Saturday was
Tết -- the first day of the Lunar New Year! This is the time of the Vietnamese New Year and the first week of the Year of the Rooster. The city has spent a week preparing for the holiday and we have enjoyed the Flower Street, the all-day music, and the myriad of rooster decorations.
Evenings were filled with lights, lotus flowers, and roosters in many shapes, sizes and textures. The only roosters that we did not appreciate were the real ones! The neighbours bought roosters for their yards. There are now many roosters in the neighbourhood. And the roosters start crowing at 3 a.m.....
On New Year's Day we were invited for dinner with Nhung's family. What fun we had! We ate traditional Tết food --
Banh Tết (tightly wrapped sticky rice with mung bean in the middle),
hạt dưa (roasted watermelon seeds),
dưa hành (pickled onion),
thịt kho tàu (pork stewed in coconut juice and served with boiled duck eggs). Everything was delicious and we were so full!
We laughed a lot, despite the language barrier, and had a glimpse into the lives of Vietnamese families.
Chúc mừng năm mới!
