holiday

for the first time.
my first real vietnamese holiday. lunar moon cake day. or is it moon day. or trung tu. whatever.


i was still excited. despite the fact that this was a holiday for "kids." i don't believe in restrictions.

the water was paved with soggy burnt paper, as hoards of families and kids gathered around any pool of water around long xuyen. they tossed their floating contraptions, each holding a wish. a nice family gave me a floating contraption so that i could make a wish. it consisted of a plate, a candle, and a plastic inverted cup.

i made a gigantic long wish, as i always do, closed my eyes, and released my floating thingy into the water. it began to swim towards the shore collecting itself among other neglected or misguided floating devices and a little part of me was getting sad. but luckily, a nice local student we were with, went down, and began swooshing it away from the pathetic soggy neglected pile.

many people released "love floating devices" to wish that their love would last forever. usually this took place in a form of a heart with alot of candles and glitter, one couple even had a propeller on theirs. how amusing. it would travel up and down the long xuyen "lake" to get itself to propel again. and i just watched. others watched. maybe we were jealous of their "forever love" maybe we were just amused by their attempt to encapsulate their love in such a large plastic styrofoam device. or maybe we just wanted to witness something cool on a holiday that is supposedly only for kids.

kid-less, we wandered around, ate food (bo bia and durian shakes), fixed a bike (at least my postmate did), and witnessed a holiday that is non-existent in other parts of the world. a local even said he had lived in long xuyen for seven years and never even gone out to see this. non-existent in the adult world i suppose.

bouncing back and forth from being a kid to an adult, i get confused. easily done with my teeny year old looks. (asians age well, what can i say. ) responsibility escapes me when it can, and returns when i least expect it. sometimes when i am here, the reason escapes me, as if it was never there. worries cloud my thoughts. motorbike rides give me this happiness that i cannot explain. moving fast. i dont have to think, i dont even really have to see. but i do. i like knowing that those driving by me, don't realize that i am vietnamese chinese american, a daughter of parents who left this country over 20 years ago under circumstances unlike my return. im just another local, with an oversized helmet, blurrily riding to wherever i need to get to.



we ended the night with goodbyes at a dizzy fruit shake shop, full from sugar and dazed by the lights, the laughter, and all the wishes that were made that night.