The large old trees surrounding Ho Hoan Keim Lake are filled
with white flowers and a riot of birds and butterflies. Spring is here and the
grounds are covered with a plethora of color from the well planted flowers and
shrubs. When a gentle wind passes, petals fall like snow from the trees. The ground
has a fine dusting of white - a beautiful contrast to the reds, pinks and
lavenders of the surrounding flower gardens.
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| Bridge to Green Jade Island |
A goal of mine during these travels is to sketch every day
and hopefully have time to do a detailed drawing once a week. Easier said than
done but thus far, I have been able to keep up. it can take up to 3 or 4 hours sitting in one
place to produce the kind of work that I want
Harvey and I both thought an easy morning in the park with
me drawing and he reading would be just the ticket for foot sore and weary
travelers on a cool Sunday morning. Still being early, we found a bench near
the Temple, with a view of Ngoc Son Temple and the arching red bridge
surrounded by “snow trees.” Nothing could be more perfect.
Before I could make my first line in my notebook, I was
approached by a young man named Matthew and his 3 friends. It’s funny. All the
contacts we have made on our travels have approached me first and not Harvey.
Matthew asked if we could become friends. My antenna goes up and I inquire, “what
does that mean?” Matthew goes on to explain that they are all students and he
would like to have an English conversation with me. He is a student of Literature
and wants to become a high school teacher.
He states his job opportunities’ increase if he has, “English.”
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| Sunday Students |
So begins my 2 hour conversations with all 4 of them. Why
not? Thank goodness for all of my attempts to learn a language, as they all
follow the same formula: Greetings, Names, Families, Weather and Studies. I
added “what music do you like?” and “do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend”, which
elicited giggles from both the boys and the girls. Tgoc (female) was a commerce
student, had a boyfriend and liked Taylor Swift. Laura, was studying Human
Resources, did not have boyfriend and liked Maroon 5. Hung (male) was a
computer science student, no girlfriend and couldn’t stop giggling enough to
answer the question about bands.
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| Noc Son Temple Gates |
Meanwhile Harvey has gathered his own posse of students and
one old man, who turned out to be 80 years old, dressed to the 9’s, gold rings
on his fingers and his own radio blaring Vietnamese music. He lived thru the
American War and the French War. Regarding the wars, the students translated
for him, “you must move on from the past and forgive in the future if one is to
survive.”
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| Talking about Power Rangers |
Finally, we ran everyone off, only to be ambushed by another
child. I’m talking 6 or 7. She came up to me (again with the choosing me!) and
began her English lesson, while dad sat across the way.
All together now, we all know the song, “A,B,C,D,E,F,G……..Tell
me what you think of me.” She and I were filmed by all the passing tourists. I
am glad I didn’t get any drawing done
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