Vietnam Day 10 (6/17/09)

I've been having pho withdrawal lately so I went with Kendra and Molly to the best pho place we've found so far (the one down the same little side-street I'm always raving about, muoi tam or 18 in English...I'll be referring to it as 18 alley from now on since it has no official name). I'm proud to report that I am getting the tinsiest bit better at the language and ordered my pho and cafe sua nam in almost complete sentences. I was however a little less confident at bargaining for fruit on our way back, but between me and Kendra we managed to get some lovely mangosteen and dragonfruit. By the way, the food here can screw with your stomach a bit. I haven't been sick, it just feels a little odd, like my stomach is still adjusting to being here. Still, the food is so good that any side-effect is worth it. Later, I sat down in the guest house's little patio to finish reading the papers Rylan gave us. While I was reading however, I found the biggest distraction in this place - a little Vietnamese girl whose mother works at the cafe next door. She's got to be one of the most beautiful little girls in this country and she was so giggly and curious about me that I just had to play with her. We didn't speak the same language of course (despite the few Vietnamese words I tried to use), but I found the language barrier to be quite irrelevant. Neither one of us wanted to talk, we wanted to play. We stated a short distance from one another with her on the edge of the patio, hiding behind potted trees and popping out to surprise me. I played peek-a-boo and made silly noises and faces that all sent her into fits of giggles. When we'd established a report, I moved closer and we played around the trees. This child has a tireless appreciation for peek-a-boo - I'm convinced it's the only universal language. Eventually I sat back down, at which point she came over to me and sat across the table and we started mimicking each other's funny faces. When her mother (a very sweet woman who I attempted to greet in Vietnamese) came over and sat with us, the little girl got bolder. I think she'd been afraid to touch me before but now she grabbed my hands and we spun each other around the patio. I played with her for about an hour, so long I was almost late to Rylan's seminar, but it would have been worth it. The simplest things are always so much more meaningful with a child.

Rylan's seminar couldn't possibly compare with the entertainment the little girl provided, but it was certainly interesting. We went over the history and government of Vietnam in an hour, which is of course impossible but he did pretty well. That night, the Duke students rediscovered TV. We watched "Species," which is supposed to be a horror flick but can easily become a comedy when you can make fun of it with a big group of people. We had a hilarious night, though it involved very little sleep (that could be a problem tomorrow).