Best wishes and happy holidays.

I had a fabulous Christmas with a Vietnamese family. Fabulous. Not because I got to do the most extraordinary things in two days. Fabulous, because I experienced the ordinary life of an extremely hospitable family over Christmas time. Anh, thank you so, so much!

Anh and I on the first beach we went to in Tân Thiên village.

My friend lives in a village named Tân Thiên. It’s located 180 km away from Ho Chi Minh City and one hour away from Mui Né beach resorts. Fifteen years ago, when Tân Thien didn’t have electricity, Anh would play with her friend by the moonlight.

Outskirts of Tân Thiên

Today, almost evey house has Christmas lights on the front door. There are many nativity scenes as well. The whole village is Catholic so everybody attends the 9.00 pm Christmas service.

Christmas day nativity scene at a crossroads in Tân Thiên.

Tân Thiên is a fishermen’s village surrounded by bright green rice fields, zebus and buffalos grazing the land.

Christmas family dinner.

Tân Thiên is a fishing village.

Children looking up to Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh)

On Christmas Eve, we went to two different beaches, located at both ends of Tân Thiên village. It was wonderful. The water was warm.There were no tourists but me. As I was swimming, the sun slowly drowned into the sea.

Pupils mesmerized by my camera.

Anh and I on the second beach we went to.

Sunset, Tân Thiên beach.

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UN NOEL VIETNAMIEN

J’ai passé un Noël fabuleux dans une famille vietnamienne. Fabuleux, non pas parce que j’ai fait les choses les plus extraordinaires en seulement deux jours. Non, fabuleux parce que j’ai vécu le quotidien d’une famille villageoise extrêmement accueillante le temps de Noël. Anh, je te remercie du fond du coeur.

Anh habite dans un village prénommé Tân Thiên, situé à 180 km de Ho Chi Minh Ville et à une heure de bus de la station balnéaire de Mui Né. Il y a quinze ans, quand le village n’avait pas l’électricité, Anh et ses amis jouaient à la lumière du clair de lune. Aujourd’hui, presque chaque pas de porte est décoré de lumières de Noël. De nombreuses scènes de la crèche parsèment le village égalemment. Il faut dire que tout le village est catholique et se donne rendez-vous à la messe de Noël de 21heures.

Tân Thiên est un village de pêcheurs entouré de rizières d’un vert si vif qu’il en est presque flamboyant, ainsi que de zébus et de buffles qui paissent paisiblement dans la campagne.

La veille de Noël nous sommes allées aux deux plages situées aux extrémités du village. C’était magnifique. La mer était tiède. Aucun touriste en vue. Alors que je m’enfonçais dans les flots, le soleil se noyait doucement dans la mer.

If you wonder whether the Vietnamese celebrate Christmas, the answer is: most Vietnamese do not. If you wonder whether I feel like it’s Christmas, the answer is: yes, most definitely!

I had never heard ”Jingle bells” or ”I wish you a merry Christmas” so many times before Christmas until now. Vietnam is putting on its Christmas garments for tourists.

Christmas decorations everywhere downtown.

It’s a little strange to be in a tropical country for Christmas. To me, Christmas means cold weather, snow showers, bare trees and open fire. The merry celebrations warm up bodies and souls. But here in Ho Chi Minh City, there’s no need to warm up anything. In fact, you’d rather cool off!

It is at least 30 Celsius degrees during the day. There is barely any wind, so air-conditioning and fans run at top speed. Tropical fruits such as bananas, mangos, pineapples, watermelons, longans and durians are plenty. Vegetation is luxuriant, cool-if not frozen- drinking water almost a necessity.

Tropical plants I pass everyday on my way to work.

Despite all this I’m perfectly aware that it’s Christmas, mostly because of work. Our theme for this month is Christmas. Thus, what do I do at work? I paint Christmas trees, I color Santa Claus and his reindeers, and I make Christmas tree ornaments! It takes some imagination to come up with a different idea everyday, but I am actually fulfilling a creative side of me that was deeply buried over the past 10 years!

What else do I do? I eat birthday cake leftovers. I make children blow their noses (a lot!). I change diapers. I play the cop. I am the cop. I sing songs. I teach songs. I exercise. I make children taste everything that’s on their plate- or almost everything. I stay firm during tantrums. I run after the ones, give cuddles to the others-but not too many. In short, I’m learning how to be a parent.

I might not get paid very much, but some day, those skills might be very useful!

Making Christmas decorations on the street.

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UN NOEL EXOTIQUE

Si vous vous demandez si les Vietnamiens fêtent Noël, la réponse est: non, pour la plupart.
Si vous vous demandez si je réalise que c’est bientôt Noël, le réponse est: oui, oh que oui!

Je n’avais jamais autant entendu ”Jingle bells” et ”I wish you a Merry Christmas” qu’à présent. Le Viêtnam revêt ses atours de Noël, pour les touristes.

C’est assez étrange de passer Noël sous les tropiques. Pour moi, Noël rime avec temps froid, averses de neige, arbres dénudés et feux de cheminée. Les heureuses célébrations réchauffent les esprits comme les coeurs. Mais ici à Ho Chi Minh Ville, il n’y a pas grand chose à réchauffer. En fait, on cherche surtout à se rafraîchir!

Il y a au moins 30 degrés le jour et quasiment pas de vent. C’est pourquoi climatisation et ventilateurs tournent à plein régime. Les fruits tropicaux tels petites bananes, mangues, ananas, pastèques, longanes et durians ne manquent pas. La végétation est luxuriante, et l’eau fraîche-si ce n’est glacée- presque une nécessité.

Malgré tout cela, j’ai parfaitement conscience que c’est Noël, et ce en grand partie à cause de mon travail. Car au jardin d’enfants où je travaille, notre thème du mois est bien entendu Noël. Ainsi donc, que fais-je au travail? Eh bien je peins des sapins enguirlandés, je colorie le père noël et ses rennes, et je fabrique des décorations. Il faut avoir de l’imagination pour avoir une nouvelle idée chaque jour, mais en fin de compte, je satisfais mon côté créatif enfoui bien profondément ces dix dernières années!

Qu’y fais-je d’autre? Je déguste les restes de gâteaux d’anniversaire. Je mouche les nez. Je change les couches. Je joue à la police. Je fais la police. Je chante, j’apprend aux enfants des chansons. Je fais de l’exercice. J’impose aux enfants de goûter à tout ce qu’ils ont dans leur assiette. Je ne cède pas aux caprices. Je cours après les uns, donne des câlins aux autres-mais pas trop. En résumé, j’apprend à être parent.

Je ne gagne peut-être pas tant que ça, mais un jour mon apprentissage ici pourrait bien s’avérer utile!

Christmas when travelling is entirely different, and really depends on where you are when it arrives. I’ve been abroad for it before and to tell you the truth, I actually  kind of like being away. Many of the countries I’ve been to don’t celebrate it at all (Muslim, Hindu, etc.) so you get to skip all the commercials, crappy music and purchasing pressure. As long as you’re with people you care about, you can make your own small, private, tropical Christmas, get drunk and then move on without the painful lead-up and financial hangover.

So I was excited to spend another Christmas away. Vietnam is predominantly Buddhist so I figured we’d see some Christmas related stuff and maybe the guesthouse would put up a Charlie Brown tree in an effort to appease the foreigners. Oh, how I was wrong.

Starting December 1st, we began to hear Christmas carols everywhere. I sit in a coffee shop listening to Jingle Bell Rock or get a manicure to Silent Night. And although the Vietnamese don’t celebrate the holiday to honour the birth of Christ, they do celebrate it just for the hell of it and put up decorations and give gifts to each other. There are decorations EVERYWHERE. It’s strange to see giant snow globes with snowmen inside with the words “Let It Snow” on the front and think that the average Vietnamese has never even seen snow. They get points for enthusiasm, that’s for sure. They even set up Christmas villages.  It appears that I will not be avoiding Christmas this year.

Do they even know what this is supposed to be?

Santa makes a pit stop in Vietnam, too.

Apparently there are giraffes at the North Pole.