Adventures in TV Stardom

Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame, but in Vietnam, if you are a foreigner who speaks Vietnamese, you can have a whole hour of it Tuesday night at 8:05.

Yes, I have now made my debut on Hanoi TV Channel 1's "Tuesday Night Talk Show."

In case the name isn't clear, "Tuesday Night Talk Show" is a talk show that airs on Tuesday night. The general premise is, get 10 young foreigners

together with 5 moderately famous Vietnamese celebrities


and have them discuss different topics. The topics I participated in were:

1. Your most embarrassing moment
2. Your best friend
3. Breaking up
4. Understanding American Culture

Because people from all over the world participate, you get quite a range of views on each subject, generating some pretty interesting conversation. For example, in the "Breaking up" session this young Chinese girl insisted that if your parents don't like your boyfriend/girlfriend, that's a good reason to break up.







When you throw a few comedians into the mix, the dialogue gets even better.











Then of course since this is Vietnam, where karaokes outnumber dance clubs 100:1, we just had to have some singing.




And then they had us tell all of North Vietnam our most embarrassing moments, breakup stories, etc.



And at the end we danced.



All in all, it was great fun. Plus it was a great opportunity to learn words like

"makeup" (trang điểm)


"lighting check" (kiểm tra đèn)


"cute MC" (MC dễ thương)


and most importantly, "totally wonderful friends who came to support me and to whom I am very grateful" (các bạn cực kỳ tốt bụng đến cổ vũ em, và em rất cảm ơn)


A very special thanks to Mr. Long, my boss, who took all these pictures.

Homeward bound

Xin cảm ơn! Mil gracias! Thank you so much to all who responded to my cry for passage. I now have enough money to get home. In fact, I even have a little extra, enough to cover language lessons for three months!

I will be in the US of A from July 12 through August 8. I am really looking forward to rest and to the chance to see my loved ones. I hope to make a trip out to Grand Rapids during the first week of August, so if you will be in the area, give me a shout at ani.forsythe@gmail.com.

Once again, thank you for your help, and may God bless you as you have blessed me.

Hope to see you soon.

And here is another batch of photo albums that have accumulated on facebook. Click on the title to be transfered to the album.

Standard tourist fodder: Everyone is always all "have you been to Ha Long Bay yet?" like if you haven't been there you haven't really lived yet. Well, now I can hold up my head with the rest of them.


Symphony in Green: Sri Lanka is now going through some serious conflict. During a trip there, fellow MCC worker Max Ediger and I visited the national botanical gardens. Even in a country at war, there are places of peace.



Pagoda under construction: Most of the pagodas I visit are small, quaint, and older than I can even imagine. The Bai Dinh Pagoda, however, is different in every respect.




Mr. Long's Wedding: Mr. Long, one of my English students, got married just after Tet this year. I was invited to be part of the party going to pick up the bride.