Peace Corps info are in a few weeks ago, further dental works is needed, so that's what I will be doing once I'm back this May. That and maybe UCSD Sun God, unless the consensus says that I am too old to dedicate a whole day to getting wasted or UCSD got too lame and it's pointless to celebrate.
Can't say I'm not looking forward to it though. :)
I learned what it's like being rich today in Vietnam. Having your own driver. Owning a Benz while having Toyota is already considered baller status. Living it up in your 40s while learning about life in your 20s and working hard in your 30s is the secret. I think there's hope for little old me after all. I don't want to be rich, just enough for airplane tickets to go around.
I also learned how big the social gap between the rich and the poor can be, as is in every developing country out there. So here comes an obvious realization, even thought we bitch about it, and puts it down, and always wish we were living somewhere else, an average life in America is still sometime better than an average life somewhere else exotic. My one U.S dollar here could get me a ride, or a nice bowl of pipping hot and delicious noodle, or FIVE awesome thirst quenching cups of sugar cane juice, and any of these things are totally worth it.
Tonight, as I sat waiting for my friend at 9pm at night, a middle aged lady carrying two baskets of sweet toasted rice paper walking by, saw and asked me if I would by some from her. Usually I would say no, because I don't like sweet stuff, and because I wasn't in the mood for snacks (I was craving some late night noodles instead) but something about the way she asked me that made me really believed her when she said that business has been tough, and it would have been a favor if I were to buy some from her.
Now, I'm not a sucker for mushy things... not all the time anyway, and most of the time, I can tell if people are lying, because I am a big bullshitter myself. Takes one to know one, y'know, but I said alright, I'll take some. She sold me 3 for 10,000 VND, which is the equivalent of about fifty cents in U.S dollars.
If I dig around the bottom of my book bag, I probably would find enough coins to add up to 50 cents, so for me, this purchase wasn't that big of a deal, at all, but for this woman, she probably could use this 10,000 VND for something useful, like food.
Anyway, after almost an entire day of hanging around a successful relative, that little exchange got me a little sentimental so I thought I'd talk about it. I didn't think to take a picture of the food before I ate it, so both these pics are found online and do not belong to me haha.
How one seller manages two baskets otherwise known as gánh hàng rong
Toasted rice paper or bánh tráng nướng (this is the version with sesame seeds, the one I bought have no sesame and are much sweeter)
*Unfortunately I did not take these pictures. I found them on Google.
No comments:
Post a Comment