Vietnamese celebrations

Happy women's day !! :)

I hope you all have a very blessed, beautiful day.


Time after the holidays has gone quickly balancing between work and different celebrations. I partook in my friend's wedding, staff retreat in Hanoi, recently celebrated two birthdays and today, women's day. In my opinion, Vietnamese people take their celebrations seriously, and I love how giving flowers in so common in this country.

The wedding was fun, though, it reminded me of a TV show. It was in a huge hall, filled with lights and flowers. The wedding couple spent most of their time on stage taking pictures while a (too) loud commentator was babbling away in Vietnamese. No one really paid attention to the couple or the show that was going on, everyone was busy eating and drinking vodka shots. The presentation on the stage was a bit weird and quite unclear (at least to us foreigners). The wedding couple starts taking their wedding pictures a month before the wedding in countless of different locations and dresses. The funniest part for us 'tays' is how common it is to take pictures outside shopping malls, in front of expensive fashion outlets.

The annual staff retreat took place in Hanoi this year. We performed a dance that I choreographed and enjoyed some drinks together. It was a beautiful, sunny day so we spent the rest of the afternoon drinking beers by the river. It was great to see the girls I worked with in Ha Long again!

Birthdays were absolute madness. My best friend turned 28 so we had a cake made, ordered some flowers and loads of drinks. We took her out for live music, followed by some dancing at a club. It was so much fun and she seemed to really enjoy it. We continued to the other birthday, which was a house party. My friends recently moved into a huge mansion so the party was quite crazy, but so much fun. The next day we took our bestie for a surprise amusement park day. There is a very random amusement park in central Hai Phong, with some equipment we didn't dare to try due to the lack of security measures. Regardless, the day was amazing, just what we all needed.

Sunday night was spent in a Vietnamese dance battle, which was amazing, and watching a football game. All in all, a perfect weekend.

Women's day is very popular in Vietnam. Yesterday I received flowers from my assistant and my students. I really had fun in my classes and do think that I have the best of students! I am now planning on popping by my assistants house, her mum just sent me some coffee. Such a sweet heart.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to fully defeat my flu so I am still snoring due to the inability to breath through my nose at all. Hopefully, the situation will be fixed soon... it is truly annoying to be constantly coughing and sneezing.


Anyways, enjoy your day !


Mira