Thursday, July 28
UyenThi and I pick up our ao dai from the dressmaker. It cost a total of $35 (U.S. dollars). Walking down the street with my sister, wearing the traditional ao dai, our conical hats dangling from the tips of our fingers, I think that I have never felt so fully Vietnamese in my life. It is a wonderful feeling.
More than anything else, it is the singing that I will remember most dearly from Vietnam. A people that sings keep joy in their hearts. Though we heard some Vietnamese songs, it is the American ones that the locals sing that reverberate through my head: The Eagles' Hotel California, The Carpenters' Over and Over.
How ironic that these are the songs I bring back from my journey to Vietnam!
