Tag: hanoi

A very quick update

Well it’s been a while since I last wrote something, and I’m not about to write much right now.

Since the last post, I’ve finished my vietnamese class, so there’s definitely a lot I can write there in the future, however I’m still not able to speak it, but I understand it better.

Also, I’m now officially married, we’ve been through the engagement and wedding ceremonies here, end of january, early february. Once again, a lot of things to write and images to share. I will get there eventually. I have about 40 GB of photos and videos, of these events, so I need to start sorting them. This was followed by a week in Laos and a long weekend in Phu Quoc, which is a vietnamese island in the Thailand Gulf.

And last, I’m starting a new hobby: photography! I just bought myself a Canon EOS 60D with the following lenses: the EF 50mm F/1.4 USM and the EF 24-105mm F/4L IS USM. These 2 lenses should help me get started and find my way. So expect to see some pictures popping up once in a while.

So that’s it for now, nothing very interesting right now, but a lot to look forward to. I have a lot of writing ahead of me!

Lesson 1 – Introducing yourself

I’m following a vietnamese class for absolute beginners in Hanoi, from L’Espace, which is the french institute in the Hoan Kiem district. As I need to practice it, I thought that writing it down on this blog will help me, and it might also be nice for anyone else passing by.

The first lesson, introduced us some basics on how to address other people, this will mostly depend on the age difference between the 2 people, but it’s not just about age, it’s also about the rank in the family. For example a cousin who’s father is the little brother of my father, I will address him differently if his father had been the elder brother. If someone is older than you, probably the age of your own parents, then it’s different again. And if the person is more in the age range of a grand parent, then it’s different again, and if you are not sure exactly, it’s better to play it on the safe side, as you don’t want to be rude :)

As I’ve been living with my fiancee’s family in Hanoi for 2 months already, I’m a bit familiar with this, and it’s still very difficult to remember all the forms, and then you need to remember their position in the family. The list given in the course is incomplete as it’s probably the hardest thing for a foreigner to learn, but here is a mix from the class, and the ones I know:

Masculin Feminin
cháu – very young children
em – someone younger than you
bạn – someone the same age as you
anh chị someone older than you
thầy cô a teacher
bố mẹ your parents
chú thím younger brother of father (and his wife)
cậu mợ younger brother of mother (and his wife)
chú cô younger sister of father (and her husband)
chú dì younger sister of mother (and her husband)
bác – older brother and sister of father and mother
ông  bà  someone your grand parents age

Next step was to say what your name is, and how to ask people their own names:

  • Em tên là gì ?
em the way you would address someone, I will always write this in italic to indicate it will vary
tên name
là to be (verb)
gì what
  • Em tên là Anthony
  • còn em ?
còn and

If you want to call someone (and I mean anyone, friend, parent, taxi driver …), you can use the following:

  • Em ơi !

The next thing you will want to ask, is where is someone from:

  • Em là người nước nào ?
người people, human, …
nước country
nào which
  • Em là người Pháp
Pháp France
Việt Nam Vietnam
Anh England
Bỉ Belgium
Đức Germany
Nga Russia
Nhật Japan
Hàn Quốc Korea

Then you could ask how the person is doing:

  • Em (có) khoé không ?
có … không how (the first word can be omitted in the question)
khoé good
  • Em khoé, cám ơn
cám ơn thank you, this can also be written: cảm ơn
  • Không có gì
we already have all the words for this, but it means: you’re welcome
không this word has several meanings: 0 (zero), no (as opposed to yes), and to express the negation

Finally, you can ask what does someone do:

  • Em làm nghề gì ?
làm to do (verb)
nghề job
  • Em là kỹ sư
kỹ sư engineer
giáo viên teacher
học sinh pupil
sinh viên student
thư ký secretary
luật sư lawyer
nghệ sỹ artist
  • Em không làm việc
I don’t have a job

If you want to talk about someone else (he/she):

  • Em ấy tên là gì ?
  • Em ấy tên là Tom
ấy when you add this to the subject, it means you are talking about someone else

That’s almost it for the first lesson about introduction yourself, here are some extra words picked up during the class:

tốt good
rất tốt very good
xin lỗi excuse me
nhé
thế thôi that’s it (as in we are done)
Thứ năm nhé see you on Thursday

There was also a part about the 6 tones used in the vietnamese language, but I’m not sure how I’m going to put this here :)

If you want to know how to write these vietnamese letters and tones on a computer, check this other post of mine.

Thế thôi !

Wedding Photos Sneak Peek

So, wedding preparations, we are getting there !

In vietnamese tradition, a wedding album is made prior to the wedding day, so that guests can actually go through the album. So last weekend, we went for a photo shooting session in various locations in Hanoi. We started the day very early, by heading to the dress designer studios so that we could get changed, and get N ready (hair, makeup, …), then we set off for the Temple of Literature. I had already visited the place last year, so I knew it was really nice, and we spent most of the morning there. Although there were a few tourist bus pouring people in, we did manage to get a few scenes which were mostly empty.

I will restrain myself of publishing too many photos for now, as the album is not ready yet, but whenever we get the album, I’ll try to post it online also. (There are a couple more on Facebook, posted by N)

Anyway, we went to several places, and some cozy cafes. N and I really had fun, but it was exhausting! Oh, and did I mention it was a beautiful day, a bit too hot for my taste (30°C), especially when having to wear a suit, luckily my suit was tailored using a very light material!). We treated ourselves in the evening with a very nice Japanese dinner! (sushi, okonomiyaki, … no umeshu unfortunately).

Monday (Oct 24th), I was also able to pick up my Certificate of No Impediment from the British Embassy. This certificate is a ‘must have’ to be able to get married in vietnam. It basically says that there’s nothing preventing me from getting married. And then we got it certified by the vietnamese administration, which took a couple of days.

We only have 1 thing left to do (as far as we know at least), before we can apply for our wedding, we need to get a mental checkup! We are planning to go there tomorrow morning, so if you don’t see me coming back, I guess they’ll have had me locked up somewhere ^^

To be continued …

Starting the Wedding preparations

Well, let’s start writing again, see if I’ll finish this article, it’s been a while since my last one.

Quite a few things have happened recently. I have applied for my certificate of no impediment (CNI) at the british consulate in Hanoi. This is a document I need to get married in Vietnam. It’s a certificate saying that I’m not already married etc.. It takes 3 weeks to get, so I should be getting it by October 24. It was surprisingly easy to apply for it, considering I’m not living in The Netherlands anymore, and I haven’t registered myself back in France, that I’m in Vietnam on a 3 months tourist visa, however N’s father did register me at the local police (after some bribing, because the guy was too lazy to do his job, yes, that’s how it works here), so it’s kind of a strange situation. However, all I needed to apply for the CNI was my passport with my visa, the local police registration and N’s family book. I filled in 3 forms which all asked the same questions, but it in a different format (yeah, administration …) and of course pay the fee. We were in and out in 30 mins.

N also got a similar document, which only took a day to get. Once we get mine, we’ll be able to apply for the marriage documents. Ha and almost forgot, we will also have to have a medical checkup … but not a physical exam … a mental one, see if we are not crazy (hum, yeah no comment!), and if we actually know each other. We need to show them pictures of us, and answer questions about each other’s family. We might try to do this next week, not sure yet.

For vietnamese weddings, the couple needs to get some photo albums made, that will then be available during the wedding day for the guests to see. This is something quite different from french/UK weddings, where the photos would be taken in the afternoon after the official ceremony and the signing of the papers. So, we’ve been looking into photographers, and we picked one which seems quite good. We’ve discussed quite a bit with him, and worked on ideas for the shootings and the album decoration.

We are planning to shoot the photos on October 22nd, if the weather is good. It’s the raining season here, so rains are quite frequent and quite heavy. But we are getting some very nice days too, so we are hoping it’ll be a nice one (and not too hot if possible) !

Ok, so we got someone to take pictures, but I need a costume and N needs a few dresses! So you can imagine how the last couple of weeks have been occupied with. After looking at a few suit shops, it seemed no suit would fit me here, so I’m getting a suit tailored. I went in to try it on today, so the tailor can adjust and finish it, I should have it ready a day or two before the shooting day. N however has been looking into wedding dresses, trying on quite a few, from different places. She like the top of one, the lower part of another, the trail of yet another, etc.. so a designer is making one for her too! You might have seen some of these dresses on Facebook. For the shooting she’ll have a few dresses, different styles, different colors. She’s going to look amazing!

Last weekend, we did a tour of hotels near the reception place in the center, to get an idea of the rooms and prices for my family and friends who will be making the trip here. (yes mom, the “report” is coming!). I think we visited a total of 10 hotels. Not something I want to do every day!

We’ve also been thinking of the engagement day, with the lacquered boxes, and the wedding day. Things to organize and plan.

For the engagement day, there will be a procession, lead by my father, followed by myself, and then 7 friends of mine carrying gifts for N’s family. The people carrying the gifts should be (non-married) friends of mine. However I’m not sure how many friends are going to make it yet, so not sure what to do about this yet. Any volunteers ?

The procession ends in front of N’s parent house, where the gifts are given to 7 women, friends of N. The rest of the engagement ceremony includes praying at the family altar to get the blessing from the ancients, getting our parents blessings, and exchanging rings. It will then be followed by a reception.

The wedding day will take place a few days later in the center of Hanoi, in the Government Guest House near Hoan Kiem lake. It will be a big reception. The unusual part for me here is that this reception takes place over lunch time, and during the week, so a lot of the guests will be coming during their lunch break. I find this a little strange, but well, that’s how they do it here, so I’ll go with it.

Well, I think I’m going to stop here for now!

To Be Continued …

Enjoying life in Hanoi

Hey there !

Well, I think it’s been a week, maybe 2 since my last post. I’ve been quite busy with work, and lazy about writing, so nothing new here!

I’m still following yoga classes, twice a week (1.5h each), and despite the fact that my legs are definitely not souple enough, I quite enjoy it. But yeah, I need to practice my legs so I can bend them in that lotus sitting position. Can’t do that yet. And that’s like the only thing I can’t do in the class so far, so still quite happy with myself ! About yoga itself, I feel really good after my classes. Everything seems easy and smooth afterwards.

I’m also looking for some more things to do. One thing that’s quite popular here is martial arts. I’ve done a few years of judo when I was a kid, and contact sports is not really my favorite. Nhung’s father mentioned some special vietnamese martial art called Vũ Gia Thân Pháp, and made me a little demonstration. It seems interesting, and as many other martial arts, it’s defense oriented and based on avoidance and speed. He also seems to know the local Masters, so that could be an option. However, it is very very local, and there is very little information about it. Not to mention it’s all in vietnamese, except for one of the Masters who apparently would be able to teach me in english.

So I’ve been thinking of something else, like tai chi chuan, which is very popular world wide, and probably less agressive, although I believe there is a combat style. I’ve had an introduction class when I was at university, and I remember enjoying it, but never got round to picking it up. So now might be a good time. It is also very popular in Vietnam, as everyone gathers around the various lakes and parks in the city, at any time of the day to practice together. So I’m currently looking for some classes to get myself started. I think that might be a good combination with yoga, especially in terms of balance and relaxation.

I’m just back from a Salsa night, and those evenings are filled with bachata. We really need some classes for this, they are playing so much of it here. We tried going to some salsa class too, but they were doing Advanced On2, which I tried to follow but couldn’t really keep up, since we’ve only learned On1 so far, so we are back to looking for some Advanced On1 classes.

We also started the paperwork for the wedding, but I’ll write more on that later on. I have a little more to say regarding ‘administration’ in Vietnam that will need a separate post.

For now, I’m exhausted, so that’ll be all for today.

Cheers from Hanoi!