The First Days

I woke to the whirling of two fans. Both swivel and turn and blanket me with a warm breeze that keeps the mosquitos at bay. I lay on a thin matress on the rickety second floor of a small house in the outskirts of Ho Chih Minh City. Having concluded an elaborate lunch in honor of the day of Uwey's grandfather's death 26 years ago, I took my beer buzz next door to rest.

I had just been introduced to dozens of aunts, uncles and cousins and had felt my way through the ceremony. I have been eating and drinking whatever has been put in front of me to the absolute delight of the family but had felt sick this morning and had thrown up out the window of the small tour bus and onto the impossibly crowded streets.  I sat at the table smiling broadly as people talked about me, Uwey translating what she could.  "He's bragging about how you like fish sauce." she explained. This was not the first time I had heard this. My willingness to try any food had endeared me to the family and there I sat, hoping that the deep-fried shapes in front of me were not chicken feet.  The truth is that I had enjoyed all of the food and enjoyed people's reactions even more.
This has been a whirlwind family adventure so far and one that has taken me from a fairly well-off home in downtown Saigon to a small village over an hour away and finally to those outskirts. Each place has been very different and each has had it's charms.
We were greeted at the airport by Uwey's aunt and uncle from Saigon. They own a small tourism business and showed up with a small tour van for our transport which we have been fortunate enough to have access to every day that we have been in the country. After a delicious meal, we were taken to a hotel where we promptly fell asleep. The next morning a driver came for us to take us back to the airport to retrieve Uwey's parents. With barely a moment to rest we headed out to the village where Uwey's mother was born and raised.

I wasn't sure what to expect and have to admit that the idea of a village was difficult to fathom after seeing the beehive of the city. We arrived and made our introductions with special care taken for Uwey's grandmother who could not seem to make any sense of me. Her memory has started to fail and meeting a new grandson appeared difficult. She is a tiny woman at about four and a half feet but you can tell that her importance to those in the village is much larger.
We ate dinner on the floor as our wedding DVD made its first appearance of the trip. At this we stepped outside to take in the life on the street. With hot food being sold by cousins on the sidewalk in front of the house, there was plenty of people watching. I found it amazingly easy to feel at ease with my surroundings and we talked and drank beer before a few younger cousins offered to take us to a club. We accepted and hopped in a cab for what turned out to be a three minute ride. We got out in front of a building that looked like it had been bombed. The front was rubble and we had to step over bent rebar and walk up planks of wood to reach the door. Once inside it was a cheesy posh club, far too loud and dark. We sat with the cousins, unable to hear each other over the music, and watched a few dancers that we soon realized were trannys. We left shortly after.
 I woke up in the middle of the night and walked the length of the house to the bathroom and passed three cousins huddled on the floor where we had eaten dinner. They had given up their bed.

The next day we piled back in the van and headed towards Saigon. Uwey's other grandmother lives on the outskirts of the city and we were on our way to a death anniversary ceremony. This involved a trip to the cemetary with gifts and decorations for the tomb. After a fairly short dedication we were back to the house.
The streets were dirty and poorly maintained. I imagine I was one of few foreigners that come around the area. We entered the house through an alley off of the road and once again said our hellos. We sat to eat and drink and I smiled my smile, looking confused when appropriate. After lunch we took a short walk and returned to the house where we went in search of a place to rest.