Lunch and shopping and dinner

I met Debi and Sherry at Jaspa's for lunch. Sherry is the new chairperson of ILV, the women's group formerly chaired by my cousin, Eileen. We talked about living abroad, their experiences of Vietnam, my experiences so far, and laughed a lot. We got to talking about foods we love and had a hankering for peanut butter so ordered some toast and peanut butter. It arrived on a plate, like a beautiful presentation: a jar of peanut butter on a white plate. It was no Jif sandwich but it was yummy. Now I just crave my air-popped corn w a little butter!

It was a great morning and a good way to re-enter Saigon. Debi and I headed off with Kiet, the driver, for Saigon Square to look for purses. It's a great place for "quality" knock-offs and I found 4 purses to buy. In the end I paid 1,300,000 dong or the equivalent of about $80US. A couple are leather, a couple are leather-like. Regardless, that comes out to be $20US apiece so who cares! And they're cute.

To pay for them I had to go to an ATM which was across the street. The clerk took us over there and pointed me toward it. I opened the door to the ATM (like a little outhouse-looking thing) and a guy was standing in there. Debi and I laughed so hard because it was like he was using the toilet and I had just walked in on him. He wasn't but it was like he was. He laughed with us even though I'm not sure he knew what we were laughing about. I pulled out 2,000,000 dong and ran back to collect my bags. Then we went to Saigon Centre, a very fancy version of shopping compared to Saigon Square. It was really fun and we sniffed candles and lotions at a natural spa supply store. I also found a great furniture shop that wasn't inexpensive but really great stuff!! Funky and modern designs that are completely to my taste. Very fun.

Kiet brought me home and I relaxed a little bit. Then I called Son's niece, Lan, whom I had talked to while with him last night. She speaks English very clearly and Son really wanted us to meet so we arranged a meeting for 5:00. I also called Un to see if he could join us but he was at school so I didn't talk to him. Lan arrived and we greeted each other warmly and I felt an immediate connection to her. She's beautiful and very curvy and sexy, not the typical Vietnamese style that I'm used to anyway. Her hair has a permanent curl and we both noticed each other's hair: yours is naturelle, she said. We connected instantly. She just had a baby 2 months ago so we looked at photos on her phone of the little girl. After talking for about 30 minutes her husband Kien stopped by. He's tall, handsome and has a huge smile with sparkling white teeth. His eyes sparkle when he smiles and they're just adorable. He stayed for a few minutes then left again. I got the feeling that he was there just to make sure she was having fun - - I think if she wasn't she would have left with him at that point but she exclaimed to him in English how much she liked me and how much we had in common and so he left saying he'd back in a little while.

Meantime, Lan and I drank tea and juice and talked on and on. It was fun and interesting getting to know a person from another culture. We decided to call Un again and invite him to dinner. It turns out Thu, his mother, was still with him so he asked her if they could join us and they did. Son called a few times throughout the meal with messages to me and to converse with his niece and son. We ordered dish after dish and I was so happy because at last this was my chance to pay someone back for their hospitality! We talked on into the night discussing things like orthodontics, golfing, re-living the weekend we had just spent together, and discussing a potential future in the United States for Un and Ngan and possibly Lan. By the way, the family confirmed that there was no way I could have eaten dog last night - - but then I re-described the experience and they weren't so sure. I'm not so sure!

I secretly asked for the bill which I received to a lot of argument from the others. 775,000 dong was the total or about $40US (for 5 of us). I didn't think I had enough so I was quickly strategizing in my head as to what to do but realized Kien was already negotiating with the waiter in Vietnamese and handing over money to him right under my nose. In the end it was a good thing because I only had 400,000 dong.

We hugged goodbye on the street and said the customary 'see you again' phrase and off I went to Diamond Plaza right across the street. It was definitely my last time to see Un and so we kissed on the cheek and I felt like crying. He's such a great kid. I made it back to the apartment before shedding a few tears. At Lan's suggestion, I emailed Son through Binh and talked about how Un needs braces. "You're a dental professional so he listen to you," Lan said. Hopefully he will be Un suffers from headaches, bruxism, and has crooked teeth to boot with a slight underbite. We'll see. Orthodontics are huge here! That's another change I've noticed since my visit in September - - a lot of people have braces.