MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL

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Vietnamese traditions follow the lunar calendar. The Mid-Autumn festival of August 15 was last week, in September. This celebration for children goes back 4000 years. There is no holiday but there are lantern decorations, red oval-shapes covered in tissue paper, or star-shaped. Kids wear masks. Everyone eats mooncakes for luck. I am a dessert lover. I can only eat a few nibbles of these dense, super-sweets, filled with bean paste or other flavors.



To get a feel for the festivities I went to the Night Market. This is a regular event. A Several streets are closed to cars and kiosks are set up. Picture blocks and blocks of flea market merchandise and huge crowds. For the festival there were unbelievable numbers. Kids were carried or on parents’ shoulder; otherwise they would not have seen anything and could have been trampled.



At school there was a huge celebration. Secondary students held a talent show. In elementary every kid was in a show with each class in a different elaborate costume. I had to get a picture of the fruit and vegetable dragon decoration. The star is the traditional lantern.



Tourism is thriving and growing. There are many foreigners in Hanoi all the time. The hospitality industry needs English speaking employees. I began to help students in a training program for restaurant workers, most from rural families. The location is an old house with several rooms for diners. In another part of the program those with disabilities make handicrafts and clothing.



I’ve been asked how I like the food. Vietnamese who lived in US say there it is changed for American tastes. Much of what I get is in school, so not great quality. Breakfast is noodle soup: skinny noodles, fat noodles, curly noodles, rice noodles, noodles in beef, chicken, fish, or pork broth. Lunch has variety, but what is delicious one day is not next. In restaurants when you order a dish that is usually all you get: just chicken or just rice unless you order each. Meats and poultry are cooked then chopped into pieces, about an inch wide with many bones. Meals are always with chopsticks. I am willing to eat almost anything. I’m not a fan of snails and the shrimp is in the shell so too much trouble to clean. Many fruits and veggies are unfamiliar but mostly very good.



After classes I often go walking, for exercise and to get some food. It is work-out time for many. People walk, jog, play badminton, and kids roller bade. Grandparents or parents push strollers. Men are as affectionate with young ones as women. They fan little ones, but not themselves. Work never seems to end. Evenings and weekends shops are open and construction work is going on, with women doing some labor. Vendors push carts or ride on bicycles or motorbikes, sometimes with recordings announcing their wares. Kids are very free, even small ones where traffic is moving. Dogs and cats roam around. Some seem pampered but I hear they may be fattened for a feast; no one admits to doing that but say it is common.



I have been slow at sightseeing, but keep planning to do that. Gotta move from thinking to doing, no matter the heat, doing it on my own, or putting it off since there is plenty of time.

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