Vietnam Part 1

I think I forgot to email about this, so I'll write it here. The first week of Christmas break, before Shawn and Brinai came, we went to Hanoi, Vietnam. It was very fun to stay there for 5 days and see the city more. I decided it is one of my favorite cities I've ever been too. It felt exactly like Boston in the fall with the cold weather, fallen leaves, old cobble-stoney streets, and more. I thought it was actually pretty cold, but I guess I'm just used to Cambodian hot weather. 

The first two days we were there were with the missionaries. We did some training mixed with Christmas activities and service projects. We also had a yummy Christmas dinner. The other days dad had government meetings, so mom and I went sight-seeing around the city with one of the returned sister missionaries. We mostly just walked around the streets shopping. 

On the last day, dad didn't have anything, so we decided to do some things together. We went to the "Ceramic Village" in the morning. It was different than I thought, but still fun. It was incredible how cheap the dishes were. Dish sets that would be hundreds of dollars in the USA were so cheap, it was fantastic!!

Our wonderful tour guide, Sister Houng!!!!

It's neat because each of the streets have a theme based on what's sold there. There is a decoration street, which at that time was the Christmas street, the clothes street, a restaurant/hotel street, etc. 

Sports Day

We had a fun day for the last day of school before Christmas Day. We had a tabloid sports day where  the entire high school split into house teams (kind of like Harry Potter) and went to a near-by field to play sports all morning. There were several games: human battleship with water balloons, an obstacle course, egg volleyball, water relay race, and a crawling race on soapy tarp.

It was a fun, relaxing day with friends and such. However, I was insanely sore for the next few days. I felt like my body was one big bruise that couldn't move. Not fun. Below are the three closest friends I've made here. Starting from the left: Holly, Chan, and Merlin. They are great friends with good standards!

 After the sports we changed clothes and then had an awards assembly at the school. They gave certificates for things like Honor Roll and what they call Director's List. I guess the latter is pretty hard to get from what the kids were saying. Well...I got it!! Everyone was amazed that I got it in my first semester. That was exciting!

 We got out around 12:30, so my friends and I decided to go out to lunch at the Sushi Bar. I love that place!! Then some of us went to the office supply store because Chan is obsessed with that kind of thing. It was kind of funny, but I didn't mind because I kind of like that kind of thing too. I was just glad to be doing something with friends instead of just sitting at home.

O' Christmas Tree!

Yeah for Christmas and Christmas trees!! It was so much fun setting up our little tree with mom a couple of Sunday nights ago. Dad was away for a conference unfortunately, but we figured it was the best time with school starting and such. I am very proud to say that I did all the lights by myself! Not bad right?!

 I had to turn the lights off and take pictures too because that's the best part of a Christmas tree. It always gives me goosebumps when it glows in the dark. So peaceful!

Being a Missionary

So this first part is a repetition from another post I already did, but I thought it would be good to put it up again with all of the pictures. The pictures go in order like the words do. 

Friday was a really neat day for me. I went out with some sisters in the afternoon. One of the sisters, Sis. Johnson, is leaving in 3 weeks, so I'm glad I got a chance to go with her. Both of the sisters are really great! The first investigator we went to was a young woman, about 21, named Tida. Her whole family's members except her. We were teaching her the first lesson about the Godhead. She already knows everything about baptism and whatnot. The sisters asked her if she would be baptized and she said yes! That was really exciting. I hope she continues learning with faith. She is such a vibrant, energetic young woman. We tried to go to another investigator who's husband is an Elder's Quorum President, but less active. She wouldn't let us in though because she was too busy. So, we went to her neighbor who they had just seen and talked to once. I guess her husband's family are all non-active members. We taught her how to pray. There was a really special spirit there. At one point I shared my testimony of prayer and the Holy Ghost and how Heavenly Father does hear and answer our prayers. After it looked like she had some baby tears in her eyes as she said, "I felt something so warm inside while you were talking." It made me want to cry and shout for joy at the same time! I hope she becomes a good investigator. She needs that joy in her life. We then went to an elderly woman the sisters called, "Look yay" or "grandma". She's been a member for about 4 months. We sang, shared some scriptures, and bore testimony. She said she was trying to earn money so she could pay tithing on Sunday. She was really sweet. At the end she said, "I will pray for you to be able to speak Khmer and you pray that I will be able to speak English!" So great! The last investigator we went to was the daughter of that women. The sisters were really excited to see her because it's been a month since she's been there. We talked to her and her three kids running around about families and the blessing of joy that comes from the Gospel. The area that this all took place in was a very, very poor town called Stung Mun Jay. We passed one person's home where all they had was some wooden table bed things and a little tarp covering them. It made me so sad. I am continually amazed with the humility and strength of these people.

Homemade Nativities

For Dad's birthday I made him a blueberry pie, so that was fun! 

 I had a week off of school for the Water Festival in the end of November. Mom and I set up Christmas decorations and have been making cookies and watching Christmas movies. It gets rather boring for me just sitting at home having nothing to do (once my homework is done, or course), so we thought of something very creative to do. Mom and dad had set aside Wednesday to do something fun with me, so  we decided to make homemade nativities. We went to the market in the morning and bought all sorts of beads, buttons, and other crafty stuff. Then we came home and started piecing things together. I was very happy with how mine turned out, and I think mom and dad's were good as well!

 This one is mine.

 This is mom's.

 And this is dad's (made with nail polish :).

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

A Khmer Wedding

This also happened what seems like ages ago. I went to my first Khmer wedding reception with mom and dad. It was quite the experience and really fun. Below are the bride (I'm kind of standing in front of her!), groom, bridesmaids, and groomsmen. I must say, I fell in love with their dresses! They looked absolutely stunning. It was slightly awkward though because none or them smiled that much. 

 This was their wedding cake. Quite pretty. Notice how there's hardly any cake ;).

 From what I gather, Khmer receptions are basically big feasts (5+ course meals) for the guests. The food was very interesting. Very Khmer. I can't say it was delicious, but it was fun to try. I can now say I've eaten something really weird though. I tried Pig's Ear!! EEWWW!! I will never eat that again! It tasted like a rubbery, chewy, cartilidgy ear. Yuck, yuck, yuck!

 I don't know if this video will play, but if it does you'll get a little flavor of the music that was playing the whole time. I could barely hear myself talk, let alone anybody else. The whole time we had to speak right in each other's ears to hear!

 This is one of our guards and his sister. She said she had just barely started to learn how to sew (like just weeks), and she already sewed her dress. The people here are so amazingly crafty, I love it!

 More food :)

Sushi Bar and Lady Lunch Date

So, I can't even describe to you how far behind I am in pictures so I'll try not to talk a lot. This happened probably a month ago now. Elder Wong came for a district conference, so on Saturday night we went to the Sushi Bar. I'd heard a lot of good things about it and I love sushi, so we decided to go there. It turned out to be amazing!! The sushi was the best I've had! Plus we got to watch them make it for a minute which I was happy about because I really want to make it. 

Then later in the week mom and I had a little lady lunch date. I get restless at home without school so we decided to go out. We went to a cafe called The Vegetarian. It was another slam dunk! I had some delicious pad thai and mom had some pumpkin curry. We're definitely planning to go there again!