A Busy March so Far!

March 2nd Bai Dinh Pagoda Pilgrimage
We travelled 100km south of Hanoi to Bai Dinh, which is home to the tallest pagoda in Indochina. Actually the pagoda was pretty disappointing as it wasn't finished yet, but the temple itself stretched some 2km down a valley, along with shrines in caves and giant Buddhas, so it was definitely worth getting up early on a Saturday for!!

First time eating goat! Not bad :)

Hiking up the hill on a hot day was sweaty work!

A cave shrine where the school left an offering which had what looked like Smaug from the Hobbit!!

The tallest pagoda in Indochina.. but it wasn't finished!!

The crew!

March 3rd Girls' Festival (Japan)

 Toshi's mum kindly gave me this mini sized doll's set to celebrate the girl's festival on the 3rd!

For comparison here is the Yoshida's full set!!

International Women's Day March 8th

Flower gifts from students' parents and an early birthday celebration with coworkers

My team won!!! We won toothpaste of all things!

My Birthday March 10th
Happy birthday to me for last Sunday! I didn't get up to much, but I did see Oz: The Great and Powerful, which was pretty good!

 RIP my pet gecko, Tom (he sadly died in our cockroach trap) :(

March 16 Toshi's Assistant's Wedding Party
The Vietnamese really love a wedding and the more guests the better! So of course I, too, was invited to Toshi's coworker's wedding party. We took a long bus journey out west of the city and we stopped off at another coworker's house before the main party.

 A pre-party at one of Toshi's colleague's parent's home

 Toshi drank too much homemade wine and felt awful to everyone's amusement!

 Toshi belting out a Japanese number at the party!

The ladies! Interestingly the bride wasn't at her own wedding party, just the groom!!(??)

Tết Tết Tết Tết Đến Rồi! (Tet is coming!)

Tết, as the Chinese New Year is known in Vietnam, is fast approaching! This year will be the Year of the Golden Snake and it falls on Saturday night. It is basically a combination of the Japanese New Year (see my blog post here), the Western-style Christmas and everyone's birthday rolled into one.. so it's a pretty big deal!!!

日本風なお正月＋洋風なクリスマス＋みなさんの誕生日みたいな大きなエベントがやってきます。。ベトナムのお正月です！

Interestingly in Vietnam, everyone ages by one year at the Lunar New Year and not on their date of birth (though personal birthdays are still often celebrated Western-style, because, why not!?)

昨日天気がよくて出かけました！！
This weekend brought AMAZING summery weather (mid twenties and elusive blue skies!), and determined not to waste it, Toshi and I headed to Hoan Kiem to seek out Tết preparations following the recommendation of a student's parent.

Maple Bear End-of-the-Year Party
35 of the 70-or-so staff at our school gathered and pooled resources to fix up a hot pot in one of our classrooms! It was great to bring the staff together and my assistant cooked up such a yummy broth!!!
メープルベアで開いた鍋の忘年会 ！海老うまかった！

Veg, shrimp, chicken, tofu, beef and oysters! Don't forget the yummy MSG!

  Chicken foot- abundant with wrinkle-preventing collagen and elastane!

From this Friday Toshi and I will head to Osaka over the Lunar New Year holiday period until the 16th, including a brief trip to the Island of Saipan over Valentine's. This will be my first time to America.. though as it's not the mainland, not sure whether to count it or not! I'm sure you can guess I'm very excited!!
金曜日から吉田家によろしくおねがいします！

Moon Festival Weekend

The last two weeks have gone quite quickly! We were very busy preparing and celebrating the Moon Festival (known as Tsukimi in Japan) which was celebrated on Sept 30th. We made moon cakes (made from squished rice), prepared elaborate fruit plates and enjoyed a lion dance performance.

Here are some pictures!

 ムーンフェスティバル（月見＆子供の日）が忙しくてこの２週間はすぐたちました！ムーンケーキ作ったり、フルーツアレンジもやったり、みんな楽しくお祝いができました！

On Sunday, Toshi and I had yummy sweets for lunch and impulse-bought some in-line skates to go skating in the park near my house..
日曜日おいしいランチ終わったらインラインスケートを衝動買いして近くの公園に行きました。

Toshi, as always, was the pro, and I was laughed at by some kids. Oh well. Didn't appreciate my picture being taken by people either, but I guess a white person skating terribly does stand out.

インラインスケートが初めてなので、あんまり上手にできなくて子供に笑われてしまいました　（＊＊；）

 My school participated in the worldwide 'Read for the Record' where millions of children read the same book on the same day to promote reading. The book was displayed on-screen in powerpoint form and I read to 20-or-so children.

学校で世界中の子供の読書イベントに参加しました。たくさんの子供たちの前で、本の朗読をしました。最近トシくんがトシのお母さんが同じように子供たちに朗読をしている写真をみせてくれたから、トシのお母さんと同じ気持ちがしました。