B: It’s typical summer weather in Hanoi because the summer is also the rainy season from May to August. In the summer Hanoi’s temperature rises high. In the peak season of June to July temperatures may rise above 40 DC. But in the afternoon and evening there are usually heavy rains and thunderstorms may occur.

A: Ratan Kumar Paul of India told us that they are facing very hot weather now. I’m so sorry to hear news that India is in the grips of a monstrous pre-monsoon heat wave that has killed more than 160 people in recent weeks. The majority of the deaths have been in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The soaring temperatures have compounded ongoing drought and water shortages across India and threaten to affect as many as 330 million people.

B: We’d like to share our sympathy with India’s people for the consequences of the natural catastrophe. Unusual and extreme weather phenomena have occurred in many places in the world recently. In Vietnam, hailstorms hit many localities across the country during the past few days, causing damage to houses and farm production.

Hailstones damage orchards in Lao Cai province

A:  In the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, a strong whirlwind and hailstorm swept through six communes in Bac Ha district on April 24. It killed one person, damaged more than 100 houses, and destroyed around 60 ha of maize and herbs. Hailstorms occurred in mountainous communes of Nghe An province on April 21 and 23. Hailstones as big as 6 to 7cm in diameter damaged fibro house roofs as well as food crops. In Quang Nam province, hail lasted for two hours in Ch’om commune, Tay Giang district, on April 23. The first-ever hailstorm came after two months of hot weather without rain.

B: Mr. Ratan Kumar Paul said in summer all schools in India are closed. He asked whether the Vietnamese government takes the same decision or not.

A: Yes, we do. The summer vacation varies from one to three months, applying to preschool children and students at different levels. The children are free from school in late May and go back in early September. Although the children have a summer vacation, their parents have not. Summer child–care is a big issue for many families.

A summer class at Children Palace in Hanoi

B: Most schools have summer classes for some hours or half a day for children to play sports and develop their talents in music, painting, and dancing, chess, badminton, volleyball, football, and swimming. Besides schools, cultural and sport centers, libraries, and youth clubs also open more nature-engaging and self-exploration activities for children to release their energy.

A painting session in the park

A: Nurseries are closed for just two weeks to a month. They will open at parent’s request to offer full-day care for the pre-school children. Now let’s continue to read listeners’ letters. We welcome back Ullmar Qvick of Sweden after a long time no see.

B: He emailed us saying: “It’s been a long time since you heard from me. I’ve been listening to your broadcasts from time to time without taking notes for reception reports. But now I feel such a long time has passed and you may wonder about me. I’m mostly all right for my age of 81. I broke my right arm just before the new year, but I’m almost restored. Lots of job to do, especially at the Red Cross, so I keep busy. And now I got more active in world radio listening again.”

A: Ullmar, it’s great to receive a letter from you and know that you’re doing well. For your broken arm, we wish you a speedy recovery. Your reception report for the program on April 22 at 1900 UTC on 7280 khz tallies well with our station log and we’ll verify it with our QSL card soon. Thank you for your remark that the frequency on 9730 khz was under strong interference from CRI China. We hope to receive more feedback from you.

B: From England, Andrew Svonja listened to your broadcast on 7280 Khz on Tuesday, April 19. The section he listened to including a commentary on oil prices in the Middle East and a story on the Bauhinia flower, which can be used in a number of food dishes. It was a story about the Bauhinia, a symbolic flower of Vietnam’s northwestern region, which is in full blossom in March and April. Thai women use it as an ingredient in a number of dishes.

A: Andrew noted that there was a lot of noise at the beginning of the reception from unknown stations and at 19:25 a very strong morse code signal completely drowned the signal. SINPO rating was at all 3s.

B: Thanks very much for your technical remarks, which are useful for our Radio Technique Center to monitor our broadcast quality around the world. I’m reading an email from American listener Richard Nowak. He sends us mails almost every day.

A: Whenever we check our mailbox, we expect to receive a note from him. He wrote in a letter on April 24 “I enjoyed tonight’s show on 12005 kHz from 1:00 to 1:27 UTC. I listened with an Icom IC-R75 hooked up to the off center fed dipole with overall length of 41 meters. Reception overall was very good. SINPO was 55444. The News mentioned the President attending a ceremony in the Central Highlands and visiting a VOV transmission station. Cool! Freedom of navigation in the East Sea was mentioned and North Korea successfully testing a ballistic missile aboard a submarine.”

B:  He continued saying “The fabulous Sunday Show had a great segment on Vietnamese Ritual Singing. Trance rituals, an interview with a singer, description of the 16 string zither and bamboo flute, and beautiful music were all included. I enjoyed tonight’s show. It was informative, educational and fun.”

A: Richard has got our new QSL cards, he said “These are beautiful and show lovely and unique settings in Vietnam. Awesome, thanks!” Since we told our listeners that we are issuing new QSL cards, many of our listeners said they are eager to collect all 8 designs.

B: We are more than happy to send them to you. This week we acknowledge reception reports from Richard Lemke of Canada, Fumito Hokamura and Toshiya Nishimura of Japan, Abdur Razzak and Mizan Rahman of Bangladesh, Andy Martynyuk of Russia, Muhammad Shamim and Muralidhar of India, Ian Anderson of the US, and Muneer K.P of the UAE. You’ll receive our new QSL cards soon.

A: Thank you all very much for listening. Please send your reports to English Section, Overseas Service, Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Our email address is englishsection@vov.org.vn. Thank you for listening and join us again next Wednesday for another Letter Box show. Goodbye.