I do work! honest...

...and this is where...

Hoa Sua is an incredible project. It started 11 years ago, initially as a past time for a few Vietnamese teachers who had just retired and thought they would pass on their passion for cooking to a group of street children. Slowly but surely the school grew, and it is now a very successful hospitality/catering/embroidery school that provides completely free training and a home to some 400 disadvantaged young people every year.

The trainees at the school come from all over Vietnam and from different circumstances: orphans, street children, children who come from extremely poor families, disabled kids - deaf or hearing impaired,...

The training ranges from practical to theoretical, and the team have implemented an impressively successful system to provide training to the kids and, concurrently, to allow a certain degree of self funding, by opening a training restaurant, a bakery, a cafe, and a tailor/emobroidery shop (in Hanoi) and a little hotel and cafe in Sa Pa - North of Vietnam.

And the quality of the food and atmosphere at the cafes and restaurant are excellent...so if you do get the chance to travel to Vietnam (and as far as my friends are concerned, ye will, ye will, ye will) follow the link on the right handside here and go and see for yourselves!

And you should see the students, that twinkle in their eye, those smiles... It is so magic to be here, and to be part of this...I'm looking forward to all that is to come.

- the girls and boy from the tailoring and embroidery class

Was ist das?!!?!? 'tis a D-O-G

a smart man in a suit parks his motorbike, phones his friend and says: guess what? there's a dog on a spitroast and two foreigners staring at it, giggling and taking pictures...bizarre, hey? anyway, fancy a bit of tale?

uahhahhahhahha, having a Beavis & Butthead moment....

mmmh, yes. bye.

what a week!

What a week people!
let's start with order.

Monday
Very slow start, the weather nice and cool, had a quiet day in the office, and at night a nice take away party with my house mates...

Tuesday
This was the day when it all happened...In the morning I went to my first Vietnamese wedding...unfortunately that was the day I forgot my camera....typical organised me!
It was one of my new colleagues' big day. Before I went, I was told by my friends that when invited to a wedding you need to put some money in an envelope, which was great, only I forgot to ask what type of envelope that should be? and worried that I'd make a faux pas I got a nice Vietnamese card (in an envelope) and brought it in, only to find that an AIR MAIL postal envelope would do...och well, you live you learn...
Got there with my colleagues, and we were greeted by the groom, who proceeded in explaining how a traditional Vietnamese wedding works.
It starts all off at a fortune teller, who by looking at the bride and groom's birth dates, not only would predict how the marriage will be, but will also advise them on the lucky date. So Quang, whose family is building a beautiful house in the outskirts of the city, organised the wedding on THE date, even though he would have been happier to wait till the house was finished. But he was happy.
The bride wasn't there, she was waiting for the groom to go to her house in the afternoon, when he would ask her father for her hand, would go to her room, and he would take her to his family home. In the meantime, people have come and gone from the grooms family house, where beautiful food is laid out. They would eat, congratulate the groom's family, give their envelopes and then leave. Apparently only the closest family and friends wait for the bride and groom to arrive to the house and then party on with music and drink.
The newly-weds will live with the groom's parents, because it is the duty of the eldest son to take care of his parents.

Then at night I went to the Opera house and for the first time in my life I saw a violin concert...Tang Yun is a Chinese 16 year old amazingly (here's that word again) talented violinist, who also played in the film "Together"...if you get the chance, do watch it.

Wednesday

Wikipedia writes

Today the X National Congress of the Communist party of Vietnam is gathering to discuss the direction of the Party for the next five years, as well as elect a new Central Committee. It is a major occurrence and Hanoi has been preparing for a long time now. The city is dressed up in reds and golds, there doesn't seem to be one single corner that doesn't have at least the national flag hanging from a window.





















Thursday..... mmh, can't remember....























Friday
Today it's Hoa Sua's 11th Birthday...what a great day! A great party for everyone, teacher's, students, volunteers and everyone who is part of this wonderful organisation.


















I'm bored with writing now! ehe hehh. sorry!
love to everyone....mmmmmmmmmmmmuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuacccccccccc

half full...half empty??

Patty's lesson of the week:

Just make sure you drink it! (and keep smiling!)

patty oi!!!

It's me!
so much has happened since I last posted! Moved to the new house...here it is:





















and I'm sharing with the most wonderful people, Ruth and Mary....Mary who you've seen in the previous post, and this is Ruth:















Ruth, by the way, knows my Uncle Brian in Wales...which is just amazing (Brian, email will soon follow!). As you can see, we're well into the whole Vietnamese thing...
So anyway, also started work this week, which is amazing (especially after 8 months of sweet nothingness...), but what is amazing is the welcoming I got there, and the general atmosphere at Hoa Sua (please check website on links here on the right).
I'm not being very eloquent, so I'll carry on with pictures...
this is my desk (please note all the lovely things that are on it...)
















and this is my lovely colleague Phuong:















and what else? well, only third day in the office and so far so good. Only 5 days in the house and couldn't be better (especially this morning when I came down the stairs to the kitchen and found Ruth and Mary there, and the table all set for breakfast...that means coffee being ready too!). Looking forward to Liam and Keith moving in on Monday...bunch of good lads and life just couldn't get any better....I mean only a couple of minutes ago they had The Clash playing London Calling!