more yummies

From dinner last night: garden rolls. Also called fresh spring rolls. And the Vietnamese name escapes me right now. I'll have to look it up. We used carrots, cucumbers, asparagus, snap peas, bean sprouts and basil. Then dipped it in Trader Joe's asian dipping sauce (which was actually pretty okay).

Thanks go to Steve and Desiree for suggesting and providing for dinner. It was well worth the prep time.

mm, mm, good~

I've been madly depressed lately and can't quite seem to shake it. Until this afternoon when I decided to spend my last few dollars on Vietnamese food for lunch. I headed over to Fubonn, our Asian mall in Portland, picked up some spring roll wrapper, Choco Pie and some instant Chinese noodles. There happened to be a Vietnamese restaurant outside the grocery, so I checked out the menu. Typical fare: Cha gio, goi cuon, banh xeo, bun ba Hue, then, there it was.... Bún Chả Hà Nội!

I have looked for months for this lovely meal, first introduced to me by Keith on Hang Manh street in Ha Noi on my second night in the country. That restaurant made bun cha like it's supposed to be made, and try as I might I couldn't find anyone that even made it in a similar style (pork patties, noodles, veggies, nuoc mam). Until today.

May good luck fall upon the fine folks at Bánh Cuốn Tân Dịnh. The food was wonderful, service great. I asked about ché and sure enough, they have it on Sundays. Looking through the cooler, I queried each item until I heard "homemade yoghurt" at which time I squealed with delight and pulled out my cash. Oh, how I've yearned for VNese yoghurt. And here it was!

I am happy, so happy, with my belly full of bún chả and yoghurt.

Bánh Cuốn Tân Dịnh: 2850 SE 82nd Ave; Suite 11; Portland, Oregon

Underground Reality: Vietnam (review)

Unsurprisingly, I find myself drawn to any movie set in Vietnam, outside of war documentaries. Those can stay on the shelf, thankyouverymuch.

While browsing through Netflix (we're 'borrowing' the account while my dear friend, Goolie, is out of the country), I cam across this movie-Underground Reality: Vietnam. The teaser describes the movie as "[d]ocumenting the persecution of Christians in Vietnam, this eye-opening video follows a group of teens who travel through the communist country to visit the underground church."

Okay, first gripe. They do not, in fact, "travel through the...country" but rather, hang out in Saigon/HCMC except for a two-day venture into the central highlands. What they see of Vietnam is miniscule in comparison to the size of the country. But maybe that's just an argument in semantics.

The film features four episodes, rather than chapters. Each introduces you to the teens, again and again (thank goodness for that fast-forward button), then goes on to document on film another portion on their trip.

The teens start out excited, but naive, about what they are going to be doing: breaking the laws of the land for God. There are laws against proselytizing in Vietnam, so bringing in 500 bibles clearly is breaking those rules. They tuck them into numerous suitcases, along with their other things and get through customs without a hitch.

Later, in a what looks more like a drug deal, they load up backpacks with religious tracts and bibles and head off on the back of motorbikes to the HCMC Zoo. There, they covertly meet other religious zealots to pass off the packs and the teens bask in the high of pulling it off.

This creeped me out a little.

In the first episode, they visit the Cu Chi Tunnels near Saigon and see what the Viet soldiers had to deal with. They watched a video that focused on the wins and losses as seen from the Viet side of the American war. Numbers flashed on screen: "2,500,000 Americans and 50,000 Australians fought against the Communists in Vietnam" with war footage playing behind it. The boys said how "uncomfortable" it made them seeing the war from Communist Vietnam's side, how the one now felt such "hate in [his] heart," http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifand seeing the weapons that were used and "the horror of war."

The numbers and war footage come across the screen again: "58,169 Americans and 520 Australians died fighting the Communists in Vietnam."

There's no mention of the 1,1000,000 Vietnamese soldiers killed. Or the millions of the civilians that died (another estimated 1-3 million people). source

Then they took them out to the firing range, where assisted by Vietnamese tour guides, these kids paid more than $30 to fire an automatic at targets, after they've been amped up to despise the Vietnamese. One boy admitted that it was weird. One of the American boys seemed to enjoy the shooting just a tad too much.

While the movie shows some of what I love about Vietnam (the wonderful people, the beautiful countryside, the crazy cities), it's focus on highlighting how terrible the government is takes away from much of the feel-good aspect of the film. It's made by The Voice of the Martyrs and is clearly made to bring to light the persecution of Christians in Vietnam (as well as around the world).

I wouldn't recommend the movie for most since it seems to strive to make Vietnam seem like an overly oppressive place, but also I can't stand that type of religious zeal. One girl is so excited to have smuggled the bibles in and goes on about how "w could be saving thousands of souls" and I can't help but get queasy.

It's an interesting look at one group's dedication to spreading Christianity through whatever means necessary, but the overall feeling of the film is fairly negative. There are some moments that you can't help but smile along with them, thankfully. And the end is a beautiful moment of gratitude when a Vietnamese boy is given a guitar by one of the American boys. The looks on his face is priceless.

two bits

There's an interesting article in the NY Times, from a few days ago, about the excavation of the old capitol in Ha Noi. There have been "millions of artifacts" found and the work continues in preparation for the 1000 year anniversary of Ha Noi in 2010. Read the full article.

Audrey's article is going to be on newsstands soon! Her article about living in Vietnam, including photos, will be in the November/December issue of New Moon magazine. Look for it at your local bookseller. Should be good. :)

fall in the northwest

It's fall and that means it is time to hit the pumpkin farms. We headed out on Sunday with Zach's family, going out to Sauvie Island, but skipping the uber-popular farm and stopping at some smaller ones instead. The prices seem to have gone up again, unfortunately. We paid $6 for each of the kids' pumpkins.

After the pumpkin farm, we headed to a farmer's market where we picked up some potatoes, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, corn and onions. Much cheaper than the pumpkins!

While it isn't quite the same as the markets in VN, it certainly feels 'better' to buy from the local farmer's markets. It's become a serious need for me to buy simply and from as close to the grower as I can get. I've also started eating vegetarian most of the time. Though Audrey had sworn she'd become vegetarian on our return, she still loves her chicken. I've gotten her to eat tofu several times though and tonight she even enjoyed some hummus and flatbread with us.

I long for a garden, but know that would require me to stay in one place for a long time. Ah, the pros and cons. Who knows, maybe I'll find a reason to quit longing for Vietnam. Or I'll find someone who'll return with me.

funny haha

I found this comic yesterday and thought I'd share. It's all from an Asian-American perspective (I'm thinking he's Japanese-American) and quite funny, though it definitely hits a nerve with its forthright take on racial stereotypes. Good stuff.

helping the children

For those of you in Ha Noi:
Inc. Vietnam will be arranging the fund-raising run / walk around Westlake, in Hanoi on Sunday, 14 October 2007. We shall be greatly thankful for your (financial) contribution to this cause. We would be delighted if you and / or your friends / colleagues could also join us for the run/walk. *The event will start at 6:30 am at the Hanoi Lake View building, 28 Thanh Nien Road, Hanoi.* Should you need more information or would like to register for the event, please contact our local coordinator, Mr. Au Minh Tuan at tuanamATadb.org>

For everyone:
I have three more boxes of clothes that were donated for the kids in Tam Ky, but they cost more than $100 to ship. I'd like to send one more box of warm clothes, since it's starting to get cool there, and hoping I can get some help from y'all. If you can spare $10 or so to help with the mailing costs, I'd be ever so grateful. The paypal address is donateATteresaandkids.com. If you would like to include a card or anything small (and very light), let me know and I'll give you a mailing address.

sunrise

The lovely sunrise as seen from our living room window. Having the upper story is nice; we can see right over the other houses. :) It's not a great pic (just from the camera on the phone), but you get the idea. A nice array of pinks and yellows and oranges.

And...
Happy 39th anniversary to my parents!

this is nothin'

I was going to type up a bitter complaint about having the weather turn on me and start raining, soaking through both layers of clothing with no hat or umbrella. I was a bit bummed.

Then I signed in and saw the news. Giang had told me there had been a lot of rain and some flooding, but only now did I see just how bad it is in central Vietnam. A typhoon just hit and has left 3 dead, including a boy in Quang Ngai (where the My Lai massacre site is). It's just so sad. I wish there were something more I could do. These natural disasters (in VN and elsewhere) are so distressing to me.

Read the full article here.

too funny for the comments

Goolie posted this in the comments of the last post, but it made me laugh too much to be hidden away. Someone want to provide a better translation from the Vietnamese?

missing?

Poor little Vietnam gets left out all the time. In fact, in Stuart's Global Studies class, the entirety of South East Asia was omitted from countries that could be studied. Excuse me? Do Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, etc. have nothing worth learning about? Honestly, I don't get it. Stuart was able to convince the teacher that he could do a kick-butt job on Vietnam, having been there and all, but all other SE Asia countries are dis-allowed.

Then Audrey checked out a book about Asia in the school library and there were two sentences in the entire book that even mentioned Vietnam. It's a 100+ pages, but Vietnam wasn't even included on the map of Asia (though they did include Laos, Cambodia, etc.). Not sure what reason could possibly have been argued to keep Vietnam off the map, quite literally.

Our new housemate asked last night if I missed it and I nearly broke down in tears. There is no word to properly express the emotion in me, so I just nodded and said, "Yes, very much."

------
In funnier news, I was chatting over Yahoo with student in Thanh Hoa about dating and his upcoming (though yet undated) wedding. He was surprised to learn that I'd gone on a few dates, but none too sure that anything would pan out with any one of them. I told him that I am not so easy to date/fall in love with because I have children and that makes it awkward for guys. But he reassured me that it has nothing to do with having kids. I am just not an easy person to love. Of course, he inserted one of these cheesy grins :D and I thought I might keel over from laughing so hard. He's got sarcasm down, even in English. You crack me up, Cuong.

home sweet home

I've been so busy these last few days: new home, new friends. It's kept me occupied and unable to focus too much on the melancholy-inducing rain we've had.

We got the keys on Friday, I moved a few things over on Saturday (no furniture though) and last night, after a movie for the kids and a dinner date for me, we came "home." On the drive back from the theater Audrey asked, "Where are we going now?" And it was so nice to tell her that I was taking her home. Granted, it's a shared house, but the part this is ours is ample for our needs and the space is ours. We were given bunk beds (and a vacuum!) by some friends who came to help set them up. I threw some sheets on them before we'd left for the evening, so it was fantastic to come back and be able to just lie down and go to sleep.

Unfortunately sleep has been evasive lately and it was again last night. I woke up at 2:45am, unable to return to slumberland. So, around 4am I decided to get up and do something. So I worked on the bathroom paint job. I was a bit unhappy with the vibrant aqua color in the bathroom, so mixed together a sand color, white and the aqua to come up with a mint color that I will enjoy much more, I'm sure. The color makes me happy and that's what I'll need over these upcoming grey months.

Today Audrey heads off to camp; she'll be gone until Friday which is strange for both of us. But Stuart and I will have some rare alone time and I'm sure it will end up being just fine for everyone. It'll give me some time to paint more and get our bedroom set up a bit better.

So here we are: homeless no more. How sweet it is.