and there are often traditional shows, like water puppets and music and weddings, but we didn’t see any of that. Except this was maybe a wedding display. However, there were several photographers, so it could have been a real wedding...I’d love to go back and see the entertainment, however. The park was wonderfully quiet and so we strolled through the gardens and eventually landed up at the buffet. They had so many wonderful Vietnamese dishes and I just didn’t know enough about them. Omigoodness, there was so much of every different kind of soup and salad and grilled fish and noodle and rice dishes. And then there were lots of desserts that I had no idea about ... lots made with beans and tapioca and fruit. As it got darker, they lit and set out floating lanterns on the water. It was just lovely. Of course it was great to be with our students. Theirs was a very strong class and Kathy and I knew by then they had all passed (but we couldn’t say a word, of course!) It took a while to see whose responsibility Kathy and I would be, but in the end Khoa took me and Phu took Kathy, as they both live in District 7. Khoa really wanted to drive fast, but he had been told by Vu (the oldest) that he couldn’t, so he took it easy. He did, however, let me know he had never driven so slowly before! As we left the skies opened up and we were in the midst of a really driving rain. Thank goodness it wasn’t a cold one, as I was absolutely soaked (even with a rain poncho) by the time I got home. It was a great drive home, partly because of the rain, and a wonderful end to a very interesting course. I really wish I had been able to take pictures of Phu ever so seriously driving Kathy home. However, it was really pouring by then. It was a wonderful time and we were so grateful that the students went out of their way to do that for us. Several of them went off to their home provinces the next day, so it was very nice that they took the time to spend the evening with us and show us something new and very interesting.
The next day, Vu called to inquire about my health ... already in his home village. So sweet and made me feel about 75. Khoa texted me to say he was in the hospital having surgery. I was shocked and I am still not quite sure what was wrong ... I think he may have had an appendectomy, as he said he had to cut his extra intestine and he has three holes in his stomach now ... maybe done laproscopically? I will email him to find out. He said he had to stay in the hospital until yesterday, poor kid.