Two weddings and a funeral

So sorry to have been gone for so long... I was having some computers problems. I can only access blogspot from a wireless connection - which is unavailable at the Center and only available when your computer can recognize your wireless hardware, which it wasn't until today. Everything is good now and I feel quite a bit more connected to the rest of the world. I think I take this computer/internet for granted...

So here's a quick update - Things have been going well. The past two weeks have been much better in terms of, well, everything. Work is shaping up - the structure of the document is taking shape and now I actually have seen some of what I am writing about. I have been going out with some of the staff to visit the farmers they work with...projects in organic farming, rice seed production, pig raising and aquaculture (small fish farms).

Getting off the Hoa An Center property and out into the community has made me much more comfortable being here. I have really getting to visit with the farmers and see their land and work. The Vietnamese farmers that I have met are incredibly devoted and hard-working. They are passionate about their work and their families. They are resilient and creative and very welcoming.... I am incredibly impressed by them.

Last weekend I had the chance to go to two weddings. The first one, Loan and Ngan's, was on Friday morning. The bride is an animal husbandry technician who works for the Center. She grew up near Hoa An Center and her wedding party was at her home in the front yard, across the canal which had were shuttled to by boat...food, rice wine and a beautiful bride in a bright yellow dress. It rained all week so the place was super muddy and by the end of the morning, Loan's dress was covered in mud up to her ankles. But we had fun and she looked very happy. I'll get some pictures loaded this weekend.

The second wedding, Cindy and Quang's, was in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday night. Two very different weddings. The wedding process here is a two or three day occasion involving rituals and traditions I don't fully understand. Loan's wedding party (about 40 people) was part of process that involves her having a party with all her friends and family and Ngan. Then Ngan's family comes to get her and her family and takes them to his family's home, where they have another party with all his friends and family...

For Cindy and Quang's wedding, we were at a huge reception in a restaurant. There were about 300 people there - full four or five course meal, a stage with lights and balloons and a raised walkway that the bride and groom and the 10 bridesmaids walked in on in. There were more servers and attendees than I have ever seen at a wedding. It was incredible. Lots of lights and bright shiny things everywhere. Cindy is a Vietnamese-American who came back to Vietnam to volunteer, met Quang, fell in love and now they will move back to Boston where she works. Only her mother and sister were there for the wedding so it was a little less typical than a traditional wedding. Most city weddings are at restaurants or hotels and most country weddings are at the home of the bride and groom.

But the former Prime Minister, Mr. Vo Van Kiet, who is revered and loved by many Vietnamese, died just a few days before the weddings and Saturday and Sunday were declared days of mourning in which no live music was allowed - So Cindy and Quang did not get to have the wedding ceremony or the live band for dancing... everyone ate and left, literally.

It was pretty neat to have the experience of going to not only one but two weddings and both very different and representative of the varied culture here.

Gotta run but I'll be back in the city this weekend for some R&R and hopefully a bit more wireless action.