July Highlights and Lowlights

Summer school is over. =D =D

July happened so fast I can't even remember much of it. So here it goes...

Summer School
I saw my friends from last year again, Sherrie and Peter. Later, while talking to the instructor, I learned that many of my classmates from ESL Part 2 last summer had taken the Winter course. I heard they were quite a handful as well, LOL!

I met two new friends this summer, and their names are Jung and Michelle. Jung is a Korean immigrant who came to Canada and first arrived in one of the prairie provinces. Imagine that, your first winter in Canada and you have to suffer it on the prairie. Brrr...Jung is a high school teacher for the Peel Board, and she is a very organized person. She had to put up with Sherrie and me for the last two weeks of the course as we prepared our final major workshop. Michelle also works for the Peel Board, but as an elementary/junior teacher. She is soft-spoken, but very funny. Both Jung and Michelle were such wonderful people to work with.

Everyday after class, we went to Jung's condo to work on the presentation. We would stay there until about 10pm at night, then go home to sleep, and wake up 5 hours later to go to class. This happened for two weeks!! During this time, I only had dinner with my parents once, and that was because we were taking the in-laws out to dinner.

Sherrie, Jung and I really learned a lot from this project. For one, we learned about a lot of the dominant theories that currently back-up the ESL programs throughout North America. Secondly, we also learned about advocacy and how that is so important for our ESL students. And last but not least, we learned about how to do professional presentations. We owe a lot to our instructor, Karen, who instilled in each of us the confidence to go and stand in front of 21 of our colleagues and teach them about Academic Language Learning Strategies (A.L.L.S.). This was hard work and it was also nerve-wracking. So much preparation went into problem-anticipation and solution alone. That was one of the most exhausting aspects, to anticipate what problems we might have with the content of the workshop, the delivery, and then the other miscellaneous things that could make or break your whole workshop, depending on how well you prepared yourself for them. The stress was magnified by the fact that we only had 2 weeks to plan this workshop, plus do all the research to gather information.

Sherrie joked at the beginning that we would do so well that by next spring, we'd be invited to present our workshop at the Celebrating Linguistic Diversity conference at OISE/University of Toronto. Soon, that wasn't just a joke, but rather a motivational incentive. In the end, we felt very good about our presentation. Our grade wasn't stellar, but that was because our instructor and the evaluator were looking for opposite things in the criteria. That's okay, though, because really, it's the process of creating and delivering a workshop that counts. I never saw myself as someone who is capable of doing something like this, and now I've done it.

On the morning of the workshop, we arrived at the classroom and realized that there was no electrical outlet near the front of the classroom where the screen was. In our foolishness, we chose not to re-check the room the day before. We were stuck because we didn't bring an extension cord. Jung came up with the bright idea of using the television stand as the extension cord. It worked, but not very well since there was a cord stretching across one corner of the room. During my initial speech, I got caught inside that corner.

The next problem we experienced was a major one: more than half of our audience was late. We can't afford to wait longer than five minutes, but then that means there would be people trickling in during our presentation. That was very annoying and unprofessional on their part. Even though they didn't have class that day with their own instructor, they had a workshop that they signed up for. They should have arrived on time and treat the workshop with the same level of importance as a class. This created so much unnecessary stress for us.

I had one blackout moment in the middle of the presentation where I got tongue tied because I was so nervous about having the blackout. Instead of taking a deep breath like Karen had instructed us to do, I got anxious and tongue-tied.

In the end, we got some very good reviews by the students.

I feel most grateful to Karen, who prepared us so well for the workshop that we were able to go into it with confidence and conviction.

Now that summer school is over, I'm going to get working on prepping my courses! *YAY* (sarcastic).

Workshop

Rebecca Oxford Book
Abstract of book
An Update on Language Learning Strategies
The LLS Survey on PDF format

Ideas for Frankenstein, ESLBO

A Chemistry Lesson--Tools in a chemistry lab
1. Bunsen burner http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jkn/Chem%20151%20Manual%20Intro1&2_files/image030.jpg
2. Test tube http://sps.k12.ar.us/massengale/images/strawb2.jpg
3. Flask http://science.csustan.edu/JTB/LABWARE/LAB-GIFS/Florence-flask.gif
4. Shake flask http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0533e/T0533E12.gif
5. Clamp http://www.biologicalprocedures.com/bpo/arts/1/52/m52f4sm.gif
6. Graduated cylinder http://science.csustan.edu/JTB/LABWARE/LAB-GIFS/Graduated-cylinder.gif
7. Beaker http://core.ecu.edu/chem/chemlab/equipment/images/beaker.jpg
8. Funnel http://core.ecu.edu/chem/chemlab/equipment/images/funnel.jpg

Geography
1. Map of Switzerland http://www.european-vacations.tv/images/maps/switzerland-map.gif
2. Wuertenberg, Germany http://www.yorku.ca/ontbw/img/bw-map.gif
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/KgrWuerttemberg.png/464px-KgrWuerttemberg.png
3. Ingolstadt, Bavaria, GEM http://www.itcwebdesigns.com/tour_germany/oberbay.gif
http://www.coletta.de/kolonien/Koenigreich%20Bayern%201914%20+.jpg
4. Mont Blanc http://www.ski-montblanc.com/IMAGES/UltraTrailTourMontBlanc.jpg
5. Map of France and Chamonix (X) http://www.martynhicks.co.uk/personal/pics/chamonix/francemap3.jpg
6. Mer de Glace glacier, France http://www.answers.com/topic/mer-de-glace



Students can make a travel brochure for these cities or countries.

Updates from June

Highlights:

1. I celebrated my birthday one week early with the Gang. They surprised me by taking me to dinner at Saigon Star. That's when I discovered that Saigon Star had been renovated, and now it looks just like all the other Asian fusion restaurants, like Spring Rolls and Asian Legend. That's not a bad thing, except they changed their menu, too! All the former authentic Vietnamese dishes have all been expunged to make the menu more presentable and easier to read. That means that there's a lot less variety to choose from now.

After dinner, we went to see a movie, Shrek 3. The reviews weren't all that positive, and at the end, some of the Gang said it was quite boring, and I have to admit, the beginning was a bit boring. But, it was still very funny the rest of the way. I liked it and that's what matters most! =P

Then we went to have dessert at Kelseys. We ordered some finger foods and then two apple crumbles a la mode. The waiter even put two candles on it, the sparkly kind when it burns. It was so pretty! For gifts, I got a $50 dollar gift card from T&Ca, and then I got an elegant chrome watch by Guess from Cl. and D.

It was a fantabulous night!


2. On Friday afternoon, I went downtown to the World's Biggest Bookstore to buy a textbook for my summer school course. While riding the subway, I was reading Speaker for the Dead, the 2nd novel in the Ender Trilogy by Orson Scott Card. A stranger sitting across from me interrupted me to ask me if I liked the sequel, b/c he apparently doesn't think sequels are any good. I told him he should try it b/c in some ways, it's just as good as Ender's Game. Some ways.

He went on to tell me about the books he likes, and then I asked him his opinion on Robert Sawyer. Surprisingly, this stranger doesn't think very highly of Sawyer either. He was trying very hard to say that Sawyer is a self-obsessed, self-gratifying and self-promoting writer, but he couldn't say it. I could guess though b/c that's how I found Sawyer as well when I met him. The Stranger said that Sawyer believes he's a much better writer than he is. A lot of his ideas aren't that original. I TOTALLY AGREE!

Anyway, I thought that was so weird how I bumped into a total stranger who also doesn't like Sawyer. To be fair, I only met Sawyer once, and I haven't read any of his novels, only heard and read excerpts. But, the thing that is strange is that I don't feel like I want to read any of his books, especially after having met the writer and have heard the writer read live. This is very unusual b/c what has happened in the past is that when I meet a writer and I listen to him/her read live, the experience is so special and magical that I get sucked into the hype. This time, it was totally the opposite. Could you believe that?

How sad.


3. On Friday night, my mum had to go to her friend's house to help out with preparing the food for the next day's BBQ. My dad drove her, so I was stuck with babysitting Steph. She was okay at first, but then she realized that my parents were gone, and so she started to cry. I asked her if she wanted cookies, and she said no. Then I asked her if she wanted milk, and she said yes. So, I gave her the heated milk and I was hoping she would fall asleep after that. Boy was I wrong!

She wasn't feeling secure enough to fall asleep without my parents at home, so she sat up watching TV. Then she wanted to have cookies, so I gave her the cookies so that she won't start crying again. She had the cookies, and then went back to watching TV. A while later, she wanted to get out of bed and go look for my parents. I wouldn't let her b/c then she'll start crying again. But, she cried anyway. As I was helping her out of the bed, she vomited on me and the blanket! EW!!

I remained very calm, though. I was very surprised with myself. I took the blanket off the bed, put our clothes into the washer, and washed all the sheets. I didn't get to bed until 1:30 am. My parents came home in the meantime, and my mum was not pleased. She glared at Steph and the toddler almost started to cry again.


4. Finally, on my birthday, I stayed at home and filed. I have to file my stuff right away and organize everything, otherwise, I won't feel like doing it any more in the future.

Prom at Atlantis

It was a success!

Researching Aboriginal Canadian Myths and Legends

Tourism Victoria--with info on the Sasquatch, the Cadborosaurus, and a mermaid.

CanTeach.ca--a webportal to many sites

Native American Mythology--at Encyclopeadia Mythica

Turtle Island Native Network

Importance of the Wild Hunt

"[...]a phantasmal group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground, or just above it.^[1] The hunters may be the dead, or the fairies (often in folklore connected with the dead).<sup>[2]"
- Wikipedia

"[...]the Hunt was placed in the Tapestry to be wild in the truest sense, to lay down an uncontrolled thread for the freedom of the Children who came after. And so did the Weaver lay a constraint upon himself, that not even he, shuttling at the Loom of the Worlds, may preordain the shape exactly what is to be. [...] we have such choices as we have, some freedom to shape our own destinies, because of that wild thread of Owin and the Hunt slipping across the Loom, warp and then weft, in turn and at times."
- The Darkest Road, 102

This is why The Wild Hunt is so important to the world in the Fionavar Tapestry. I would also compare it to the pomegranate tree in the Book of Genesis. Both of them make it possible for humans to make our own choices. The pomegranate tree, however, is bad for us. The Wild Hunt could be both good and bad.</sup>

Understanding the World of Fionavar

"And on the north wind there came then the triumphant laughter of the first and falledn god, who was coming down on them like a hammer bringing fire, bringing war" (The Summer Tree, 166)

I never caught this part of the story on the previous readings, and I always wondered why Rakoth Maugrim was so powerful? Why did vanquishing his forces meant that he would be beaten down and incapacitated? Here was my answer this whole time.

Rakoth Maugrim wasn't just one of the gods who turned evil and corrupt, but he was the first god of all the gods. That's why he's so powerful, such that he has the power to create and to unravel. That's why he's called the unraveller.

When the Bael Rangat war ended, the humans and lios alfar had a lot of help from the other gods. It was Mornir, the god of Thunder, who gave power to the magi to helm their own magic, independent from the wild magic of Mother Earth, Dana. From that release Amairgen Whitebranch was able to bind himself to a human source, Lisen of the Wood. From the magic that they created, the humans had a chance. And in the end, they won the war. They were able to bind Rakoth Maugrim to the mountain, Rangat.

Rakoth Maugrim is invisible until he regained so much of his strength that he was able to materialize as flames and smoke. Otherwise, we can only see him through the people and creatures who work his will and carry out the heinous atrocities under his direction. When all of his carnal subjects were destroyed at the end of The Darkest Road, that stripped Rakoth Maugrim of his powers.

Explorations in Arthurian Legends: Chretien de Troyes

Explorations in Arthurian Legends: Sir Thomas Malory

Archetypal Medieval Hero: Lancelot

The Historical Arthur

http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/lancelot.html

King Arthur: A Character Analysis

http://theriverlands.tripod.com/Writings/Guinevere/guinevere.html

Faithful Companions

Culhwch ac Olwen

Lark and Nightingale Symbolism

Links
Sky lark in literary traditions
“A Treatise on the Meaning and Derivations of Armorial Bearing” by W. Cecil Wade, first edition manuscript 1898.
Birds in Mythology

The Animal Files: the Nightingale

Learning about Islam Part 3

More websites to visit and peruse:
NAFAS Online Magazine

Review of Bernard Lewis' "What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response" by Juan Cole

The Middle East conflict in a world perspective

LA Times.com "Lessons of modesty from the Middle East," April 13, 2007.

Learning about Islam Part 2

Sources:
Same as the previous post.

Important points and passages:
"The roots of their division can be traced back centuries. When the Prophet Muhammad died in 632, two groups couldn't agree on who would be his successor. The group now known as Sunni believed the new leader (or caliph) should be Abu Bakr (who led from 632-634). The group known as Shia believed Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali (who led from 656-661), was the rightful successor to the Prophet and that Sunnis usurped Ali's rightful leadership."


-Why should the Prophet Muhammad have a successor to begin with? Isn't he made a prophet by God, and not the people? Why did the people feel that they had any say in who "succeeds" the Prophet Muhammad?

" Al Wahhab advocated another of Taymiya's more controversial tenets - that some self-declared Muslims were really unbelievers and it was the duty of orthodox Muslims to conduct jihad against them.

In Taymiya's time, it was Mongol invaders. For al Wahhad and bin Saud, it was the Ottoman Empire, which ruled most of the Arabian peninsula. Bin Saud believed that his campaign to bring pure Islam to the Arabian peninsula justified his wars with other Muslims. "


- The CBC website also says that for modern Muslims, this jihad is of a personal nature whereby individuals have to wage their own struggle between harmonizing their faith with their modern lifestyles.
- This might be especially true for Muslims who are living in the West and are raised on Western beliefs and customs

" In 1932, the kingdom of Saudia Arabia was established."
- The history if worthy of more exploration.

I am particularly interested in the history section of the BBC website. It includes the following topics:

• Ibrahim - the Muslim view of Abraham
• Musa - the Muslim view of Moses
• Prophet Muhammad (570-632)
• Early rise of Islam (632-700)
• Islam in China (650-present)
• Muslim Spain (711-1492)
• Ottoman Empire (1301-1922)
• Mughal Empire (1500s, 1600s)
• Safavid Empire (1501-1722)
• Islam in the UK (1500s-present)
• Slavery in Islam

Learning about Islam

Resources
CBC Indepth
BBC Religion and Ethics: Islam

Important passages for further exploration:
"Islam's deep intellectual tradition may be seen in classic styles of Islamic expression, including maraboutism in Morocco (a saint-centred system of ruler-worship emphasizing Sufism), and the Shi'ite scholarly tradition in the Middle East."

" The history of Islam cannot be separated from the history of Islamic society. Throughout history Islam created political institutions such as the caliphate and the sultanate. But these institutions were eventually challenged as observers watched political revolution take hold in the dominant colonial Western countries.

This erosion is at the root of the political and social turmoil plaguing the Islamic world today."

"Most families in the Islamic world are monogamous, and the practice of polygamy is usually dicated by economic factors and the insistence of Islam to integrate all members of society into a family structure."

The above was all taken from the CBC website.

Currently reading Prince Caspian of the Narnia Chronicles. It's not as exciting a story as I thought it would be. The exciting parts only involve the children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.

What Kind of Reader Am I?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Book Snob
Dedicated Reader
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

It doesn't show on the image, but for book snob I got 75%. That is so true! I don't tend to read books that are on the bestseller's lists. For dedicated reader and obsessive-compulsive bookworm, I'm about 60%. That's also very true b/c I have this petpeeve about breaking the spine of the books I own. Lastly, I'm proud to say that I am only 10% fad reader.

Thanks to Grace Granger for recommending this quiz.

The Horse and His Boy, Book 3 in the Chronicles of Narnia

Okay, I just finished reading The Horse and His Boy (HHB) this morning. Bree is so delightfully annoying. He is so full of himself it's absurd! At the same time that I want to smack some sense into him, I also feel like I want to pat him on the back and tell him it's okay to feel inadequate. Most everyone is inadequate and very very few of us are great. Bree just has to get adjusted to the different surroundings and the different animals.

And contrary to my prediction about Bree and Hwin, they don't end up marrying one another. I find it truly hiliarious that Lewis would actually wrap up their story and explain what happened to these horses later on, and point out that they don't end up marrying one another, although they remain good friends. Isn't that just so hilarious? I think so.

I was keeping track of all the topics that I can write essays about. I know there must already be a lot of essays written about these topics, but instead of just passively reading other people's essays, I'd like to write some of my own. Before I do so, however, I'd have to do some more research and take notes. I'll use my blog as my notebook.

Topics:
1. Narrative Style - Lewis tells the story like he's a grandfather telling stories to his grandchildren. At some points in the story, it mentions that the story of HHB was actually recounted to the current narrator by characters like Bree and Shasta/Cor. I find the idea of a horse telling stories so hilarious. I'll be using this word a lot whenever I have to refer to Bree. Another thing I thought was worthy to note was the metafictional quality of the narration, such as when Bree debunks myths about horses that were taught to children through fantasy stories. This story itself is a fantasy story.

2. Background to Lewis' knowledge and love of animals - At some points in the story, I get the sense that Lewis would have been a great advocate of animals, especially horses.

3. Feminism as an emerging force in characterization - Hwin and Aravis are both very strong female characters in this book. Perhaps once I've read all 7 books, I will have a more complete picture of the female characters in the series. Perhaps only then will I be able to assess accurately Lewis' treatment of the Feminist topic in his stories.

4. Aravis and Shasta/Cor's characterization

5. Hwin and Bree's characterization

6. Race, the Other, and the Alienization of Persians, Arabs and Anglo-Saxons - This goes back to my very first thought about this book where I asked the question, "Does anyone find the basis of the story racist?" I suppose I should tweak that question so that it reads: What are some instances in the story that portray the Persian and Arabian cultures as the Other? What impact do they have on generating or perpetuating the alienization of Muslim and Christian peoples and cultures? How do they achieve that effect, if there is one? I do not dare to forget that Lewis comes from an educated British background, of which there inevitably would have to be certain facets that colour his view of the people of other nations and ethnic groups, not to mention the different religious beliefs. This colouring is a product of the upbringing and the time period in which Lewis lived. For this reason, I would not dare to call Lewis racist, but at the same time, I cannot read HHB and not see an underlying current of racial tension, subtle as it may be. This is something that I am very eager to explore in the near future.

7. Aslan as God
Some say that Aslan is more comparable to Christ, but the way he was portrayed in HHB, he appears to have more similarities with God. There's a saying that goes, "God works in mysterious ways." This saying came to mind frequently while reading HHB, especially every time the children and horses were being chased by the lion.

Khalil Fong 方大同 - 春風吹

Taiwanese singer/songwriter. He's a big fan of Michael Jackson, and at the Chik Chak 903 Music Awards 2007, he performed alongside Ivana Wong and Hins Cheung. He even performed the moonwalk very nicely.

This is his new song, Spring Wind Blowing.

Semester 2 Has Begun!

Yesterday was the first day of 2nd semester. I'm currently teaching grade 10 English, and two sections of ESLE.

I was very apprehensive about the grade 10 English class, becuase I haven't had a large class above 28 students since last September. I was afraid that I wouldn't know how to conduct myself in front of such a large group. It turned out to be fine. The students seem very friendly and cooperative. There doesn't seem to be any behavioural problems, as yet. The tip I got from DR, who taught this course last semester, is that the students must be kept busy for every minute of the class. Otherwise, they will start slacking and chatting and go out of control.

My 2nd period class of 18 students was lovely. Just lovely. When I entered the class, I realized how relieved I was. I felt like I had come home. "This is where I belong." It was a very surprising reaction.

My last period of the day was after lunch, and it was with seven students. SEVEN!! There were supposed to be nine, but two of them didn't show up. It was so quiet and so dead. There was no energy. I think I'll have to come up with a lot more group activities for this class to get them to know one another first, and build some comeraderie.

At the end of the day, I was so wiped! All of us were telling each other how tired we were, it was kind of funny.

That's all for now.

Kashgar's Desert Willow 喀什葛爾胡楊

Song & lyrics by Dao Lang (click on title)
Arrangement by Mac Chew

From the beginning, I never considered where
in my heart you should be placed.
From the beginning, you called to my imaginations.
At that moment when I was about to give you a special place there,
You had forgotten me already,
I, in turn, had to look hard and deep into my memory
for every little bit of our love,
hoping that your heart would turn to me again.
You told me that " 'Till death do us part" means one's entire lifetime,
and you would not give it up for me.

I felt that I should find other ways to see you,
yet fear that we shall never be together.
I'm willing to wait until our next life,
when we'll hold each other in our arms,
and you'll renew your love for me.

I will silently pray that when Heaven remakes this world
to pay you special attention so that your appearance will not be altered,
Then no matter in however impoverished a village or however noisy a city,
I'll see you and recognize you immediately.

Let me wander through this earth for three thousand years,
and grow as old as the Kashgar desert willow.

I will search carefully for you for centuries onwards,
and find you in any reincarnated form.
I do not fear the gusting of the wind,
nor the thrashing of the rain,
nor the burning under the sun,
nor any harm this sandy desert may do me;
I'll lay down my heart and my love plainly for you to see.
I would that my body be eroded over the ages by the wind,
and hope that then, you'll feel my true love.

Our love stopped in this century,
from the moment we arrived to the moment we left.
What landscape has it transformed into?
Our love is hidden under the soil, which has made it suffer so,
and become such a lament.

Kashgar page on Wikipedia
Desert Willow (Huyang) on Wikipedia in Chinese only

Rice Paper: Restaurant Review

Last night, my friends and I went to the new Rice Paper restaurant located at Leslie and Finch, inside Leslie Square Plaza. It is a new restaurant that just opened up about a month ago. It serves Vietnamese/Thai cuisine.

We got there nearly at 8pm, and we had to wait another 40 mins. for a table. The restaurant has a lounge area near the entrance for this reason. The couches were very comfortable to sit in, and they were also arranged in a pattern that allowed patrons to sit facing one another and chat while we wait. I really liked this touch. The 40 minute wait did not feel like it because we felt comfortable and cozy. This was a very nice touch.

The restaurant's interiors look very modern and very clean. By clean, I mean the view of the dining room from where you're sitting. The glass strips that divide the various sections of the dining room makes it look much roomier than it already is, being a big space. The glass strips also create a lot of optical illusions because of the reflecting light and images. Strangely, this creates a sense of privacy.

Unfortunately, the most important thing to a restaurant is not the appearance and the atmosphere, but the quality of the food. And Rice Paper's food is truly not worth the price ($20/person). Here's why:
1. "Bo Koh" - Vietnamese tomato and beef stew. The beef was so chewy, it was impossible to eat. This tells me that the chef doesn't know how to cook this cut of beef properly. Secondly, the soup in the stew did not taste anything like the authentic "bo-koh," which is made using a particular blend of spices. Without these spices, it will only taste like spicy tomato soup. This is my favourite stew of all stews, and I, needless to say, was tremendously disappointed.

2. "Bei-rgoong" - Shrimp wrap. This is another one of my favourites of Vietnamese cuisine. My family makes this occasionally, and I like to do the wrapping. When eaten fresh, the rice wrapping is soft, yet chewy. This restaurant "bei-rgoong" was not soft at all. It was, again, VERY CHEWY. This tells me that they were not made fresh.

3. "Chicken with Red Curry". The sauce was very good, excellent for dipping. They did not go cheap on the spices for this dish. The chicken was moist and succulent. The only drawback to this dish was that they put chicken wings in it, instead of meatier parts of the chicken. For a stew, that's a disappointment for me personally, but those who love chicken wings will love this dish.
NOTE: This dish comes with 1 small French baguette. To order the rice, it costs $1 extra. For another piece of baguette, it'll cost $1.50 extra.

4. "Thai Glass Noodles." This was the spiciest dish of all. That wouldn't have been bad at all, if not for the fishy tasting shrimps and squids. That tells me that they used very low quality seafood to make it. The seafood must have been the low-grade frozen type. I don't like seafood because of the fishy taste, and seafood that isn't fresh has a very strong odour of that fishy taste. This was the worst dish of all and that's why more than half of it was left uneaten on the table.

5. "Roat Pig's Neck with fake 'Fish Sauce'". This was one of the best dishes, but too bad it was only an appetizer. Thin strips of roast pork sat on a bed of lettuce with a fake "fish sauce." The FISH SAUCE is another major flop. It can't even qualify as fish sauce, which is the most basic dipping sauce to Vietnamese and Thai cuisine. Like ketchup to western dishes, and soy sauce to Chinese dishes, the fish sauce must not be compromised.

6. The Drinks. Very tasty, but you can't go wrong with drinks.

For the service, it was quite good. The servers were all very cordial and accomodating.

Atmosphere and service: 4 stars out of 5.
Food: 2 star out of 5.