As for the photo, it was taken in a small White Hmong village off the highway in the middle of Ha Giang province, the northernmost province in Vietnam. Everyone in the village was thrilled to see us visiting them - we brought gifts and the children loved playing with my blonde hair. But the girl in the photo was not so impressed. She stood against the wood slats of her one-room home with a frown until I came over to try to speak with her. Very few people in the village spoke the traditional Vietnamese that I had been learning in my class in Hanoi, but she was able to understand my rudimentary vocabulary enough to tell me that the sewing machine belonged to her and that she was learning to make clothes with it. She seemed pleased with how impressed I was, but never smiled. Considering how we, a group of eight foreigners, barreled down her dirt road and into her home, she remained protective of herself and her family. I did, however, get a nod of approval to take this picture of her, and I was lucky it came out embodying her strong will and beauty.