We started driving away from the office and drove through the streets of Hanoi for a while, eventually picking up another person. (Maybe he was also associated with ISMS? I'm not entirely sure.) We also picked up bread, apparently to be a snack for the road, and a large funeral flower arrangement. We continued to drive, out of city limits, and I started to get really confused. No one explained to me where we were going or how long it would take, and everyone was speaking Vietnamese around me. Soon, the man in the front seat was coughing rather violently, and the girl next to me was getting carsick, and in my baffled state I sent a message to one of my friends here that read "I think I've been kidnapped by my coworkers on the pretense of honoring someone's dead father. The guy in the front seat is hacking up a lung, the girl next to me is puking, we've been driving for more than an hour and I have no idea where I am and everyone's speaking Vietnamese."
Eventually we arrived at the final destination, after winding through narrow alleyways in a township outside of Hanoi. We spilled out of the van, my coworkers set up the flower thing, and then we walked to where the funeral was being held. We walked into a courtyard where the family members of the deceased were wearing white headbands, and we were ushered to seats where we were served green tea. But we did not sit for long, after a few minutes, my English-speaking coworker told me to stand up, and with the rest of the people from work, we presented the flowers to the family altar, in front of everyone else present. After the flowers were placed, the older gentleman that we picked up later spoke some words in Viet and this was followed several times by ritual prayer movements that I awkwardly tried to follow along. It happened three or four times, then we stepped back and sat down again, where we were served more tea. However, we again only sat for a couple of minutes, and then we stood up and left. I'm still very confused about what happened, and it was incredibly uncomfortable and awkward. I have not felt more out of place during my time in Vietnam.
The rest of the week passed without incident, and I spent the weekend in the city again with my friends. We did very little because we are lazy and never manage to coordinate ourselves. We tried to go to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum but we arrived too late, right as they were shutting the gate, which was actually okay with me, after I saw the line we would have to stand in. So, alas, I saw no dead bodies.
On Monday I had another adventure with a coworker, and again, I was told about it at lunch! This time, a coworker who spoke about 20 words of English decided she wanted to buy me a going away present. She did not know what to buy for me, however, so I went with her. We left the office at 3pm, and I thought we would make it a quick trip and then come back before normal leaving time, which is about 5:30. However, we started by going to a government building, where she was renewing some document for one of the directors at ISMS. After that, she took me around the old quarter for a while and kept pointing at various things that really would not work… such as a giant woven basket, a large vietnamese conical hat (neither of which I could reasonably fit in my bag) or a porcelain piggy bank that I managed to explain I was concerned would break (by using my dictionary… thanks again, Alex!).
Finally, somewhat frustrated, I think, she suggested we get a drink. So I finally got to drink coconut milk out of a coconut. We decided while having our drinks that we would go find a shirt for me, and I managed to teach her English! It's rare to find someone where I know Vietnamese for a word they don't know in English. So we went to a nearby department store and walked around it in circles before I finally accepted that I would have to get something with English writing on it, and after trying on a XXL (Vietnamese people are tiny!) I got a shirt that fit. But that wasn't enough! She wanted to find pants to go with it (but none were big enough) and then tried for another shirt, but we ran out of time before we found something else. Finally at about 6:30pm we returned to the office, where only my bike remained, and before I left she gave me the two additional coconuts she had picked up when we stopped for drinks. So I carted them around for two days before drinking half of one and giving away the other.
That night, I stayed at Ashley's with Ric and another of Ashley's friends, a girl named Marie from Quebec and we had a sleepover, complete with food, silliness, and terrible movies. I woke up the following morning to an amazing breakfast made by Ashley and the others… I would have been happy to help, but I was simply not conscious until the food was ready. I owe Ashley big time for all of the amazing food she provided at various times. Hopefully I have an opportunity to return the favor after we both return to North America.
On Wednesday evening, Ric and I departed from Hanoi for Hue! The bus ride was rather long and miserable, but we were some of the first people on the bus, so we managed to not only find storage for our bags (or I did at least), but also to get the best beds, which were longer than most. I felt a little guilty taking the long seats away from those taller than me, but my comfort was more important to me.
Today we arrived in Hue and wandered around, but I will describe that more in the next post, when I describe the rest of Hue as well!
