Saturday, September 18, 2010

Tết Trung Thu

Viet: Tết Trung Thu
English: Mid-Autumn Festival. Trung Thu mean "Middle of Autumn." I thought I was clever knowing Trung means "egg," but apparently that is "trứng." Tết usually refers to the Lunar New Year in the spring, so I assume it translates to "New Year."
Pronunciation: Thet (sharp rising) Chung (g is very soft, back of throat) Too


I first heard of Tết Trung Thu when Anh of A Food Lover's Journey posted a recipe for mooncakes.  I celebrate tết with Thai's family every spring (he calls it, "Asian Christmas"), so I wondered how I'd missed this other seemingly well-known holiday.  Wikipedia expanded my knowledge, but I knew who I really wanted to ask.  So I e-mailed Thai's mom to see what she remembers of this holiday.

Her response was short and sweet. A holiday for the kids. Under the moon.  Eating mooncakes. Very fun.  Flashes from her childhood in Vietnam.  I picture her as a tiny girl, holding a pinwheel lantern and parading the streets of her shore-side town.  Just Google "tet trung thu" images, and you'll see pages and pages of orange dragons, red stars, and pink and yellow lanterns in little kids grasps.  I feel nostalgic for a childhood experience I never had.  Perhaps it hints at Halloween trick-or-treating or the unity of a family dinner at Thanksgiving.  I remember digging for Starbursts in a pumpkin-shaped bucket; she tasted Mung Bean in a printed pastry.

She came to visit us this weekend, bringing with her a sliced moon cake.  My tongue dissected this new flavor as she repeated her memories to me.  My niece, just one and a half, scampered up to me to see what I was munching.  I broke her off a crumbling piece to hold in her tiny hand.  It seemed fitting to have a little girl toddling around the kitchen as her grandmother described the Vietnamese holiday for children.  The holiday developed as a way for rural parents to spend time with their children after the busy harvest season finally ended.  Even though the festival isn't officially until September 22, I guess spending time with my niece was my version of Tết Trung Thu this year.


We bought more moon cakes at the Asian supermarket.  As Thai and I passed one back and forth in the car, I declared, "I like moon cakes."
Thai responded, "Me too.  And Moon Pies." 
The epitome of Asian-American.


Thursday, September 9, 2010

Tre Em Viet Nam

In February 2010, I ran my first marathon and raised over $2600 for ASHA. Many of my friends and family helped me raise this money for educational programs in India, encouraging me from my training to crossing the finish line.

I am now training for TWO MARATHONS. In December, I will run the Dallas White Rock Marathon. In February, I will run the Austin Marathon for the 2nd time.

Training for a marathon is VERY hard. It's a day-to-day struggle that entends for months on end. And it is nothing compared to actually running the race. When I crossed the finish line in February, I broke down in tears because I was so happy the hardest thing I had ever done was over. Now I've got TWO more difficult times on my horizon, and I can think of no better way to honor these times than raising money to help the Children of Vietnam. And this is why:

My fiance's mom escaped from Vietnam after the war. Her 8 year journey found her in prison several times, in a refugee camp in Thailand, and finally in a scary new home called America where few spoke Vietnamese. My 26.2 mile struggles are nothing compared to her life. And Vietnam, her beautiful homeland, still has its own struggles. 29% of the Vietnamese population lives below the internaitonal poverty line (compare this to less than 2% in the US). For every 100,000 people, there are only 53 physicians. And there is a 40% school dropout rate for children ages 12-20 who come from poor families.

I can never truly understand the Viet struggle, but I can help change the Viet future for the children that still live there. And so can you! Click here to donate: http://www.firstgiving.com/marathonvietnam

My goal is to raise $5000 for Children of Vietnam by February 20th, 2011, when I run the Austin Marathon. Please donate any amount you can -- I'll be watching the total rise as I train! It is so encouraging!