2nd September is Vietnam's National Day Holiday as well as the anniversary of Hồ Chí Minh's death. Although a lot of the Nam Phap students went home for the weekend, a bunch of then got together for a party - this time at a restaurant at Đồ Sơn. Khánh picked me up late, so they had already started by the time we arrived...
Trung, Melissa and John
They are such delightful company - Mười and some of the girls - Nhung, Thoa, Dương and ...
Xuân was playing a card game with some others where if you lost a hand they smeared charcoal on your face....
After lunch they brought out some mats for us all to lie on the floor for a nap, but John and Melissa and I said we'd head down to the beach and meet them there later. These students are such gracious hosts they put the mats away, went without their usual kip and came with us. Of course, it was very hot and the beach is not the best place to be in the middle of the day, so we found a patch of shade and played poison ball... lots of laughter...
Then some watermelon and a drink and a few songs
and it was finally cool enough to venture down to the beach. But it certainly doesn't look like the beaches back home... they need to get a "Clean up Vietnam Day" going here.
I didn't go swimming, but I got wet enough to cool off. We were about to play a ball game when Khánh got a call from Tinh to say he was in Hải Phòng passing through on his way back to Quán Nam and would only be in town for a short while so we high-tailed it back into town and met him at the Chè Huế place. He and Khánh are working at the same huge construction site, but for different companies, so they don't see one another very often. It was lovely to catch up with him again.
He decided to catch a later bus and by then Xuân's party had finished, so he joined us for Bún Chả. After that we went to Meagan's so Tinh could say goodbye to Will, Khánh went to play soccer with his mates, then Xuân gave Tinh a ride to the bus station and I walked home, ready to crash after such a late night and full on day... that was the plan till Xuân called and asked me if I'd like to go with him to karaoke with his English Club friends. You know what they say...'Never pass up an opportunity!'... even after 3 hours' sleep the night before???
Xuân and Tuấn
This is Thái
It was fun... only a few there and they could really sing well, so it was very enjoyable and fortunately not a late night !!
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