This trip to Vietnam was a present for my mother and me. I had always promised my mother that we would go back to her homeland to see the places she'd described and wanted me to experience firsthand. Staring into the Vietnamese bathroom, I didn't expect this to be one of them. I had arrived at Ho Chi Minh earlier, midnight, rumpled, sleepy, and cheered at by a huge crowd gathered outside the sidelines of the arrivals gate, expectantly waiting for family and friends. Ahead, by the sidelines were my extended family: uncle-in-law, aunt, and cousin. Their hired driver tucked our luggage into his minivan and off we went, into the night, to Bien Hoa, the family home of my uncle. By the way, we're all Viet Khieu, or native lingo for Overseas Vietnamese. So, here
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