Palm lines

I don't know anything about reading palms. But other people can read us on the basis of our palm lines such as our life, our love, our study, etc. I did not know that not many people have the same palm lines until recently. But here there are twins. :-) Anh and em hands.

One day we realized that we have more or less the same palm lines (or we claim to have). It is a minor discovery but we feel so happy with that. We believe there must be a connection between us, between those who have something in common. We think we should take photos. After some delays we made it with Nokia N8 some days ago. Not intentionally but the way we put our hands next to each other was so sweet.

In life, we may touch so many other hands. However, there are some hands we will remember. Hope my hands will not be easy to forget.

Men's jobs

In a film I watched on TV long time ago somebody said that war was men's job. In reality, there are so many other things which are considered to be men's jobs. And in a household women expect their husband/partner to do some typically manly jobs namely 'winning bread', teaching children not only academic subjects but also teaching boys how to be real men like his father :-), buying/fixing/repairing furniture and electrical appliances, painting the wall, 'xe om' for wife (only), buying presents/flowers for wife (only) on special occasions, carrying heavy things, etc...

And recently I myself realized that it is possible for me, a little woman, to do one or two men's jobs, not as well as men of course, but OK. Sounds as if I am too proud of myself. NO. ;-) I just want to show off some jobs I did not use to do but I do now.

First of all, my 'mini babylon garden'. I planned to create it when I got some orchids. After Tet, I bought some plants including a rose and a lime tree and put them in four empty pots and filled them with some soil I dug from a park near my building. Then a garden has appeared on the tiny balcony. Good news: no plants unhappy so far.

Second, aquarium. We have an aquarium, but a month before Tet I think the only fish left us. I let the aquarium empty for a while. Suddenly, I decided to raise some fish. 5 couples of fish. Then a wallpaper to make the aquarium nice. From the front, you can not see the electricity system in the back. I moved one more step: buy some plastic plants. Anh said fish needed some plants to hide and create their territories. As a result, really nice colourful fish swimming up and down, left and right in a lively place. Eye catching.

Next, lighting in the flat. Honestly, I don't know much about electricity and I am afraid of electricity shock. But I changed some lights. I brought a dead light to life again and filled two empty holders full. :-)

One more thing: mirror in the bathroom. There was no mirror for quite a long time. Finally I did something. We bought two sets (400k dongs in total) but they did not fit (even shop assistants told us the set was similar to the old one). We changed our approach: having a mirror made. The new one cost us 230k dongs. It looks fine now. The life lesson is so expensive for me.

For men, these jobs are trivial, nothing. But for me, really a hard attempt. Simply, I think I should not leave things in the flat useless and I should make them alive. Good living environment has positive influence on you. So I gave it a try. Congratulations to me!!!

BUT, from the bottom of my heart, I wish I will not have to do these things in the future. I am not lazy or I do not mind doing it. It will be better if ...

Happy Valentine's Day

It is the only day of the year for lovers, the day when a lot of people (young) wish to show their love for their other half (official or non-official) and wish to say that how much the other half means to them. What a beautiful day!

I am sure that tomorrow my colleagues will ask each other what present they get from husbands/lovers. Some will be happy (probably their husbands/lovers are romantic enough) and some don't (probably their husband/lovers are silly guys). And me? "Roses and bread". :-)

I remember last Valentine's Day, I saw a film Nights in Rodanthe on HBO. This film took me a lot of tears. And today I saw Little Black Book and it also made me cry. Am I too emotional? Sure. But honestly, the films mention high and low tones of love/feeling and they are only felt deeply by those who have experienced them ... I cry for the ladies in the films and also for myself (being a complicated woman).

Anyhow, Happy Valentine's Day to all couples I know and I don't know.

36

Today I am 36 years old. I got some wishes from friends and had a small dinner party. I also received a present from sisters-in-law: cream and cleaning foam (typical presents for women). I officially live my second half of my life. :-) And I make a decision that I should live it fully and with all my passion. I will try my best to what I want to do so that I won't have to regret later. People wish me happiness and beauty and good health. And I wish myself a strong will and a strong heart (fewer teardrops) to handle my difficulties in my life. Step by step, little gaps in my life will be filled up. A simple life but full of tiny happy things is what I am also heading for. Let's wait and see.

Boring Tet? Why?

Two weeks has passed since I started Tet holiday (Sat 22 Jan). One more week to go I will go to work. It is too long for me. I am just at home.

When I was young, I looked forward to Tet. It was when we could eat so many things which we couldn't on other days, when we could have new clothes, when we could receive lucky money and when we felt happy to know that we grew up one more year to be an adult. But now I am in my late-thirties, Tet is not too welcomed like before.

Before Tet, I went shopping for some things to store to eat during Tet, for flowers to decorate home, and I contribute some money to my two mums as a good habit in Vietnam that married children give money to parents before Tet. I did not forget to buy some new clothing items for son. And one more thing, exchanged for new money to give lucky money and to go to pagodas. Honestly, the first two things are as usual. When living standards are good, good food and flowers become everyday things not only for Tet. I live with my son and we eat not much so I don't have to buy much food. But prices are high, Tet cost me quite a lot of money. Two months' salary or so :-). However, no sao. We have only one Tet throughout the year (nice words to console ourselves). What I like is the busy atmosphere of preparing Tet.

During Tet, what have I been doing these days? Not much. I have visited my family in law and my mum and I have been to pagodas. I have cooked and eaten meals with more dishes than ordinary days. I won't be able to visit my sisters and brothers' own families. We live in different parts of the city and they are busy with their Tet things. So we gathered at my mum's house on New Year's Day. Not enough family members. My two sisters were absent. I did not visit my dearest uncle because I met him some days before Tet. I have so many uncles and aunts and cousins living in the same village as my mum's but I am so different from them. We do not have much close relationships. So no need to visit them. What about my colleagues-friends? Most of them go to their hometown. They spend the holiday not in Hanoi. And one reason we hardly ever go to each other's houses is we live with family - in - law. We do not want to receive our acquaintances at home mainly because we feel not home. And as Vietnamese women/wives, we have to follow family rules: cooking and eating and cleaning and caring children. How about going out? Nowhere to go except pagodas, cinemas and some cafes and ice cream shops. I asked my son where he wanted to go. Instead of answering he asked me where I wanted to take him to. I had no ideas. So stayed home. Why not travelling? I intended to travel. Spending Tet somewhere else. But I was not determined enough. Now regret. Too late to go. My son is back to school in two days. Next Tet will be different.

I spend most of the time sleeping, cooking, eating, watching films and surfing the net. I look forward to the end of Tet...

Welcome Year of Cat

Today is the second day of the year of cat. I post this painting by Bob to welcome Tet, like last year I had a tiger mum and baby :-).

I spent the day visiting three pagodas in Hanoi. Last year I went with my mum but this year I took my son. The weather was so wonderful: sunny and warm. The streets were not very crowded, easy for me to travel up to West Lake.

It is a tradition that Vietnamese people visit pagodas and temples at the beginning of the new lunar year to pray for a good year for their families. So if you travel past pagodas and temples in Hanoi you will see so many people here: old and young, men and women, and even some foreigners. I did not buy any flowers or something to pray. I went for simple: just put new money notes on the altars and pressed two hands in front of the breast and bowed and prayed. First, we went to the pagoda near Linh Dam. After that we headed for Quan Su Pagoda downtown. And we continued to West Lake to visit Tran Quoc pagoda on the lake. We ended our trip by taking a motorbike tour round Hoan Kiem Lake and stopped at Fanny ice cream shop. Bob did not want to walk so I missed a good exercise :-(. Here are some photos we took on the pagoda trip.

Tulips happy again

In the last two days I have been feeling a bit unhappy about my pot of tulips. As I said in the previous entry, it cost a lot of money, 40k dongs/tulip, but a day after I brought them home, some of them not not fresh any more. I picked three dead ones off and 4 hanging. But now after careful attendance, they are fresh and up gain. (Perhaps I made a big mistake when I thought 3 tulips died). I bought a spray bottle to water orchids and tulips. I hope they will last for another three or four days. Their leaves are not much green.

Today Hanoi is warmer, 17 degrees at the moment I am writing my blog. My lilies blossom, making the living room sweet smelling. By the way, I would like to show my "babylon garden" and lilies in my beautiful living room. :-) :-) :-) I think I should have some more plants and flowers on the balcony after Tet.