I am always amazed at the simple, but weird things that happen here. Tonight I waa playing volleyball...you play one game and then sit out a game. This way everyone has a shot at playing two or three games each evening. Tonight I am sitting on the bench next to the court (just a cement slab in a parking lot)...and this little kid about 3-4 years old comes up and sits down beside me. As I usually do, I say HI in English first...just to see if I get any response. The little kid is sucking on a baby bottle full of milk. He looks at me and says Hi...what's your name? I almost fall off the bench. I tell him Gay-oil (my phonetic Vietnamese name...no one can really say Gail). He says Hi gail, my name is Poppy. Wow...this little baby-bottle sucking runt knows more English than most adults!
I try to push the envelope a bit and ask him how old he is. He says 4 years old--a bit old for a baby bottle..but I have seen kids that age still breast feeding here. Well, to get right down to it...this little 4 year old and I have the most in-depth conversation I have had with anyone in the last 48 hours! We chat about typical four year old things. The motorcycles...the clouds in the sky....his new red ball....his new family car which is "big and black". I am totally amazed.
When the vollyball game is over the players come to where we are sitting and this little 4yr old starts talking to them in Vietnamese and asking me questions in English. I answer and he translates back....meanwhile he is taking sucks on his bottle in between questions.
This was the most amazing experience yet! I still am shaking my head. I asked him about his English and I guess his mother is an English teacher and that he has been to England already. Wow.....that kid was really amazing! I wanted to take him home just to keep chatting....primarily because I don't have many people I can talk with.
So...just another amazing day here in Hanoi, Vietnam!!!
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Wow, now that is really cool! Don't you wish you were 4 years old and still had the language facility of a little kid? Its just unfair that those synapses close so early!
I love imagining you playing volleyball, doing tai chi, eating in the dorm cafeteria...it sounds like you are adapting and meeting your daily challenges very well. I bet you can't wait until Phill arrives! Tell him he needs to have a blog too. I want to compare his experiences to yours! Not to mention Sherry Ott's in HCMC...although she is in HCMC now, she is still posting her writings from teaching in a Nepalese village on her blog. Its like reading a novel - I can't wait to find out what happens next! Same with you Gail - keep posting, I love your posts!
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