We had a delicious set of results from that cooking class-- little did we know that we would be following the afternoon's big meal with an gigantic feast/hospital staff party! We drove to the far outskirts of HCMC (45+minutes?) to a restaurant the size of a couple of football fields, owned by a family member of the hospital staff.
 |
| The kid table |
 |
| Lots of the therapists brought their kids! Some kids we first met 8 years ago-- it's great to see them growing up! |
 |
| soft-shelled crab |
 |
| Great insistence that we sing karaoke. To our relief, there was a separate English-language songlist. We rejected "Unchained Melody" in favor of "Summer Nights" from _Grease_. Notice that once we started, no one made eye contact with us. It was not my finest karaoke moment. |
 |
| Giao, the head of the department, has a great singing voice. |
 |
| I was able to get through the chorus of Lionel Ritchie's "Hello", which the rest of the hospital therapists could do better than I could |
 |
| And then, there were presents given out to everyone! More on that below.... |
 |
| We drew numbers for presents, and Stacy and I were mysteriously the only ones that received little pouches with hair ties in them. Everyone else got utilitarian gifts, like toothpaste, cooking oil, or shampoo. I suspect there was a little tinkering with the numbers on the presents! |
 |
| no , not an aquarium-- these were fish available for consumption |
 |
| ginormous prawn |
 |
| octopi |
 |
| The waitstaff use bicycles and roller skates to get around the premises! |
 |
| an artificial lake in the middle of the restaurant |
 |
| Definitely a happy party |
 |
| Trung and daughter karaoke |
 |
| I am grateful that Sai Gon beer is around 4%, and that Vietnamese parties typically wrap up by 9pm |
 |
| Giao and Stacy talking shop |
 |
| in a taxi, looking at Saturday night traffic on the way home |
Coming up-- our last 2 days in HCMC, including our lectures....
