Holiday Celebrations in Hanoi

For about 2 ½ weeks Ryan was gone on a little vacation around Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. He finally returned on December 17^th – his birthday. I decided to throw a little shindig at Highway 4 to celebrate both his return to Hanoi and his 24^th birthday.

Since then we have been through a whirlwind of holiday parties. First of which was on the 20^th. The Institute of International Education held a Winter Holiday party to celebrate Christmas and to promote the center. A few days before, I was asked to teach a few of the volunteers some Christmas songs to sing at the beginning of the party.

About fifty people came. We played a few games and almost everyone went home with a gift. At the end I taught everyone how to sing “Feliz Navidad”. It was quite embarrassing because their music didn’t work so I did it acapella style and I think that I sing terribly.

The next evening Language Link held their End of the Year Gala. A few people who attended the previous year's gala told me that this one was much better. The space was so big, and the food was great!

Finally, on Christmas day, Ryan and I went to the "Orphans Christmas Party" at the Green Mango organized by De, our HR lady.

At first I thought that the money we had to pay to go to the dinner went to orphans, but apparently we were the orphans - those who had no where to go for Christmas. There was free flowing champagne with strawberries, mulled wine, and an amazing buffet with (mostly) traditional Christmas dinner foods. They even had a turkey! With cranberry sauce no less! That alone was very exciting because I hadn't had turkey since before I left the States.

We stayed until the early evening and walked up the street to this little cafe called Cafe Pho Co right on Hang Gai street. It's easy to miss this place because all there is is a little sign and nothing else. You have to walk through a souvenir shop and a small hallway before it opens up into the cafe. We ordered two egg coffees (egg whites whipped and then mixed with coffee) and walked up two flights of stairs. At the top of the cafe offers an amazing view

of Hoan Kiem Lake.

When we finished we walked through the streets of the Old Quarter while eating roasted chestnuts.

Just to mix things up and recognize the other side of my upbringing, last night my friend Mikka and I held a little Hanukkah dinner with matzo ball soup (my mother sent me a box of of the mix) and potato latkes!

All in all I would say it's been one of the most enjoyable holidays I've had.