Bao vs bao and tea with the abbott

So dinner thursday night revealed even more problems with me learning the language. Bao depending on the accent can mean either storm or newspaper (so maybe Kelly depending on the accent means a different type of operative tool, which would further explain the clamp confusion). The primary problem is I cant hear the difference in accentuation at all. They both sound like the exact same word (& this word is just one example of many). Regrettably I have found in addition to being quarantined for all singing I do I have now found an additional hazard of being tone deaf.

Today at the hospital we did a laparoscopic surgery for stone removal. Then possibly to make me feel right at home and as if i had never left the VA the rest of our cases were cancelled. Something about equipment being unavailable.

Hao and i took the time to go and visit a charity hospital run by buddhist monks and nuns. It turns out that everyone has to pay for insurance here and it is quite costly. This hospital is set up for those who are destitute. Prior to going and being shown around we met with and had tea with a monks who is also a bak si (doctor). The tea was very formal. He served us each with gusto and monk simplicity simultaneously. He was almost regal, which i would later understand. After tea, he showed us around the temple and then took us to the brand new unbelievable hospital. When we arrived at the hospital everyone who saw him bowed, said things excitedly, and took pictures. We then had tea again and some wonderful crystallized ginger. As it turns out he is the equivalent of a cardinal (called an Abbott) and is a huge deal in vietnam politically and buddhism internationally.

That night I went to dinner with Hao and his cousin and hung g (one of the Uro docs who always meets us out. He says his wife locks him out of their house. I am starting to believe it). We sat down at one of his cousins favorite restaurants (open air balcony with the resident cat). And the cousin started laughing. He then calls the waiter back over. Apparently we had been given the whitie menu which not only had plain boring food but was also double the price. This moment established a new goal i need to learn how to say "i dont want the whitie menu" with the correct accent an inflection of course.

The pics: the temple, a monk chanting, the Abbott, and not the white man's menu.