Long Lost Relatives

This past weekend was all about family.

This past Saturday I was having lunch with my Aunt Jackie at Coastal Flats when my mom called. It appears that a distant relative passed away in Fairfax. A delegation of uncles and aunts were going to leave Chelmsford to head down here but my grandmother was admitted into the hospital with an infection- so I was asked at the last minute to attend services on Sunday.

Now allow me to explain the family tree in this situation. My Aunt Lan on my Dad’s side married Uncle Hai… Hai Pho. That’s right Lan Pho married Hai Pho- who would of thought there were other Phos out there besides my family. Uncle Hai’s older brother passed so I was going to a meet with an entire family of Phos that I was probably related to somehow but not really. At least we all had the same last name, always a conversation starter.

So at the services on Sunday my Aunt and Uncle invited me to a family dinner Monday night at (where else) Seven Corners. I can’t turn down an offer of free food and a chance to catch up with my cousins Mai and Quang- so I headed over to Falls Church after work and I walked into the restaurant (ironically next to a noodle shack called Pho 75.)

The restaurant was empty except for a reserved half of the dining room full of tables and tables of Pho family members. I recognized a face or two from childhood birthday parties but for the most part I was walking into a family that I kinda fit in with but not at all at the same time. My uncle spotted me and quickly introduced me to a family member who was the MC of the dinner, who welcomed me and asked if I was ready to introduce myself to the family.

He shouted, grabbed the attention of the entire restaurant and said, “I want to introduce a new branch of the Pho family here today.” He then looked to me and I sheepishly stood up and introduced myself, my family affiliation, and my at the request of the crowd- the region of Vietnam I probably came from. I was nervous that the majority of the crowd may not know English but my mom assured me that, “they are very advanced.”

I proceeded to enjoy dinner with my cousins and their cousins, a table full of 30 something married couples. I worked the table pretty well, contributing to their conversation of Facebook and social networking. I did well enough that I was asked where a good place to go out in Arlington would be- the cousins wanted to get drinks after dinner but wanted to stay in Virginia. I was then invited out to the Liberty Tavern to join them for some fun.

As I walked out to my car I pointed out my plates and proclaimed that I must have the coolest plates in all of Virginia. The cousins immediately rushed over to start taking cell phone pictures.

After drinks at Liberty Tavern I knew I was on a roll- and I kept it going with my roommate Caroline with drinks while watching The Office. A pretty good night for a Monday.

The rest of the week was equally as busy. Tuesday Melissa and I went out to check out a staged reading over at Wolly Mammoth Theatre. I’ve never been to a staged reading and I was impressed with the quality of the performance for something done by acting students with only four hours of rehearsal.

Wednesday I sat in for a half of the 76ers/Wizards game. I believe the organization has reached a new low when the cheerleader couldn’t perform better than the team. When the Wizards Girls game out for their 1st half performance they huddled into their usual pre-dance stance but their song didn’t play. A variety of other tunes came on but it apparently wasn’t the right one. After 90 seconds of shuffling songs the girls ran off the floor to the boos of the crowd. Is it next season yet?

Last night Wendi and I saw the Odyssey over at the Foundry Theatre. I was able to meet the group I’d be working for starting next week as well as walk around the space. We had dinner over at Teaism, a quaint tea house that serves interesting boxed meals.

Now this weekend won’t be too eventful, I just finished Waltz With Bashir (don’t worry I’m done Oscar Watch reviews) and now I’ll be catching up on things before I jump into another theatre production- but I am looking forward to great weekend out next week.

This week was the start of lent, a period that means nothing to me but I know there are some others out there giving something up for 40 days- I’d love to hear what you are giving up. If I had to, I was thinking about giving up wearing clothes around the house, but Caroline wasn’t ready for that.

Related posts:

1. The Shiz My Family Says
2. A New Home
3. And Now A Reading From Paul’s First Letter To The Corinthians
4. A Last Fling
5. Thanksgiving