Binh Hoa Part II

Over the weekend I was lucky enough to go back to Bien Hoa (Trang's hometown) for the second weekend in a row. This time we stayed at Loan's house, or rather houses, but more about that later. We started out shopping in teams, with each of us making around two dishes for a competition that Loan came up with. Trang and I went to the market right by her house while the other pairs went to a market near Loan's house. Trang and I picked out vegetables, fruit, beef, and shrimp for our dishes.

The market near Loan's house

We headed to Loan's house to make our dishes. Trang and I made canh chua, which is sour soup. This is soup with shrimp, pineapple, tamarind, and vegetables. We also made a stir-fry with beef and vegetables and a dish with mushrooms and greens. The other dishes were eggrolls, mango salad with shrimp, fried fish, and one other dish which I can't remember. We finished the meal with a selection of tropical fruits.

Hanh flipping the egg rolls in the hot oil

Me stirfrying some carrots and greenbeans. There is a little stove under the pan.

Vi posing with the whole spread of dishes that we made

After we cooked and ate lunch, Loan surprised us all by saying, "Ok, now we're going to my other house." For some reason, her family has two houses. The first house, where we cooked, was very similar to Trang's house. Her other house was just a few blocks away and was very fancy. It was a brand new three story townhouse with big screen TVs and a Western style kitchen. She also had a karaoke machine which everyone loved so we spent the next few hours singing karaoke. Or rather the Vietnamese students did. Anna, Vi, and I got a little tired after going through the very short selection of Vietnamese songs that we knew but I've found that Vietnamese people really love karaoke. When they were finally done singing, we went to go see a fortune teller in Trang's neighborhood. I understood very little of what she said because I am not at all accustomed to Vietnamese fortune telling vocabulary. Even Vi needed a few translations from the Vietnamese roommates. Here are a few of her fortunes.

There is a man in the United States who loves you but you don't love him back

This year Anna will have a lot more money than you

An older Vietnamese man will follow you and tell you that he loves you, but really he just wants his money. You should give me all of your money. (My roommates said she's joking, mostly)

Your scholarship application is doing well

You're clueless about Vietnam, be careful

Don't get married this year, wait a year or two

(To my question, will I have children?) If you're not careful, you'll get pregnant this year

We finished the evening by having dinner and walking around a pretty park by the river. All in all, it was another wonderful weekend.

A bridge over the river at night