Jacaranda

A friend of mine had a business trip to Nepal and stayed in a hotel in the capital. The hotel looks like a resort with a lot of beautiful trees and plants. I saw its website and found out such beautiful blossoming trees with purple flowers (I called vilolet). I asked my friend to take a photo of the trees for me and thanks to the internet I got the picture quickly stored in my laptop. But at first I did not know the name of the tree and unexpectedly my friend told me it was called jacaranda. (Unexpectedly because when we are in a foreign country, difficult for us to know the name of unfamiliar trees and flowers). And thanks again the internet, it took me a few seconds to see so many pictures of jacaranda flowers and now I know that this tree is popular in South America (especially Brazil), Central America, Mexico and the Carribean and you can see it in Australia, India and Buhtan as well and in Vietnam they grow jacaranda in Da Lat (they call it phuong tim). In many parts of the world, such as Mexico, Los Angeles, Lisbon, and Zimbabwe the blooming of this tree is welcomed as a sign of spring. But it Vietnam as a sign of summer.

I visited en.Wikipedia and wanted to cite the following information:

Pretoria in South Africa is popularly known as The Jacaranda City due to the enormous number of Jacaranda trees planted as street trees and in parks and gardens. In flowering time the city appears blue/purple in colour when seen from the nearby hills because of all the Jacaranda trees. The time of year the Jacarandas bloom in Pretoria coincides with the year-end exams at the University of Pretoria and legend has it that if a flower from the Jacaranda tree drops on your head, you will pass all your exams. Other towns and cities in South Africa have Jacaranda trees, but none produce such a show as that of Pretoria.
The city of Ipswich, Australia has a local reputation of having a significant population of Jacaranda trees. The University of Queensland in the city's inner west has a very high concentration of the tree, and due to the impressive display of purple flowers in mid-Spring, which wind up littering vast sections of the suburbs, local folklore claims that "one won't start studying for exams until the jacarandas have moulted". At Sydney University there exists a similar expression "by the time the jacaranda in the main quadrangle flowers, it's too late to start studying for exams".
This has led to the slang name "exam tree" or "purple panic" being attached to the plant. At the University of Queensland students even maintain a joke superstition that if a Jacaranda bloom falls on their head during exam time, they will fail an exam. The bad luck can be broken by catching another bloom before it hits the ground.

Interesting, isn't it? I also found in the internet a sad poem in Vietnamese about young lovers. How romantic to walk under purple jacanda trees with our beloved. I am not a poet but still feel the beauty of jacaranda, something fragile, dreaming, sad, lonely ...

Bob's reading habit

Like other children my son is extremely interested in reading comics and children's books. I bought for him so many. His favorite books are collections of Doremon and Conan Detective.
He reads everywhere he can: on the floor, in bed, on sofa, and even in the toilet when he poos. :-) So funny. Believe or not, whenever he holds a book and runs in the flat I know for sure that he wants to poo. He reads whenever he can: after getting home from school, after doing homework, before going to bed etc.

Recently I have bought for him 7 volumes of Harry Potter. Hot books. Honestly, I have no time to read them and I am a bit discouraged because they are so thick. I heard they are interesting and suit my son's age. That is why I bought them for him. I am afraid that when he grows up a bit more, they do not appeal to him any more. At first, I thought he was not fond of them. He had never been interested in long stories without pictures. I was wrong. He spent time reading Harry and so far 5 volumes covered.
I promise to buy Greek ancient stories as soon as he finishes Harry Potter.

Family gathering

Gathering at our mum's place seems to be our family's culture. We regard it as a place to celebrate special family events. There is often a reunion of 4 generations. I think my mum is the happiest person whenever we arrive.

On Friday we gathered again to celebrate the Victory Day and Labour Day and to see my brother-in-law living in Saigon off. He was in the North for nearly a week. We had dinner together. My second sister was responsible for preparing ingredients. My sisters and sisters-in-law and I cooked. Happy time. It was also when we shared our stories. I was informed of my first sister-in-law's breast minor operation. I also experienced it about 13 years ago, 1997, and my second brother just got a certification of a short training course on Party. He is a potential Party member, following my father's step.

This photo was taken when we went downstairs to the motorbike. I was carrying some used clothes to give my sisters-in-law, who are more or less the same age and same size as mine.

30 April and 1 May

This year Vietnamese people have 4 days off on the occasion of The Victory Day and Labour Day. So many people go on holiday and go to their hometown. The road to my place, which is in the south of Hanoi, one of the main gate to Hanoi, is too crowded. Slow traffic. Polluted air. We do not know when the situation will be improved. (Honestly in Hanoi there are few places you can breathe fresh air.)
I spend this holiday in Hanoi. Maybe I sleep longer than usual and meet my family members again tomorrow. The pinic with the department is cancelled because not many people are interested. They are busy with their own holidays or family matter.

Public Holidays

In April and May we have 2 public holidays: from 23rd to 25th April and from 30th April to 2nd May. Some people we travel and some people work and some people stay home like me. :-) Actually I wanted to travel on these holidays but it is better for me to go on summer holiday (longer time). So how do I spend these short public holidays?
It must be boring if you just stay in. My first holiday started with a lunch in La Cantine with my friend yesterday. A nice restaurant: airconditioned, beautiful decor, French-style, good location, good service. We had a set menu: expensive. But my philosophy is that if it is too expensive, we go once. We also need to gain more experience in life. Right?
And today, my three colleagues and I decided to have lunch together in Seoul Garden Restaurant in Tran Hung Dao Street. We intended to eat here long time ago but delayed until this noon. I arrived there a bit later than my colleagues (even I searched the restaurant for them and arrange to meet each other at 11 am), because it took me a bit longer time to wash my hair (long and thick hair needs more time to wash and dry).
I must say that the food was delicious but the price was not competitive at all. It is a kind of a buffet restaurant and it serves both hot pot and various grilled dishes. And it has got such wonderful desserts: sweet soups. The restaurant is decorated in Korean style and the staff are friendly and useful.
We stayed there quite a long time with our three sons, trying all kinds of food displayed on tables. As a result, after the meal we were extremely full. And we all said that we were satisfied with the time here.
My son ate not very much but to the end of the meal he played with the food left and stuff on the table, as usual. He was charged as an adult. Poor me.:-)
My second holiday will include a pinic to the countryside with my department on Friday. I also intend to take my mum to a restaurant on the West Lake to enjoy shrimp cakes. I tried them but honestly they are too greasy for me. My mum hasn't. She once expressed her wish to try Ho Tay shrimp cakes.

A stork by Bob

This may be the last picture Bob's art teacher let him use crayons. In the three recent lessons my son has had to use paints. And it is not the first time we can see the painting of a stork but I still feel something new and ...emotional. It reminds me of Vietnamese folk stories/poems/lulabies. The stork is associated with peasants' life in the rural areas and is compared with a Vietnamese woman: working hard to support her children and take care of her family.
When I saw this painting I think about my mum who worked hard all her life (like other women at her age) to raise my sisters and brothers and me when we were poor and when the country was still poor. Now we grow up but we can not do much for my mum and she is old. There is only one stork in the picture, which makes me feel something lonely... I wanted my son to draw more storks but impossible because the picture was painted. And he said the teacher put only one stork for them to draw. I wish the teacher had put storks in a couple (at least)...

My new desk and lamp

After I bought a new bookcase, I intended to buy a new desk one month after that. But the bookcase was so nice, which sped up the decision to buy a desk accompanying with it. And five days later I got a L-shaped desk. Especially, my friend just talked about LED lights some days ago then yesterday I found and bought 2 LED lamps. What a coincidence! So now, I have got a nice place to work at home. Honestly, it is so cool. As a teacher, I spend so much time doing preparation for lessons while not at university. A good place to work may make me work more efficiently and I hope it will be a good example for my son.

One more thing I want to share here: the position of the desk. Traditionally, Vietnamese people (including me) :-) studying at home sit in the corner and face the wall. I used to do so. But this time I sit facing out. :-) It is said that this makes you feel more comfortable and be able to overview the whole room, and in my case I can see my beautiful bookcase.:-)