Old, Fat and Fit

Before I came out to Viet Nam I read that it is not a place to come to if you have any issues with self confidence or if you are sensitive about personal issues. I thought it was something of an overstatement at the time...I have since learnt that it is not!

Lack of concentration starts to get to me by 3.00pm if I have been on the computer for the day so I started to go into an open space and do some stretching exercises. Some of the local staff saw me and joined in. This soon developed into a daily routine. At 3.00pm every day, we have 10-15 minutes of stretching, exercises and a lot of laughter....just what the doctor ordered.

One day, one of my colleagues, a young women half my age with a darling sense of humour, a huge heart and a cheeky turn of phrase said to me one day rather tentatively, "Pat, you are...er...not very young...." I helped her out by clarifying that she was saying that I was old. She readily agreed and moved on to...."and you're not....er....very thin..." OK, so I am fat? "Yes", she agreed.

"Ok, so I am old and I am fat so is this going anywhere", I asked with trepidation. By this time, a little group of staff had gathered and were enjoying the dialogue enormously. "You're old and you're fat but you are much fitter than me!" came the response.

This became material for teasing for a few days. Oh yes, did I mention that Vietnamese people tease. They tease each other and they join forces with gusto when its my turn to be in the firing line.

Oh yes, and the other nickname that I seem to aquire in Ha Noi and in Hue is Big Mama. This is all despite losing around 12lbs since i arrived but put in the context of a nation of petiteness and youth (a population where 73% of people are under 35 years of age).....at ??? lbs (not giving that one away) and heading for my 60th birthday, I guess they're quite right.

To explain this next story, I need to tell you a little about the language. It is a tonal language meaning that one word can have up to 6 meanings depending on a slightly (to my ear) different pronunication. The word for beef for example means the same as the word for grandmother and vagina. So take care to get the pronunciation right or you could be ordering a slice of grandma or something worse.

So on this particuar lunchtime, someone was cutting up some fruit (ahh, the fruit here is just wonderful!) and she turned to me and said the name of the fruit, indicating to me to repeat the name which I duly did. My pronunication was greeted by a peal of laughter by everyone. Say it again, I was told.....again the tell take peals of laughter. From the giggles and the enthusiasm I assumed that I was saying something rude but went along with the joke. I was told afterwards that I had actually been saying the crudest word for the male reproductive organ......Believe me, even if my Vietnamese gets to an acceptable standard, I will never never ask for THAT fruit by name.....if I can't pick it up or point, I will go without it.

Laughter is something that is always bubbling away just below the surface here and the sense of humour of the people I know is disarming in its directness, sincerity and complete lack of malice.

So three months here and loving it more and more.

More photos coming soon..........

Pat

Anything that appears in the posting are my personal thoughts and comments and in no way reflect the views of VSO.