Outlook English Club : Essay by Dylan the Chef: My best party ever!

Two days ago, my friends and I had a night party with with Jon and Bonnie, a German couple at Nha Homestay. It was so great because I have not seen my friends for a while.

Before I came to the party, which was hosted by my English teacher- Miss Nhu, I had been obssessed with my inability to have a normal conversation with strangers in English.

I imagined that I would be too nervous to articulate anything. My heart was beating so fast when Bonnie and Jon said "Hi" to me. Fortunately, they were very friendly and humourous.

They seemed very patient while talking to me and my friends. This helped me a lot because I had been given enough time to think before I opened my mouth. As the night went on, I gained my confidence back and I was not worried about my shyness for practicing English anymore.

We had a very interesting one-hour photoshoot together in the Bohemian bedroom at Nha Homestay. We called it the "Victoria's Secret photoshoot". We took over a hundred pieces of pictures.

We did different background settings and posed with all kinds of emotional expressions.

We laughed a lot, as if tomorrow would never come. After that, Bonnie taught us some yoga postures. She and Jon instructed us to shift our bodies via various moves.

These exercises had made us feel better and stronger right before we went into the kitchen and prepared our homemade meal.

Helena and I were voted to cook two Vietnamese-styled vegan dishes: Banh Xeo (Vietnamese pancake) and stired Pak Choi with some delicious topping like garlics and wood ear mushrooms.

While we were making "Banh Xeo" and Pak Choi, Miss Nhu and Jon put a lot of effort into their black bean sauce noodles.

Meanwhile, Michelle brought to the party a vegan salad that she especially made for Bonnie. The food contains healthy ingredients such as rice noodles, fried tofu, peanuts, mint leaves, and different kinds of vegetables.

There were a lot of leftovers that night, in spite of my initial thought about our modest food portions.

After a full meal, we discussed about psychology. Can you believe that? Sometimes, I heard some strange psychology terms. However, I pretended to understand all of them.

Still, this was the best party I have ever attended. But all good things must come to end. At 10:30 pm, we hugged, shaked hands and said goodbye to each other.

I would like to say thank to my teacher for hosting this event. By speaking up at the party, I feel it easier now for me to start a conversation with a foreigner.

Special thanks go to Michelle, Jillian, and Henry for taking good pictures of me

I appreciate Helena a lot for being my assisstant in the kitchen.

I am very grateful to Jon and Bonnie for hanging out with us, and teaching us yoga.

Please come back to Vietnam next time, I will cook for you guys tastier dishes. Hope you both having a good trip to Ha Giang today.