Wednesday, March 26, 2008

An interesting day

At 4:00 a.m. I awoke to answer emails - - it's the prime time for such a thing as it's 4:00 p.m. in the States. It still amazes me that I am able to function as normal here, communication wise. Kiet, the driver, picked T and I up and dropped T at work then took me to Hoe's house where I was to meet the fortune teller. Hoe and I spent about 45 minutes in the room overlooking the pool and just chatted about everything going on in my life as well as some of his business ventures and ideas. It was valuable time as Hoe is extremely busy and rarely sits long enough to chat casually like that. After a bit he retreated to his computer and I dug in to my book whilst waiting for Miss Huong, the fortune teller. She was a bit late due to a traffic issue but when she arrived she walked in the room and immediately began talking, expressing what she felt and/or saw around me or about me. Hoe jumped right in interpreting and continued for the next 2 hours while she spoke about me and to me in a chain-cigarette-smoking induced scratchy throated voice and with a piercing tone to her voice. I was her first foreigner, she said. And I told her (through Hoe) that she was my first fortune teller. How she knew about the things she told me I'll never know. I can't even try to figure it out but suffice to say I was astounded and shocked pretty much the entire way through the whole experience. It was enjoyable and surprising and had a profound effect on me for the rest of the day. I scarcely can take it in. It's not something I can even write about.

Hoe asked the fortune teller and I to join him at lunch so we moved into the dining room, the casual dining area, where his 3 cook servants served us a delicious meal: soup, mushrooms in spicy sauce, green vegetable in chili & garlic, and the best pork chunks I have ever had! For dessert we ate mango and pomellos in nuc mom, or chili salt. Yum! It was evident that the fortune teller felt close to me when she stood to fill my empty plate from the other side of the table - - she walked over, picked up my fork and used it to serve more food. Now that I know more about Vietnamese culture, this is a clear sign that there is a closeness between the two people. Hoe was taken by the whole experience. He said, "Here I sit with two ladies from different cultures who are meeting for the first time and I am the interpreter. It is amazing, the world, isn't it?" I have to agree. Wholeheartedly.

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