I still cannot tell you my impression of first walking into the room without crying! And as tears roll down my cheeks it is tough to type. The room was huge, long and rectangular w/ a stage at the far end. The entire room was white with tables of 8 on both sides of a center aisle. The tables were white table cloths, red table runners, chairs of white slip covers and large red sashes tied on the backs. Every table had floral bouquets that were fake but you had to touch them to believe it. It was stunning and simply beautiful. I was totally stunned and of course burst into tears, which I could not stop (and still cannot...why oh why?)
Friends and family arrived - each woman in lovely dresses like ours - altho I clearly noted that their fabric was much more elegant than my NY purchase and they are all long instead of knee length. It was a fashion show of beauty. Hiep, the father of the two sisters I have referred to in my emails took me under his wing, as did his wife Duc. She speaks less English but they and the two daughters (one of whose home we went to yesterday = artist and 5 stories) have just been super to me. They are by far my favorites, perhaps because I can speak more easily w/ them.
I was sitting by the door watching people come in when an elder was assisted in and sat next to me. Linh sat with us and the elder lady dressed in a lovely brocade jacket began touching my arm. She squeezed it from bicep down to wrist as if testing for fat or strength. Then she said to me: How old are you? 67 "I am 82. Where is your husband?" Dead. "Mine is too. How long he been dead?" 22 years "Mine dead 6 years. I want you to come to dinner at my house." Linh explained that we were leaving tomorrow but I was very flattered that she would invite me. The lady proceeded to tell me she had been to Russia but never to US - and all the while squeezing my arm up and down. Of course I adored her!
Then we were shown our tables. The first table was for the elder family. We were at the second table and B and HM on one side, Linh and I one the end facing the stage, Andy and Hiep across from B and HM and facing our end was Duc and a woman whose name I did not get. She was at our table because she spoke English well. Unfortunately the tables were so long that you couldn't really converse easily. There were several dishes - a wonderful thick egg soup and another vegetable soup, shrimp, brown and white rice, salad, a long white fish that they came out w/ scissors to cut and it was full of vegetables, a chicken bowl...very lovely displayed.
Duy Man spoke to all and Linh translated for me. He welcomed everyone and told them about William and Ha My - told them about their jobs and how they met. There was a slide show of all of the wedding pictures ongoing as well. During the dinner several men and one woman came to the table to toast us all. Had that gone on longer, I could have been crocked! William was drinking green tea in his wine glass so it passed for wine. After the dinner, people got up and the crowd began to leave.
There was no receiving line per se that I saw but a heap of pictures. Many people came up to me and bowed. It was really an incredible party. As people were leaving, Hiep pulled me aside to show me something. In the park across the road was an outdoor concert going on w/ traditional VN music instruments. I took a video of it as I could not begin to describe the scene. The instrument was an ornately carved wooden dragon w/ a string across the top and a black stick like thing on the top. The black thing was flexible and the man played the string w/ a toothpick like thing while moving the black stick to change the tones. The tone was a very high pitch that actually hurt my ears up close. Soon B and HM and others joined us for a bit and then we walked back to our hotel. A fine party indeed!
One final note on the dress = impossible to get into or out of alone! And I have no idea how to clean it!
Hope you all are surviving the wicked snow - today we leave Hanoi and fly to Da Nang!
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