She was quite captivating. Something about her demeanor, her smile, the way she puffed like a man on her hand rolled cigarettes that were big enough that you could be forgiven if you thought it was a joint upon first look. I wanted desperately to know this women’s story.
Her English was limited to four sentences it seemed:
“Hello dear.”
“Are you having a nice time?”
“I hope you are happy.”
Which made me wonder about her past “profession”. Prostitution is legal in Vietnam and the sex trade runs rampant throughout all of Southeast Asia. Its hard to explain because in my western mind, this type of work is so demoralizing and cruel for women to have to partake in. Here, its just another job. And perhaps if you’re the ‘call girl’ of a very important or wealthy man, you might be respected – even more so than his wife. This of course doesn’t make it right. Very few of them have it easy with many being forced into this type of lifestyle at some point during childhood. Many are abused and raped by their owners too. So that being said, my suspicions were not unlikely although I don’t normally like to assume. But with her hairstyle reminiscent of the 1940’s and her make up similar to that of Marilyn Munroe, oh and that huge joint of a cigarette…anyway. Her eyes said that she’d experienced a lot – at least two wars – and that she was not uncomfortable around foreigners like many other older Vietnamese that we’ve met. I don’t doubt that her French was much better than her English. And when she got on the bus with us, every other Vietnamese stopped what they were doing until she was settled, I think more because her self confidence seemed to require that kind of respect than anything else. She had to be at least 80. Still nimble and still quick-witted I’m sure because she had the people surrounding her paying attention and laughing. I wanted so badly to speak Vietnamese at that point.
But lovely. They say experience is the best teacher – I’m sure it is if you learn from it and share with others your mistakes and victories. But I was taken with the thought that no matter who she was now, nor what she been through, she was truly beautiful because she was created that way. Not perfect, but beautiful. I wish the guide books would tell you how to say “I think you’re lovely!” But I suppose that would just enable the English speaking population to further the ‘other’ problems…
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Tell us what you think!