Vietnam trip - Day 9 (12/9/11)

I didnt get much sleep last night. It was raining when I went to bed around 9pm. I was woken up around 12am by the wind and rain. The windbwas howling like crazy, I think it was gusting at least 30-40 miles an hr. So because of the gust and the window frames were made of alumninum, on occasion it sounds like a train going through.
Anyway I got up around 6am because we have to be at the temple around 7:30am. The purpose of going to the temple today were for me and Sammi to be under the watch of Buddha. We are both Buhhdists but i guess this ceremony will make it official. The ceremony took about 40 minutes. So basically, We gave my name and Sammi's name to the monk. Before the ceremony started the monk gave us three monk's robe to wear. Once i put it on, i had the urge to bust out some kung fu moves :)...wouldnt that be funny if i did and the monk saw me (haha). Anyway, he started to chant for 15-20 mins and i had to kneeled down during his chanting, thank goodness my dad gave me some knee pad before hand :). During the chanting, on occasion i had to bow. I just followed my dad's lead. Once the chanting was over, he asked us to sit down. He then he asked If I will follow the five teaching of Buddha and I said yes of course (5 teaching - don't kill, lie, steal, cheat and drink...I think :)). He then explained the meaning of the five teaching. I knew that he was speaking in Vietnamese but I have no clue what he was talking about. On Occasion I caught a few words here and there. After the ceremony was over he gave me 2 certificates with my and Sammi's name on them. The certificate had my real name and my Buddhist name. The Buddhist name was derived from the meaning of my real name an the same for Sammi. Once everything was done and getting ready to leave, he gave me a bracelet (see pix).
We left the temple around 9:30am and went to a few relatives just to say hi.
It's 11:40am and we just finished lunch at my uncle's place. We had a vegetarian meal...a few tofu dishes and veggies. It was like and delicious.
It's started to rain again, rain and windy! Nice cool breeze...fabulous sleeping weather, I think I'm going to take a nap :).
It's 3pm and just got up from my nap, I needed it since I didn't slept well last night.
I went over to Huy's place and hung out for an hour or so. I was able to get so e free wifi so I was checking and writing emails. I wanted to take my turn in Warfish but the site was down., typical!
Around 5pm, my dad and I went over to my uncle for dinner. My mom didn't go because she was tired. We had a vegetarian dinner, I think if you are a Buhhdist, you eat vegetarian today which I didn't mind.
After dinner we chatted for an hour or so, i mostly listened :), then we packed some food for my mom and went back to the house.
Anyway, it's still raining on and off so I'm going to stay in. I'll probably watch some movie and turn in. I'm hoping to have a good night sleep tonight but won't hold my breath because it's still windy...oh well, it is what it is :).
To be continue...

Ps: pink house is the house that we are currently staying at. Also, you see a picture of an old lady pushing the blue cart fulfill of trash, that's the trash collector.