I've always been a fat slob, but now I'm a fatter slob because the donut lady started coming to our house every morning. Phuong and her mom thought they were doing me a big favor by getting six to 10 donuts a day for me. Like I said in an earlier blog, these donuts have an extremely thick caramelized sugar coating, which I assume is put on after the dough is deep fried in trans-fat-filled oil. Some of the donuts have a kind of green bean paste filling, which is yummy. In fact, all of the donuts taste good. Unfortunately, they're a death sentence, and they're not something you can or should eat every day, although I gave it my best shot. Phuong took a look at me and stopped buying the donuts this week, saying they're better if you only eat them once in a while. What she's really saying is that I'm fat. The donuts aren't big, but they pack a wallop (see photos on right). I'll take a break for a while. It was simply a case of too much of a good thing.
Good news: I'm back in the good graces of the Hu tieu girls. The 38-year-old with the doctor friend from the U.S. said she wasn't shooing me away. She said she was saying hello. I disagreed, of course, because the White Monkey knows shooing when he sees shooing, but we let it pass quickly and all is well. The Hu tieu girl said that I didn't understand what she was saying because of my headphones. If I were to die here -- oh God, please don't let that happen -- the Vietnamese would write the following epitaph on my tombstone: "Here lies White Monkey who didn't understand". The Vietnamese always forget articles, like "a". The tombstone would no doubt have some graffiti on it as well: "What your name? Where you from?"
Some sad news, but not totally unexpected.: The park near our house where I used to do some Tai chi has gotten seedy. I was coming home from my walk at 11 a.m,. and I passed though the park just in time to see some loser standing with his pants around his ankles taking a pee -- in front of God and everyone. This little wiener -- in every sense of the word -- wasn't behind a tree or being discreet. He was peeing and proud. Of course, he's friends with my sleeping buddy, and this dynamic duo hangs around on flattened cardboard in the middle of the park. Some other guy shows up regularly with a German shepherd and another big dog -- leash-less, of course -- and nods approvingly as the dogs threaten all passersby. More cars are parking in the park. And naturally, more motorbike riders zip through the park these days, which is completely understandable. Why use the traffic-free roads that run alongside the park when you can ride your motorbike through the park and anger pedestrians and guys taking a piss?
I'm still trying to gather documents for Phuong's visa interview at the U.S. Embassy. I really need a break in the United States with my wife Phuong and daughter Joanna, especially after the rough week of classes I had. Adding to my frustrating week: people have been pointing at my daughter when she's out and about, saying "my" (pronounced me), which I think means foreigner or American in Vietnamese. Give her a break folks, she's two months old. Actually, Joanna is doing very well, thanks to her mom's tireless efforts. She weighs 13 pounds already, is quite tall, and consumes mom's milk around the clock. She's smiling a lot, and making more cute baby noises every day.
I really miss playing tennis with Phuong, and I even started jogging a little to help my ailing right ankle and prepare for a possible comeback on the court. But finding a partner is the biggest challenge, so I make do with walking these days.
No comments:
Post a Comment