If you thought Christmas might be boring because we live in a non-Christian country, think again. We had a ball!
I had a foreboding feeling last Friday as I approached my afternoon classroom. Standing outside was a delegation of students, and I could tell they were up to something. I took very little cajoling on their part to cancel class, and move en masse to a class Christmas party. Some went ahead to the house, while others showed me the way.
As always, be sure to click on the photos so you can see a largter version of the picture.
Of course we had a tree, complete with decorations. The class has 60 students, and they took over a house that is used as a café and karaoke bar. My digital camera got a real work out – it’s a good thing I have a 1 gig card in it.
Did I mention karaoke? The Vietnamese love karaoke. These kids may not have been drinking beer, but they were loud nonetheless. There were two microphones, a book full of 400+ songs to choose from, and a television that displayed the words on top of video scenes of Việt Nam. Many songs were in English. The Carpenters,
old Beatles love songs, and sentimental ballads from the 70s and 80s live on here. Yes – they got me to sing. Would you believe “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the old rocker by Queen?
I watched them play lots of games: a variation of “Simon Says” they call Shotgun. Another of game of couples holding a balloon between their foreheads as they carried them to a goal line. But the funniest was the madhouse that erupted when ten girls tied balloons around one ankle, then tried to step on each other’s balloons. Sorry – I was laughing too hard to take pictures.
The cooks were hard at work in the kitchen. Every once in awhile they would come out to play, but Huê women take their cooking seriously. The result was incredibly good. This is bánh canh. It had a very rich, savory stock, and the noodles were 
larger than is served in most dishes. You see the dark cubes? That is boiled and congealed pig blood. If I served it to my western friends, and lied about what it was, they would have loved it. I loved it, and I knew what it was.
When I’m in my dotage, I will look at this picture and remember my wonderful students in Huê. 
They are smart, fun loving, hard working, love their country, and are know how to party hardy. I want my students to know I have learned far more from them than they from me.
But, alas, I had to jump on my môto and leave. At 6:00 PM, I was due at another party, this one given by the senior officials of the university – and it was right in the atrium of our Guest House. This party was at the other end of the party spectrum – a time to make contacts and enjoy deep conversations. I lost count of
the number of courses served, but all dishes were delicious. The conversation was lubricated by wine and beer, and all enjoyed singing Jingle Bells – yes, it was sung in English. Notice the attire was a bit more formal than usual – I 
wore a tie for the first time since I retired a year ago. I had to – I had to try to keep up with the Mystery Guest Blogger and our new friend Elizabeth.
Christmas Eve is the big deal here, not Christmas day itself. It is not a holiday – people still work. It is a secular fun day – only about 8 percent or so of the country is Christian. But, the faithful attend
services on Christmas Eve. In our case, we decided to attend a smaller neighborhood church rather than large Phú Cam Cathedral. A friend told us the congregation and the building are over 100 years old, though reconstruction has been done on the building. The services were preceded by a children’s and youth presentati
on – and a number of kids were little Santas. At 9:00, the Christ Mass was celebrated. In a wonderful moment of syncretism, gongs and drums were sounded at holy moments. East met west in one faith. Its possible, but unlikely, that the church sees any foreigners attend, yet I doubt we could have been made to feel more welcome by lay people and clergy alike.
What was Christmas in Huê like?
It was wonderful.