Vietnam Day 9 (Saigon, Coffee! and St. Gerard)

Day 9 was one of my more anticipated days. To start the day we enjoyed coffee with the other priests after we had a nice Pho for breakfast. They have a beautiful lounge area outside where everyone just hangs out on wooden benches around a table. After this we got ready to go pick up a special gift I was given by my caretaker in Hanoi and of course new friend Father Huan.

His family owns a coffee bean farm in the far south of Vietnam. I was expressing interest in getting green (unroasted) coffee beans to bring back home to roast myself. I currently have Brazilian, Ethiopian, and Colombian, but I have been unable to find Vietnamese online at the moment. He asked how much I would like, and I expressed maybe 5 lbs of each since there were 2 kinds of beans. He was surprised and said "that's all?" I said what do you think? He suggested 20 kilos........that's nearly 45lbs., but I agreed since that sounded like an awesome idea, basically coffee for a year. So that's what he gave me, a beautiful gift of 45lbs of coffee, whoa! The perfect gift to share with friends and family. When Monica and I went to Italy, she bought pure olive oil and wine from one of the places we stayed, so I felt coffee from a friend's family that grows it, roasted by me would be very authentic as well.

From here we went on a search for a place I had stumbled onto a video from a man who travels throughout Asia, primarily in Vietnam since he lives in Saigon. He went to a coffee shop in the market area of Saigon to have what they call racket coffee. This "Cafe Ba Lu" or "Ba Lu Cafe" has been in business for nearly 60 year, and is truly off the beaten path and a unique experience. The woman was kind to share things with me knowing my interest from her metal drum and fire pit they use for roasting, to the coffee net and special pot she pours with.

From here we continue our roaming around, we passed by the former presidents house, which is now called "The Independence Palace" after the killing of the president and institution of communism. In addition the city Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh after the founder of communism in Vietnam. From here we toured the war museum. This was a fascinating experience as I had many different views, opinions and emotions going on. First I had the emotions of anger as I walked through propaganda similar to that of what's going on in America with the spread of socialism in the name of democracy. It's nothing but deception, will lead to a road of ruin just like all the countries that institute it and oppress their people. The museum puts a spin on things, calling the war "The war of American Aggression" and throughout the whole thing they promote their propaganda of being right and freeing the people of Vietnam in the name of independence.

As we walked through other exhibits different emotions came in. As I saw the "Agent Orange" exhibit, I was reminded of the ugliness of the American behaviors in war, from the Atomic Bomb, to the lasting effects of radiation in Japan, to the Agent Orange, and many disformed humans that were born due to our behavior, this also saddened and sickened me. For the troops I was saddened, because our people were sent to fight a war they probably should've never gotten involved in, similar to that of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's a tough situation though, as I talk to many people who are always thankful for America sticking up for them due to others bullying them. I actually heard this from a Vietnamese man who said he liked President Trump for standing up to China who bullies everyone in Asia. It was difficult to narrow my emotions to a specific culprit, as I dislike communism and the bad it's done to Vietnam, but at the same time, I do not agree 2 wrongs make a right and our behavior in that war became very troublesome over the years. The treatment of Americans weren't very nice either as they were killed just as mercilessly.

My final emotions were seeing detention style camps. Whatever the reason for them, I felt a bit of concentration camps. This was disturbing and something I cannot recall knowing about previously. I am a bit of a skeptic towards everything in the museum, due to it's communist nature, which always suppresses a story that does not align with it's view, there is no freedom of the press in a communist country, only what the government news tells you. It was sad though to see all of this, and it was simply a fresh reminder war solves nothing. On a bright side if there could be one, I think about how we get along with Vietnam, and we do not have Vietnamese terrorist like we do in the Middle East and the blow back we experience there. All this is a bit much, and please forgive me for sharing any opinions, but it was a bit of what I was experiencing in all of this.

From here we grabbed some lunch at a local place that seemed to be a Mandarin chain. It was good for a chain as I had some duck in egg noodles. After this we walked the rest of the way home. Somewhere along the way I made this recording to capture a small picture of the insanity crossing the street, this little video does not do it any justice though, the roundabouts were the most intense. After all of the walking, we took the much anticipated SIESTA! Upon waking up we headed to mass for a very special day among the Redemptorist, Father Joseph's community I am staying with, the community responsible for my apsotolate and ministry of writing holy cards and evangelizing. It was the feast of St. Gerard Majella, basically seen as the co-founder of this religious order.

It was a full house withe people overflowing on all sides of the church. After Mass I was able to witness a kool moment. I roamed around looking for Father Joseph, after nearly 30 minutes I finally found him in the church giving blessings in front of St. Gerard. He shared with me, one woman asked for a blessing and next thing you know a line formed that didn't end. Being the humble man he is, and always willing to serve, he did until the last person was served. It was truly a blessing to witness this. It was an amazing night and we ended it with a nice dinner at a local noodle shop. St. Gerard pray for us, patron of motherhood and perseverance in false accusations.