I've been in Vietnam for a little more than four years, and I keep learning more about the cuisine and culture all the time. I now know that fish oil sucks, the family is tops, and strangers here can be extremely friendly and helpful no matter how rude they are on their motorbikes. But, of course, there's more. For example:
I had a class the other night of high school kids and young adults, and the lesson in the book was about exotic vacations -- stuff like walking the Inca Trail; taking a submarine to the wreck of the Titanic, searching for Yeti in the Himalayas; and paragliding in Madagascar, or some such place. Only three of the 12 students in this class have a passport -- and they use that to go to Singapore -- and maybe one or two could find Madagascar on a map. In other words, the lesson was a struggle. But the class came to life, so to speak, when the topic of ghosts came up. One of the vacations involved spending the night in a castle that is reputed to be haunted, So I asked the class: Who believes in ghosts? Of the 12 students, 13 raised their hands (just kidding, but all 12 raised). They're believers. I'm not, but I did tell a weird and true story about a creepy hand I saw (or thought I saw) crawl out from under a bed in my house the day my grandpa died. I was six years old, so who knows? The class was fixated on the story (I am quite the story-teller, or BS-er, if you prefer). One student said he saw a ghost near Hanoi. These stories energized our class and the last hour together was productive and fun. I told this story to my wife, and she sort of admitted that she believes ghosts exist. Phuong asked me: "If you saw one, you'd believe in them, wouldn't you?" That question is a good sample of an argument/discussion with someone here. If I saw a unicorn, I'm pretty sure I'd believe in unicorns, too. Phuong's mother is also a believer -- in ghosts, not unicorns. Phuong and her mom talk about a haunted house down the street, a haunted tree from Phuong's youth, and spirits and ghosts at the Buddhist temple near our house. I'm not sure why ghosts are popular here, but maybe it has something to do with Buddhism and reincarnation. I have no idea and don't know what I am talking about. However, I never knew how much credence the spirit world had here until this class. Kind of scary, isn't it?
Some loose ends:
-- I've mentioned that businesses, including pharmacies, close here from 11:30 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m. daily. There's a giant pharmacy that opened on Vo Thi Sau, where I walk every day. Of course it closes, and it doesn't carry anything I want, like vitamin E cream and cordyseps vitamins (which cut down on my dizzy spells). However, they have every skin whitener known to mankind and, of course, they sell sheep placenta.
-- On my way home from my walk, something bit the hell out of my neck in the park. This wasn't a garden-variety bug bite. This bite hurt like my motorbike rib injuries, and I threw the apples and strawberries I was carrying all over the place because of the pain and shock of the bite. Four days later, I still have redness and swelling on my neck. Maybe a ghost bit me. Or unicorn.
-- I found a tree-filled coffee shop on the Dong Nai River that was almost nice, but the prices were too high, the service was slow, and there were red ants everywhere. I'm still looking for the perfect coffee shop where there are no red ants, the staff understands Cafe Sua Nong and the other customers leave me alone. Lido comes the closest.
-- Joanna is doing great, standing a lot and complaining a good deal, like her dad. She has a big appetite, like her dad, and is always wonderful to be with, like her mom.
-- My haircut is still ugly.
-- Our neighbor across the street has a giant pile of wood in front of his house. It has something to do with his business. At night, you'll see 10 to 15 rats scurrying in and out of the wood pile. Our next door neighbors have a 6-year-old boy who stays up until 11 p.m. playing, screaming, crying and kicking the walls. Phuong told the parents about the late noise waking Joanna up at night, and the parents responded: "Our son is so tired and grumpy in the morning, maybe because he stays up so late." If you saw a ghost, you'd believe in ghosts, too.
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