Our First Tet in Vietnam
Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and our Vietnamese friends and neighbors are busy celebrating Tet. At our son’s preschool, they had a colorful Tet celebration. Our nanny bought Gabriel a traditional silk ao dai. The kids also practiced dancing with dragon costumes.
Many people travel during Tet to go back to their hometowns or just to get out of town. All domestic staff are off for at least a week. The ladies who work for us have been off since Thursday, and we are remembering what it is like to do our own cooking, laundry, cleaning and dishes. We’ve also got Gabriel 24/7 and no one we know is available to babysit, so it’s not much a vacation for us!
The nice thing is that it’s pretty quiet around town. It’s been peaceful riding my bicycle around District 2 with very little traffic. Here are some photos of the Tet celebration at Gabriel’s school.
Traditional Vietnamese ao dai.
A wooden balance beam for the kids.
Traditional colors for ao dai on Tet are blue and red.
Hey! I just found your blog and am really enjoying it! I’m literally about to arrive in HCMC, Vietnam to teach (on a layover and I have wifi) and thought I’d ask if you have suggestions for things to do during the Tet holidays. I arrive Jan 31st so I’m sure there will be lots going on in the city!
Hey Leana!
Sorry for the untimely reply. We are on Tet break which means: home entertaining 3-year-old without the nanny or the maid! The time leading up to Tet is busy, however once it starts the city is pretty quiet. Hopefully you made it to Tao Dan Park for the Tet Flower Festival. Otherwise, it’s just nice to wander around the not-as-crowded streets to take photos. I’m sure you’ve learned that pretty much everything else is closed.