Dinner at Andrew's Home in Vietnam

Andrew's host-Mom's amazing dinner

My brother Andrew has been living in Vietnam for roughly four months now. He attends high school at School Year Abroad where he goes to classes with other American students and teachers, while living with a Vietnamese family where he is learning about their culture and how to speak Vietnamese. He lives with a host dad, mom, and sister. The first real night I was in Hanoi, my family and I got to spend the evening at their house. Andrew’s host Mom made dinner for us, and let me tell you, she is an amazing cook! We had a whole assortment of things, ranging from spring rolls to bamboo shoots, and it was all delicious. My brother is so lucky to be living with her, and being able to have such amazing food everyday. His host family is also very nice and generous. They were very good hosts and always made sure we had enough to eat, and that we were happy.

Andrew's three dads - godfather, host and real!

A private dinner concert

  

Andrew’s host father also had a live band to come and perform traditional Vietnamese songs for us. My mom, dad, sister, brother, and I weren’t the only ones that came to dinner. My godfather, Aaron, and his girlfriend were also invited to come (luckily, they just happened to be visiting Hanoi from their home in Qatar at the same time we were). We haven’t all been together in almost ten years, so we were all very happy to see each other again. Andrew’s head of school came to dinner with us too, so it was one big party! I was having so much fun, but a thing you should know is that there is a big time difference from Santa Barbara, California - where I live - and Hanoi, Vietnam. I believe that Hanoi is fifteen hours ahead, so when we were eating dinner around 8pm in Hanoi it was 5am in Santa Barbara, so my sister and I were very tired. Once we got back to our hotel in the city, I was fast asleep before my head hit the pillow, and my stomach was so full I thought that if I had one more thing to eat it would burst! All in all, an amazing night.

Hanoi, Vietnam

busy Hanoi traffic