I will never never never learn everything there is to know abotu Vietnamese culture. Though I did expect less surprises to happen to me after being here for a little while.
Now, I don't intend to mock the people or the culture. These are just the facts.
I learned three new things this week.
First: While I was in the office one day, the secretary Phuong, was eating in the office. Noises while eating is not one of my favorite things, but much more noise is acceptable in Vietnam. I mean, obviously, noodle soup, what choice do you have?
We've heard many people, especially men, suck on their teeth to get food out. But Mrs. Phuong just started burping. About once a minute for a while. And it never stopped. No one else looked up or commented. I think I looked at her a few times, like, "Are you ok?" "You need some tums?" Nothing. Burping. Constantly for an hour.
Second: I was at Oanh's house. We talked outside drinking ice tea for a while. She went inside and brought out all of the gifts I've ever given her. 2 Christmas gifts, birthdays, coming back from America, etc. She had them all wrapped in plastic. She showed me them proudly, all in good condition, and proudly announced that she'd never used them. I know she meant to compliment me, or to show me that she was taking good care of the gifts, but that was not my intention for them.
I gave her a journal to use at school. A bracelet to wear (though her religion doesn't really allow for flashy jewelry, it turns out). A picture frame to display. A keychain to go on a key. Fingernail polish to share with her friends (though again, I gave that to her before I really knew her). And she has never used any of them.
I should have known that though because I brought a snowglobe back from Hawaii for my friends who have a juice shop here. And they thanked me a lot, asked me how much it was, then boxed it back up so it wouldn't break.
And third: I was searching for a particular color of fabric the other morning. I had a sample of the color and material to show the ladies and ask if they had it. I checked the famous Bến Thành Market because we were there already, but couldn't find it, so I went to the market near my home.
In Vietnamese I would say, "Do you have this color?" And in Vietnamese, the reply was always, "Have!" I would look at the fabric they had and they did NOT have that color. They might have had shades of that color, but not that color. I went to dozens of shops that did not have it, and they all said that they did. I was getting frustrated.
I've known for a while that Vietnamese people don't like to give bad news. Who does, really? But I just assumed they would know that I'm not going to buy what I don't want. They were tricky too. Some of them said they had it, and immediately asked me how many meters I wanted, before even showing them the fabric.
One woman even showed me one that was very similar. Same color, slightly different material. I said they were not the same, and she said they were the same. I asked how much and she said, 70,000 vnd. I said, I bought mine for 50,00. Then she told me that they were different and mine was low quality.
The next woman I asked said that she didn't have it. I almost hugged her.
End of story, I did find what I was looking for. I have my material and I'm now a little more savy in the market. And I learned 3 new things this week, so I've met my quota and don't intend to learn anything else until next month maybe.
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