HAPPY (Lunar) NEW YEAR!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  (For anyone following the Lunar Calendar, that is.)  We arrived in Hanoi the day before the city virtually shut down for several days.  Like, no kidding.  After dropping our bags inside the door of our new-to-us home, our coworker advised us to take a quick trip to the grocery store for any items we thought we'd need over the next several days.  She had already picked up some produce and meat for us, so we rounded that out with some staples like flour, sugar, and also random hygiene and cleaning products, since I planned to clean the house top-to-bottom... I affectionately blame (credit?) my mom for this drive to meticulously clean whenever I move in somewhere. ;)

And the next morning when we took Edward for a walk...?  Almost utter silence.  We rarely saw anyone out, except a few motorbikes and cars carrying fancy-dressed people likely headed to their family members' houses to eat and celebrate.  Store fronts were gated and locked. No sellers sat along the roads with their produce and meats.  It was eerily quiet!

Three or four days after the main holiday, we slowly started to see a few market folks selling fruits and veggies again.  A store here or there opened up and piled their wares on the sidewalks outside their storefronts.  We figured the grocery store would be open by then, so we made the 10-15 minute walk down a main street, entered the KFC on the bottom floor of the building, walked around to the staircase leading up to the small grocery store, and were met with a large sign announcing the grocery store would be closed for another few days.  (Closed for almost a week total!)  The grocery store!  Though shocking to us, I'm sure it was no surprise for most folks familiar with the flow of the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

During this time, we ventured on our own to find the international church in town.  We had a wonderful experience of feeling warmly welcomed by the community.  We even made friends with several couples who have young children, too, and who also like playing board games! (Yay!)

Within the next week or so, the noise level of both day and night drastically increased as people flooded back into the city after having vacated it in favor of returning home to village areas and family homes outside the city.  The intersection we cross to get to our bus stop once had 10-15 motorbikes turning across our crosswalk as we crossed with the "WALK" sign.  Now, 40-50 motorbikes come zooming at us as we cross!  We just keep walking at a steady pace, and it's like we're rocks in a river.  The motorcycles and cars just run along around you as you move through the river of vehicles.

We're now starting our second week of work.  But we'll get to work stories in a future post.  For now, here are a few pictures from the Tet holiday!

Kumquat and peach blossom trees are important décor for the festivities of Tet.  Here, kumquat trees are for sale along the roadside.



The big sign in the middle means, "HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!"  And, more kumquat trees for sale.  I saw several of these in storefronts, sometimes decorated with twinkle lights and red-and-gold ornaments.

Edward enjoyed receiving a few little red envelopes with small amounts of money from kind strangers!  It's Tet tradition for adults to give children these envelopes.  Edward ended up with a total of about $3-4 USD from his envelopes.

Pink and yellow peach blossom trees are the other festive Tet trees.  Our coworkers thoughtfully decorated our house with one before we arrived!  We're told that you can rent large, potted kumquat or peach blossom trees for the duration of Tet (7-10 days) for a few hundred USD!  (Can you imagine renting a live Christmas tree, and then returning it to be re-planted at the end of the season?)