Typical lunch (l to r) bread, fruit, vegetables, pork and popcorn! Hello, all--
Today is the kind of day in Vietnam that I would never thought I would see last June when sweat was dripping everywhere. It is pleasant. No, wait. That word is not adequate. Gorgeous. Spectacular. Exquisite. It is sunny, breezy, and cool. God has wrung every drop of humidity out of the air. It is dry and beautiful. Yes, Virginia, it can happen...I have turned off the air conditioner in our schoolroom and opened the large window. I have thoroughly enjoyed this day, but my mood is changing. The sun is disappearing into dusk and I feel certain that this kind of day is a special, and all too rare occurence.
I am coming along with language study. Our friend Duc really put me through my paces in our study time yesterday, firing off one question after another in Vietnamese. What time do you eat breakfast?When does school begin?What will you do this evening?Do you like to take walks on the beach?Who will go with Jillian?I think he was getting some personal satisfaction in my struggles--it is just exactly what he has gone through learning English. Ha!With a good bit of delay between the question and response, I could usually put together an answer in (mostly) Vietnamese. Or at least Venglish (part Vietnamese and part English).
I have noticed that I enjoy speaking Vietnamese and being understood. So I can understand why so many Vietnamese people approach us when we are out and try out their English. On Sunday, we went to Big C after church. A man in a suit came up to me as we were leaving to catch a taxi. "Are those your daughters?" he asked tentatively (I think it was a test for him to see if I would understand his English). He beamed when I answered him. "You are American?" I said yes. "Exactly where in America you from?" It took him a moment to place Kentucky. Then his face radiated a huge smile. "Today I get married!" I congratulated him. He showed me the ring for his intended, snugly pushed on his pinky finger. Then he said, "In America, you elect a president. He is Obama?" I could tell how please he was to be aware of all this information, and to be able to communicate it clearly to a foreigner. I can identify with that feeling. Funny how universal is the desire to be understood.
With the change in weather, most of our family is battling sniffles and coughs right now (I, thankfully, am not). One interesting thing here is that the department and grocery stores do not carry over the counter medicines (or thermometers, alchohol, etc.). You have to go to a pharmacy--usually a storefront business. No prescription needed for anything--you just tell them what you want (I don't know if they carry narcotic pain killers or not). They do carry all kinds of cough medicines for children and adults. You do not have to purchase a whole package. We bought doses for one day, to see if we found them effective. The upside is no waste. The downside is you have to go back and get more if you like the results. They put the pills in tiny baggies and rubberband them. I have found the cough suppressants to be quite good.
Having been here a few months, we are finding a new "normal" with so many things. I hardly notice when I use chopsticks to stir the tea (all the long-handled spoons are too wide for the narrow pitchers), or open a liter-box of milk or juice, or use a meat cleaver to chip ice cubes away from the frozen mass in the freezer. It's just daily life in Danang. I am getting used to being stared at, and even nonchalant about seeing the man at the bridge who sells dead fowl from his motorbike everyday for people to take home to cook. I am almost used to Bee putting two rolls of toilet paper on our paper towel holder in the kitchen. Some restaurants even use kleenex or toilet tissue for napkins.
A friend in Virginia used to say, "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not break." Today, I pray for grace in all our lives to keep the main things the main things, and give some room to others who do things differently, see things from another perspective, or want a goal other than our own.
His peace to you today!
