Thursday, July 28th, 2011The bathroom light went out this morning so I walked out to the street market to get a replacement. Unfortunately, there are no Home Depots or Lowes where you can just search online to find a nearby location. Linh came with me and we stopped by a couple stores and asked. It was 6,000 VND ($0.30) for two bulbs. Afterwards, we kept walking to find a spot to eat but stopped and picked up some to-go ice cream instead. I paid about $25 for 4 containers of New Zealand natural ice cream. What a mental lapse. I didn't realize how much I had paid until we left but whatever. We took it home and ate it. We, included Chi Thu, Sonny, and Bac Phat. The rocky road and chocolate mint was empty when our mouths stopped. Half of the cookies 'n cream was also gone. We didn't get a chance to crack at the vanilla. The ice cream taste: picture your typical American ice cream but more natural tasting.
Some lady sleeping in the marketplace.
After ice cream and lunch, Sonny breaks the news that Thuy (one of my Mom's sisters) is banging on the door over at Nhi Sam's house. Either Trong, Hang, or my Mom called him and said they all are pretending no one's home so they won't have to open the door to let her in.
Sonny's been wanting to meet her so we get on the bus and head over. I actually forgot to put on my contacts right before we got to the bus stop so I had to run back to the house while Sonny waited. I got back and the bus showed up less than a minute later. Specific route buses show up every 10 to 15 minutes. Pretty efficient. I was huffing and puffing when I boarded. Bus riders were staring me down as I was dripping sweat like crazy.
When we get to my aunt's house, the door was opened and Thuy was talking to my mom one on one -- across from each other. Apparently, Thanh (one of the college kids) came home, unlocked the door, Thuy ran in, and saw them all hiding haha. A couple of them (Hoa, Hung, and Hang) had already snuck out the back door.
As we walked in, Sonny bluntly says "so this is the lady that has been stealing money." I sit down right next to my Mom. Sonny sits behind us on the stairs (there are stairs right behind the sofa my Mom was sitting on).
I listened in on their conversation and get the feeling my Mom has already been blinded by Thuy's deceptions.
The history on Thuy: she's a liar, gambler, and scammer (even to her own blood). She tricks my Mom into sending her money. She says she'll split it evenly amongst the siblings, or have to buy or fix a much needed thing. But of course she cops it and gambles it away. In essence, gambling has eaten her up and she's pretty evil. If the phrase money is the root of all evil ever had a great example, Thuy is that example.
So after there was a break in the conversation, it was my turn to fire some questions at my aunt. I tried to be as respectful as I can. First off, I told her that back in 2004, when I was here, I heard people say that you stole a lot of money that my Mom sent over. She quickly cuts me off and pinpoints the blame over to Hieu (her brother). She said she took only a small amount and used it all on the project that the money was supposed to be used for. She starts crying. I stay stoic. Although I saw tears, I didn't buy it. She was like a faucet. The tears came free flowing out.
Secondly, I asked her about the money that was recently sent over. Where is it? She said she spent it all on the roof project that my mom sent the money for and the rest was dispersed evenly amongst the siblings (Trong walks by behind her and lips xao; xao = lie). Thuy goes on and quickly changes the subject and tells a story about how Hung got drunk and she had to protect him, AND a story that she has to pay for this and that, and ask me to do the math, and starts crying again. I stay stoic again.
Thirdly, I asked her about stories of her hitting her siblings over money. She quickly asked who and whom. I said I've heard you hit people to scare them. Thuy said no, never, and to ask Sam, Hung, and whomever when they get home. She picks up her cell and calls Hung but he doesn't answer. Then she calls "someone else," and that someone else confirms only to Thuy over the phone that she hasn't hit anyone. Again, she tells the same story on how she helped her brother out when he was drunk and make sure we know that she is very poor over here in Vietnam (oh my how fast the subject changed and the question dodged). She starts shedding more fake tears. I tell her to stop faking. I don't budge.
Finally, I told her okay, money is money. It's just that - only paper. I don't care if you took it or not -- this is a small issue. However, the big issue I wanna know about is why are people so afraid of you. She was dead silent. I went on. I asked her what kind of a person you must be if you come over to visit and your own sister, along with the rest of the family, won't open the door for you. She was dead silent. I continued. I told her I get into fights with my brothers and sisters also but after a week at most (even a month), I'd still end up forgiving them and forgetting. I'd still let them inside the house when they come over -- that only an evil person would be that feared or avoided at this cost. I told her it's the only explanation that makes sense to me in my head (my voice is raised at this point as I had to scare the shit out of her and possibly protect from any further repeats) -- tell me I'm wrong. She again changes the subject, tells a sad story, and cries. At this point, I pointed over at Luong and kinda put him on blast. I said, look, Luong's been sitting over there for the last hour and he hasn't said a word. My intuition is that he's scared of you. Luong stutters a bit and finally turns to Thuy. He said he and his family isn't scared of Thuy. That they just don't like arguments that she stirs up. That there was an argument a few nights ago between Thuy and his wife early in the morning. And that they didn't open the door because they didn't want any more altercations and he just needed to rest for the better good of his head injury.
After this, my Mom said a few words and I went into a friendly spirit to loosen up the mood. I finished off my lecture by telling her that you know it's all good. We're all family and we all have our downfalls. But these are your brothers and sisters. So when they come over, they're suppose to be welcomed, appreciated, and respected. Family eat together and play games together. I focused on nothing but positives and did not mentioned fighting or money.
After this long seminar ended, Sonny, Mommy, and I took Thuy out to lunch. I ran upstairs, hopped on Trong's computer and yelped (with google) a spot to eat. We walked to Duyen Que and ordered a bunch of fried rice, glass noodles, and chow mein dishes. We also got some egg rolls. The food was great. Each entree was between $2.00-$3.50. We also ordered some home for Trong and his Dad.
Momma and Thuy.
After I got home, Sam was back. She told me not to go home until Thuy leaves because she will hit her if I'm not there. I convinced Thuy to go home and rest, because I had to get back to go meet up with Tony at 6:15PM for basketball.
I was walking halfway down Phan Huy Ich street towards Truong Chinh when Trong pulls up to me on his bike and gives me a ride to the bus stop. It started raining on the bus ride back.
Pretty cool view. There's actually a passenger seat next to the bus driver. Shotgun baby.
When I got home, I bagged a pair of shorts, an extra shirt, my sandals, and Tony's shorts (shorts that I used as PJ's when I slept over on Saturday). I also grabbed my liter water bottle and told Linh to call me a taxi. It was raining so the bus wasn't an option.
I get to Tony's pad and we chilled for a little bit before we get on a taxi out to the gym. The gym is close to Tony's house in downtown. It's near the War Remnants Museum and the Reunification Palace.
We played against mostly foreigners. There was this Japanese squad that beat us. I played 4 games (none with Tony) and lost them all. My team sucked. They kept turning the ball over. Foos were traveling left and right. My shirt was drenched completely after just two games. We played from 7:00PM - 9:45PM. Some guy rents out the gym and pool all the regulars to pitch in for the gym booking. I gave this guy a couple bucks.
Afterward, Tony takes me to this massage parlor that had free noodles, fruits, and tea. The massage was pretty good. They step on your back and it's a full one hour massage. The cost is $10 plus tip. We tipped $10.
Tony and I actually didn't have much cash on us and we divided whatever we had left so that we'd each have enough for the taxi ride home.
Once we finished counting the cheese like pro hustlers and divided the goods, we split. I only had 70k on me and the taxi meter hit exactly 70k two blocks before reaching my cousin's place. I told the driver to drop me off on the spot and gave him everything I had on me, exactly 70k. I walked the rest of the way home, showered, and slept.
