I mentioned this earlier and I think it is proving to be true even more as illustrated by today. By ourselves or in pairs we are more approachable. We often leave the citadel area to get meals and I was remarking to Megan yesterday how each meal feels like an occasion. There is a small food shop close to the hotel, a family-run business, that has really tasty and inexpensive fried rice and in the last week, I have been going there every two days or so. Ever since I thought I had made a breakthrough in miming a take-away box, it has been even better, because the portions suffice for more than one meal for me.
I had gone there for a late lunch today and as I was by myself, one of the girls who serves us regularly and always has a cheerful smile for us, came and sat with me. She then chatted with me in reasonable English for a while, telling me she was tired after an afternoon of karaoke (there seem to be a lot of karaoke places here), about what she was studying and where, and how she was trying to improve her English (on another day, when I have time, I want to reflect on how much of a 'global currency' English has become. It is amazing, or perhaps it is not. But it is part of so many of the conversations we have that it is hard to not realize how valued speaking English is.) We swapped numbers and she said would like to practice English (not just with me but I suspect with everyone else she has seen with me as she was also curious to know about them). It was a pleasant way to eat my meal, and it took away from the occasional 'aloneness' of eating a meal by myself. On a funnier note, she also 'knew' I was from India :-). My face has my nationality stamped on it and even as I have known that, I have never experienced it with this intensity.
Edited to add:
As I was waiting in the hotel lobby, I also had a conversation with a civil engineer who it seemed was from a an area close the world famous caves recently discovered in Vietnam. I also chatted with one of the ladies at the front desk, who always looks so calm and lovely and had a beautiful braid down her hair. She mentioned she had a three year old daughter and we asked her to bring her to work :). All in all, it was a fun day!
I had gone there for a late lunch today and as I was by myself, one of the girls who serves us regularly and always has a cheerful smile for us, came and sat with me. She then chatted with me in reasonable English for a while, telling me she was tired after an afternoon of karaoke (there seem to be a lot of karaoke places here), about what she was studying and where, and how she was trying to improve her English (on another day, when I have time, I want to reflect on how much of a 'global currency' English has become. It is amazing, or perhaps it is not. But it is part of so many of the conversations we have that it is hard to not realize how valued speaking English is.) We swapped numbers and she said would like to practice English (not just with me but I suspect with everyone else she has seen with me as she was also curious to know about them). It was a pleasant way to eat my meal, and it took away from the occasional 'aloneness' of eating a meal by myself. On a funnier note, she also 'knew' I was from India :-). My face has my nationality stamped on it and even as I have known that, I have never experienced it with this intensity.
Edited to add:
As I was waiting in the hotel lobby, I also had a conversation with a civil engineer who it seemed was from a an area close the world famous caves recently discovered in Vietnam. I also chatted with one of the ladies at the front desk, who always looks so calm and lovely and had a beautiful braid down her hair. She mentioned she had a three year old daughter and we asked her to bring her to work :). All in all, it was a fun day!
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