My New Friends

Yesterday, the owner of the coffee shop that I have been going to practically every morning for the last several weeks took me with her family to eat lunch at a vegetarian restaurant. The dishes were vegetarian, but were made to look like meat (a "chicken leg" was made by wrapping tofu around a stick of lemongrass). It was certainly an interesting lunch.

Afterwards we went to a Buddhist temple just outside of Bien Hoa City. It was such a beautiful place. I would never have known about it had they not taken me. I have been unable to find any information on interesting sites in & around Bien Hoa, though I'm sure there are plenty. In so many ways I am totally dependent on the people around me.

The family also wanted to take me to a park with a lake & a mountain, but it started to rain, so we put it off for another day.

Today, I went back to the coffee shop for my usual morning email/Skype session. Around 11:30am, the owner, Ms. Hang (that's her on the right in the photo above), came to my table & invited me to have lunch at their house at the back of the coffee shop.

After lunch, we had a language lession: they taught me some Vietnamese words by pointing at objects around the room, & I taught them the counterparts in English. Finally someone to teach me Vietnamese!

The next time I go back to the coffee shop I will be sure to bring along some fruit for my new friends.