My Parents and Emma Do 'Nam

After 5 months of great anticipation, my parents and little sister Emma finally came to Viet Nam.

Let’s be honest: I had been worried about the visit pre-arrival. Viet Nam is a lot to deal with (understatement of the century); I’ve been here over 5 months and everyday I’m surprised/shocked/thrown into orbit by something/someone/some happening.

Would my parents and blonde baby sister be able to handle it?
Would I be able to handle them?
WOULD WE ALL MAKE IT OUT ALIVE?!?!?!?

The weeks leading up to the trip were filled with planning on my part and incessant questions on my father’s part: Would the food make him sick? Would they all need the vaccine for Japanese Ensyphilitus, the rare disease spread by 1 strain of mosquito in the Mekong Delta? Would he be able to get deer jerky through customs? (Now you know where I get my inquisitive nature...)

Rather than rehash the whole 7 day Felix tour de ‘Nam, let me give the highlights.
Then please watch the video slide show I made. (iMovie has changed my life)

Top Ten of the Felixes-Do-Nam, Holiday ’09-10

1. Seeing everyone for the first time at the airport
2. Snuggling with Emma at the Rising Dragon (Emma actually doesn’t like to snuggle, but we did sleep side by side, and I got a snuggie for Christmas...)
3. Taking the night train to Sa Pa, and waking up every hour, on the hour to see my dad pacing, looking out the window, opening a can of beer, groaning in sleepless agony, etc, etc.)
4. Watching my mom master traffic (she was really good).
5. Watching my dad master chopsticks (he was really good).
6. Talking to my mom about my future plans, i.e. my mom calming me down after I freaked about the fact that I will need to find a real J-O-B come summer.
7. Taking a hike through the hills of Sa Pa.
8. Watching my dad single-handedly entertain at least a dozen female Red Dao tribe members for 4 hours.
9. Taking my family to see my school/meet my student and colleagues
10. The impromptu photo shoot that my students insisted on having with my parents and Emma, and Emma saying, “I love Vietnam. I feel famous here.”

Really, all those things aside, the best part of the trip--and I warn you I’m a sap--was just BEING with them....le sigh.

And YES. We all made it out alive!! They did GREAT. Really. And if none of my other plans work out, I know I can have a future as a cruise director.

Now that they’ve gone, I am officially past the halfway point of my 10 months here. I would say that it’s gone super fast, but then I’d be a big fat liar, and who wants to be fat? So let me just say it’s gone, and I’m still going, so there must be something to be said for that.

Now excuse me: I have to go try to catch a rat.