Happy Boy

One of the hotel staff dubbed C, "Happy Boy," tonight. That's an accurate assessment. The hotel staff--the majority young males--have been very friendly and attentive to C and he now waves at them upon seeing them. For most other people, we must ask him to wave "Hi" or "Bye-Bye" at them. Generally, his responses range from indifferent to suspicious of others. Which is to say, he seems to have some standards in hanging out with Ba & Mama, rather than everyone else. You are not invited to speculate on what those standards might be.

Yesterday morning, Mama spent time taking pictures of the C Man, when he looked up at Mama w/ this mischevious grin, held up one finger, and began pointing it at her. He definitely wasn't saying Mama was #1. At the care center where he grew up, the nannies would hold up their index finger and begin shaking the finger at the children when they were doing something bad. So, Mama was apparently getting into trouble and the camera police came out to issue a warning citation...

Today we spent half the day touring Hanoi: Ho Chi Minh's Masoleum and house, the one pillar pagoda, the Museum of Ethnology, and the Temple of Literature. The Masoleum is closed for two months every year, including Nov, for preservation work on the deceased. The lines usually are tremendously long and spending several hours w/ a two year old waiting to catch a 10 second glimpse of a guy who's been dead since the end of the 1960s is not my idea of a happy, happy, joy, joy experience. The Masoleum is on the "Mall" of the VN capitol, so we could see the parliament building, the headquarters of the Communist Party, the Foreign Affairs Dept, and the Presidential Palace. Most of the buildings were constructed by the French and repainted yellow and red by the VN. The Masoleum was built by the Soviets and is dark and foreboding even on a gorgeously sunny day as befits a Soviet Masoleum.



The property of the Presidential Palace contains a spartan building where HCM mostly lived when he was in town. Across a pond, he had a small house built on stilts for himself. The one pillar pagoda is right next door and is just that--a small pagoda on a concrete pillar in the middle of a small man made pond. Our adventure here consisted of E knocking C's hat into the pond, requiring E and the tour guide to fish it out. So (for those keeping track), in the past three days, I've has subjected him to mice-infested living quarters, a Superman-induced puking incident, and drowning his hat and main protection from skin cancer. Father of the year anyone? And I have 354 days to go!



The Ethnology Museum was devoted to illustrating the culture of the 54 ethic groups in VN. Each section contain examples of their art, ceremonial custumes, tools, living quarters, etc. Also, the Museum contained a large outdoor section (complete w/ VN versions of scarecrows and enough grooms & brides having wedding pictures taken in various gowns that would make Scarlett O'Hara proud) with reconstructions of the unique buildings--homes, community buildings, buildings to ceremonialize the dead--for major tribes. The building to ceremonialize the dead contained statute art devoted to celebrating the circle of life--but mostly the fertility (or more specifically, conception, part). The decor would have incited fire and damnation in the Bible Belt. Keep checking back for us to post those photos! (You'll need a credit card to access them however.) (T wants you to know that no photos will really be posted so as to spare you the disappointment--mainly due to her preoccupation w/ the C Man. Now go take a cold shower.)



The Temple of Literature is a series of pagodas dedicated to Confucious and served as the basis for the first university in VN. Like the pagodas we saw in Hoa Lu, they were very ornate. At both pagodas, one could rub the head of a stone turtle for good fortune. This is the VN version of the blarney stone but does not involved standing in hours-long lines, hiking up 3 flights of stairs built for leprechauns, nor hanging upside down to place one's mouth on rock covered by the saliva of thousands... Unfortunately, I am starting to react to pagodas the same way I reacted to European cathedrals in high school: another pagoda/cathedral! Despite their beauty, they only do so much for me and lots of them at once surpass my capacity.



In the afternoon, we went to Bat Tran, the ceramics village. We saw the ceramics being made at each stage of production. C cooed over some of the simple machines at work, but generally was on the edge as he had only half his normal nap during the bus ride from Hanoi to BT. Fortunately, he didn't kick or touch anything in the narrow aisles of the stores. T started buying presents for relatives and friends and by the end of the afternoon, I think, was making new friends and relatives to buy for. The ladies in the stores were very taken by C, though they kept insisting he had to be 3 or 4 because he's so big. C would admit nothing.

C demonstrated his capacity for strategic thinking tonight as only a toddler can. Our evening routine is for me to bathe after dinner and C to join me in the tub. We've tried numerous variations and all end in screams of bloody murder. Tonight, we allowed him to play in his diapers for a while before I went to the bathroom. C heard the water running into the tub and immediately indicated to T that he wanted to go straight to bed by laying down, grabbing his bear, and patting the bed, inviting Mama to join him. Clever, but no dice. Mama seems to be the preferred person to put him to bed. He repeated animal noises we'd make as we saw them from the bus. He walked briefly holding both our hands at the Enthology musuem. T reports that C is saying "something close to Mom, but he might be saying 'bom' (ball)." We'll work on clarifying that distinction...