Day 102

Today’s a big day for Mr. Lam’s family. The family of his daughter’s boyfriend will go to Mr. Lam’s house to ask for her hand and also discuss when it’s the best time to give the earrings and when they should get married, all of this according with the Vietnamese tradition. And I’m very lucky I can be part of it!

So I wake up at 6 am without Rancid playing, I stay rolling in bed for half hour and then get up and go for my shower. As I don’t know how I should dress for this important occasion I go with my Diesel jeans and pink girlie shirt. At 7 am everyone starts getting up and ready and at 8 am we’re having breakfast. Thach Thao and Phuc eat noodles soup and the grown-ups eat fried eggs with bread.

With breakfast in our bellies, we all jump to the car and head to Mr. Lam’s house. All the family is already there, there’s also the expert in the best Chinese dates to marry and do the party and everything Vietnamese tradition demands. While the boyfriend’s family doesn’t show up, we drink cà phê sữa đá and I make a couple of photos. Around 10 am the two families are ready and they head to the table next to the place to pray and the conversations begin.

The alcohol also flows so they can free the tongue…

I make photos and videos of what’s happening as it’s a big honor for me to be there, to be invited for this.

When all dates are arranged, I make a photo of the families’ ladies and one of the lucky couple. It’s going to be kept for posterity! =)

At 11.30 am the food starts coming to the table and we start having lunch.

For me it’s too early and I’m not hungry but I eat what I can so I won’t be impolite. Luckily besides the photo camera and the video camera I had also brought my computer so when I finish I grab my computer and start righting my blog in order to try to have everything up to date, maximum tomorrow.

Around 2 pm the sky turns grey and strong winds start so I guess it’s our cue to go back home. Everyone gets ready and the Vietnamese branch of the Ribeiro family head to the car. We avoid the storm for an inch and, at home, I grab a shirt I need to change and walk very fast to the shop, hoping I’m not caught in the storm. When I’m done with my affairs and arrive home, I realize I smell… really bed so I just turn on the shower water and go… feeling fresher I connect to Skype and speak with my parents.

Then Xuan shows up to my room and asks me if I’m hungry… it’s 5.30 pm and in fact I’m hungry so both of us go downstairs and after hopping on the motorbike, we head to the barbecue place. 2 chicken cutlets and rice are put in front of me and disappear with one eye blinking… after having dinner we stop at the supermarket to buy a couple of stuff needed, then stop again at the barbecue place to buy dinner for Grandmamma and Carlos, finally we stop at the pharmacy to buy medicine and head home.

I’m feeling lazy but Thach Thao wants to play so, while Carlos has dinner, we throw an airplane to each other and without knowing why, this makes Thach Thao laugh very much. After at least 1 hour of playing Phuc shows up and everything starts to turn into chaos so I start getting upset and put both of them out of my room with the last drop: cleaning their hands in my bed sheets while the hands have apple on it…

When they’re out I go back to one of my passions and this time I’m watching the last episodes of The Good Wife and it’s just great! Later, I feel sleepy and because I already took a shower I go straight to bed…

Night night everyone, sleep tight don’t let the bedbugs bite!