Bai Bien Cua Toi (IV).... kite resurrection, the lazy but fulfilled beach life, and more socializing

Getting up at 4:00 is probably excessively early ....

But missing a dawn here seems worse than a mortal sin ;-)

Particularly beautiful is watching the run-off from the waves slowly spread over the shallow sand:

coming closer....

.... and closer ....

Did you like that one ?   Here is another one ....

OK, enough of that.... there are already too many dawn pictures here ;-)

I see Hop jogging again... this time all dressed in Red & Pink.... Might the Year of the Pig be His Year?

a short while later...  the sun rises above the horizon:

I've completed all my morning tasks: 5 Vietnamese language lessons, sink laundry, beach clean-up.
So at 7:00 I ride to the market (toi di cho).

WTF is going on here? LOL.  

I park on the main road far away .... and already see familiar faces.... Ani's little sister ... I guess Asians do NOT look all the same, LOL.

 I've NEVER EVER seen the market THIS BUSY !  

Flowers EVERYWHERE: TET is near ;-)
By the time I'm perusing the shallow parts of the market (I walk with my knees bent deeply) on the look-out for a kite, I'm already used to the eyes-wide-open CURIOUS stares I'm getting from all directions.  Then a woman pokes me in the stomach.   It is Muoi !  She is still pregnant and visibly downcast.... not quite her usual self.... and I instantly know what my wish for the New Year is:  That everything will be OK for her and her new baby!

Back at home: More language confusion.  I speak to Ti/n:   Ban dung dau an.   My computer and consequently vast parts of Vietnam pronounce that d as a 'Z' or 'Ds" sound but in Ti/n's local accent it is "SH".  NO wonder I don't understand people when they speak..... weeks later I will find out that my computer speaks Hanoi-style Vietnamese ....

Time to use plumber's pliers on an aluminum coat hanger to fashion two STRAIGHT pieces.... to replace the broken balsa wood rods of Kite #1.   

And it WORKS !

T & the little french kid follow the kite-carrying German to the beach as if I were The Pied Piper of Hamelin...... and after some quasi-parental nudging and manipulating from me, T finally understands how to SHARE.

11:00
another kite-flying session with T.

Chau and Tu\ng show up..... Chau's Vietnamese is so NON-standard, that Google Translate does not even understand him......so I don't have to feel bad that I don't understand a word he says.   With the help of a demi-bouteile, his son, and another Vietnamese as translators from VIETNAMESE TO VIETNAMESE/ENGLISH I finally figure out what he wants: ... I am invited for lobster breakfast (LOL!) tomorrow and he want's to borrow HIS scooter for an hour.   
Of course, he doesn't really wants to borrow the rented scooter.  When he takes it is still splattered with mud from my 10 day journey but when he brings it back it is spotlessly clean ;-)

Ti/n has to sacrifice his day off for the guests because management is NOT willing or able to cook for the guests..... I feel sorry for the kid!
But while he is here .... ;-) .... I make use of the fact that he is an EXCELLENT Vietnamese teacher...... should I hire him away from this hotel?   After all, Vietnamese hotel employees get paid about $200 per month... paying him DOUBLE or TRIPLE as a language teacher would make perfect sense!

My gladiolas are doing well ;-)

16:00

I can feel pecs when I wake up.... hmmm..... must be from all the swimming ..... the beach lifestyle is paying off, LOL.  And I like it!   So I walk down to the OVERCROWDED beach.....

Judging by the midsection: DEFINITELY NOT a Vietnamese person !

all that swimming makes hungry.  Time for dinner in Sweden:

 When I come back home, the extended family has gathered.  TWO WHOLE chickens are to be eaten for dinner and I seem to be invited (It feels so good to feel at home ;-).

How could you trust a roasted chicken WITHOUT head ????   It could be a Squeasel !

The dishes have already been cleared away when T gets another helping of something.  Good thing I ask what it is, because Quang's wife says Banh Tet.  After some confusion with the translator I finally realize, I can do better than Google Translate.  It is TET Cake.  Sticky Rice & Pork wrapped in some special green leaf!.

Banh Tet (not my picture)

I have HEARD and READ about this.  So I instantly tell them "I want to try !".  Good thing too.... because it's delicious ;-)

Back in my room and I keep watching the FABULOUS Netflix series POSE (You gotta love it ;-)

 Now THIS is a series worth watching ;-)

To see beauty both on the outside AND the inside !

21:30
Ti/n sees me smoking and invites me to have a TET dinner tomorrow at 19:00. Cam On Nhieu, Ti/n !  
Being here with the right people just feels GOOD ;-)