International Women's Day

    

Location: Hoi An, Vietnam

We've learned a lot of things while we've been here in Vietnam.  But one of the best things we've learned so far is that there's nothing quite like partying with a bunch of tipsy Vietnamese women!

We were invited to another street party a few days ago. This one was in celebration of International Women's Day, honoring the women on our block who work so hard every day. All these women spend their days sweeping, cooking, cleaning, working to make money, raising the kids, and doing everything else they can to improve the lives of their families from dawn to dark. Women who work so hard also, it would seem, like to party hard, too!

The black gate across the street is our house

Literally fanning the fire

 
We arrived early and they sat us down to watch their preparations. Mark helped setting up the tables and putting out stools. Julie helped arrange lettuce on a plate, turned her back, and, when she wasn't looking they rearranged it to their satisfaction. Got an “A” for effort, though. Everyone really seemed to appreciate our efforts to help, and not just sit around being waited on, and they were especially happy that we wanted to be there to share in their celebration.

Another grill in the alley

We were treated to some more really, really good food - and lots of it. They kept refilling our plates – and our glasses! 

The beer delivery truck

We had octopus, spring rolls and sliced sausage, barbecued pork with sesame seeds, and grilled baby squid, among other delicacies. And we had lots of beer.

“Mot (pronounced “moe”), Hai, Ba, YO!” means “one, two, three, YO”. We think “yo” must mean “drain your glass”. We didn't understand this at first. We just thought it meant “cheers”, so we'd toast and take a sip. Not good enough, apparently. After the first time, the lady doing the toast rattled her now-empty glass against Mark's. He took another sip. She rattled it again. He finally twigged to the fact that we were supposed to empty our glasses and emptied his. She looked on approvingly and then rattled Julie's glass until she drained hers, too. Next time we all did it correctly and no additional rattling was required. 

Empty beer bottles under the table

 half way through the party

Luckily, the people in our neighborhood drink warm beer over ice in small glasses. So we came up with the brilliant idea that, if our glasses were full of ice, there wasn't a lot of room for beer. This way, you don't have to drink so much beer for each toast, and you can impress everyone with your ability to hold your beer. It's just as well that we figured this out early, as, over the course of the evening many ladies made the trip to our table for a glass-draining toast, several of them more than once!

Like our last street party, there was a lot of Karaoke. Unlike the last one, however, these women were celebrating being women. We wished we could have understood what they were singing. At one point, a lady who had lost most of her right leg (she even had a carved wooden foot complete with toes) was singing and another lady dressed up in a conical hat, scrunched down like a really old woman and hobbled out on stage with a cane. It must have been appropriate to what was being sung at the time, because everyone totally cracked up. Several ladies started banging the stainless steel table top with sticks to beat out a rhythm. It was very funny and we really enjoyed being 
included. 

Julie's new friend ...

... and her husband, Mark's new friend

We are not sure, however, why Julie's brother Tony who is visiting and Mark were invited. There were only 2 or 3 other men there and all the rest, probably about 35, were women. But that didn't seem to phase anyone. By the end of the night there were several cases of empty beer bottles - proof that a good time was had by all.

Great food, great frivolity, great friendship, despite our great language barrier. And, like so many other good parties, this one ended with a conga line!