How to have the Ultimate Italian Gelato Experience

What you do is you take a Starbucks model:

And bring her to HaMy Sophie Ice Cream From Europe at 1A Tràng Tiền St., hotline: 04.35149253. Then buy her one scoop of Ice Cream From Europe (preferably vanilla flavored, price $0.50) and plop it into her coffee. 

Voila! You have just created the

!!

There is a profound thought here, actually, and it is this: So much of advertising strives to make your life look boring and incomplete and so, by way of contrast, make the product look exciting and fulfilling. But what if we turned this concept on its head? What if we went about "advertising" our own lives instead? What if we chose to see the little things in our lives as exciting and fulfilling and so, by way of contentment, make much of the commercial advertising around us utterly superfluous? 

What if a simple combination of coffee, vanilla ice cream, and a friend was all you needed to have the Ultimate Italian Gelato Experience?

For the sake of thoroughness, here y'all go.

The resident perfectionist who dwells inside my brain has dictated that I include links on my blog to my facebook albums. Considering that it has been a while since I last did that, I've got a large batch for your perusal. Browse and enjoy!



Long overdue photos from my host sister's birthday celebrated in Hai Phong last year.






The Lim Festival, with an enlightening article published in Vietnam Cultural Window, edited by yours truly.






An excursion to Ba Vi Mountain where Uncle Ho hung out a lot during the war and where pollution remains blessedly absent.




Thế Giới Publisher's latest field trip: a triple spiritual site sampler, in which Hannah learns the difference between a shrine, a temple, and a pagoda.

And my personal favorite, an illustrated step-by-step guide to bringing the Lunar New Year to your own home.

I ♥ English Pronunciation

This is my host brother Hiếu (pronounced kind of like "Hue").

This is a closeup of the patch sewn onto Hiếu's pants.

This is what Hiếu and I do most weekday nights.

Hint: we are studying English. This is how a typical pronunciation review goes:

"Okay, Hiếu, I want you to read the first word in this list."

"Pro-nun-ci-a-tion."

"No, no, no, that's the title of the list. Read the first word in the list."

"Veter...veterniratiry."

"No, it's veterinarian."

"Ve-te-ri-na-ti-ry."

"Repeat after me: ve"

"ve"

"ter"

"ter"

"in"

"in"

"ar"

"ar"

"ian"

"ian"

"Ve-ter-in-ar-ian."

"Ve-ter-in-ar-ian."

"Great job! Read it again."

"Ver-ti-ni-raian. Trời ơi, khó quá!"