Entering into a Vietnamese Family

Sunday started out with a much needed sleep in. We were to wake up and pack our things from our hotel room, and by looking at the room, you would think my roommate Sofia and I had been living there for months, so it took a little while to pack everything up.

At noon, we were introduced to our homestay families, a nerve wracking but exciting start to a five week adventure. My homestay mom, Xuan, met me at the hotel, and she is the sweetest woman. She was so excited to meet me, and immediately my nerves substantially subsided. We took a cab to her home (which was a 10 minute cab ride and it costed $.50, mind you). After lugging my bags into their home, I was greeted by my host mom's two sons. The older son, Long, is 22 years old and speaks English very well; probably better than I can. The younger son, who's name I can neither spell nor pronounce (I am working on it), is 13 years old, but he looks like he is older than me. He is a bit shy but very nice and welcoming.

Upon arriving to their house, we sat down for a meal. Lunch consisted of some sort of vegetable, rice, and a mushroom soup. I recognized very little of it, but it was absolutely delicious. As nerve wracking as it sounds, I usually recognize little of the food, but eat it anyways, and almost all of the time, it is amazing.

The rest of the day my host mom gave me time to rest, get used to my room, and do a little bit of homework. It was very relaxing and some of the first time I have been alone in over a week! So it was much needed.

The sun goes down very early here-- around 5:30-6pm, so when we met for dinner at 7pm, it felt like midnight. Tired doesn't even begin to describe how I felt. My host mother made me Vietnamese style pasta, and we talked until about 9pm and then I went to sleep.

The next day I woke up at 7:30 am and ate breakfast made by my host mother. My host brother Long drove me to school at around 8:20 am on his motorbike and it took a while to get through the traffic. But nevertheless we arrived at school to start our Vietnamese lesson.

I don't want to get into the details of the rest of the afternoon-- It is safe to say that my stomach did not agree with whatever my host mom made the night before! A few hours later, I prevailed, and was able to eat the delicious pork and rice my host mother made that night!

My second day living with my host family ended with a visit from my friend Sofia, and her host family, who happens to be siblings with my host mother! It was a nice surprise and a great end to a not-so-great day.