Vietnamese Hospitality

Something that continually amazes me is Vietnamese hospitality. When my relatives in Da Nang welcome me home, I generally assume that they're nice to me because they are my family -- which is a pretty safe assumption... I would assume. However, a lot of the people I've met and merely encountered are so nice. The hotel staff here, for example, are so friendly; they always ask about our day, offer to run errands for us because they know the best prices around town, and welcome us to eat with them. I can't help but want to give them something in return -- and earlier last week, we had the opportunity to. Here, we had discovered that it was Jenny's birthday that day and went out to buy her a cake down the street. =)

Chi (title we use to refer to someone equivalent to an older sister) Jenny's impromptu birthday celebration

What compels me to write today, however, was our recent visit to a French bakery. Let me start off with where the story begins: 

I decided to join a local gym with some fellow Fulbrighters because I usually like to do what I can to stay in shape. Running around Hoan Kiem Lake is an option, but truth be told, the street traffic, humidity, and pollution-heavy air make it less appealing. That, and my left knee has been acting up since I pushed my pace on a recent 10k race in Long Beach, so running isn't too great of an option for me right now. We try to go twice to three times a week before class, so we wake up around 5AM; jog or walk to the gym; work out for an hour; and then come back, eat, and get ready in time for our 8:30AM class. Just to give you a quick idea of our local gym looks like, it's about three floors (four if you include the pool): the first for heavy weight-lifting, the second of aerobics, and the third for general equipment use and cardio-machines. Interestingly enough, the first floor is always occupied by men, the second by women, and the third by both genders alike. My friends and I haven't really felt comfortable about pushing the social norms, but maybe one day, I'll do some heavy lifting on the first floor to shake it up a bit. =)

Since we're part of a local gym, we Americans / Westerners definitely attract attention -- more so questionable stares that I try not to return as we watch each other partake in our customary exercises. However, during our first week at the gym, a man named Ngọc approached my friend Quan and asked about us and who we were. He proceeded to tell us more about himself -- that he worked in America (Santa Rosa specifically) as a cook for awhile, worked in touristy hotels where he got to speak English, and now he owns a bakery called "Bánh Ngọt Pháp / Jammy, The French Bakery". He then invited us to come by whenever we could so we could hang out and try the pastries. 

Top to bottom: jackfruit, coffee sponge cake, baguettes and condensed milk

Due to after-class errands and activities we had to tend to, we hadn't found the time to stop by. However, after considering the fact that it can be considered rude to not follow through on an invitation, we decided to stop by with other Fulbrighters who were with us. We had no intentions to impose -- we just planned to stop by, buy some pastries, exchange pleasantries, and head home. We came upon a store front no more than 20 feet wide, three-quarters of it blocked by a glass case of delicious-looking cakes. It took a couple milliseconds to pull my eyes away from the case to call for Anh (title given to someone equivalent to older brother) Ngọc, who was in the back with his family closing up a transaction. He immediately welcomed us with a smile, beckoning hand motions, and pulled up multiple stools for us to sit on. He then poured us fruit-flavored water and brought out multiple flavors of cake for us to sample. As if that were not enough, he pulled out some fresh-baked baguettes for us to eat. If you know me and my sister, you know that we LOVE baguettes. But freshly made? Dipped with condensed milk? I felt like I died and had gone to heaven -- French pastry heaven.

Quan, me, and Koua are so happy with our freshly baked bread.

Anh Ngọc and his wife, Chi Hai, continued to bring out the goods: coffee sponge cake, Vietnamese dried plums, fresh jackfruit, more baguettes -- everything was amazing. In the meantime, we Fulbrighters engaged in Vietnamese conversations -- folks were doing so well with only four days of Viet class so far! --  and talked occasionally in English, as they had some understanding of it as well. They also told us that they wanted us to come by everyday after class to hang out, strengthen our Vietnamese, and strengthen their 12-year-old daughter's English-speaking skills. It was so fun getting to develop new friendships over food and language reviewing/learning. 

Top row: Justin, Amelia, Quan, Chi Hai, Anh Ngoc, Kate
Bottom row: Me, Koua, Amanda

Returning to the subject of Vietnamese hospitality, let me start off by saying I would never imagine this happening in an American setting. Maybe if Anh Ngọc were a friend of a friend at least, but he was just a man who was excited to meet people who spoke English and understood Vietnamese. He loved talking to us about his baking business and wanted to know so much about us. Also, I wouldn't imagine this happening in America for myself due to safety issues and the general feeling of guilt for taking up a person's time and resources without a prior relationship. However, we were at an open store front with lots of company, and generally, when people invite you over, it's not the half-hearted "oh yeah, let's go get dinner someday--"  they actually mean it. 

And this is also not me saying that every single Vietnamese person is like this. However, in general, people I have had the time to get to know here have been so warm and always wanting to give without expecting anything but company in return -- even though we all will return to his shop to give his family a gift for feeding us without letting us pay. (He did let us pay for baked goods that we planned to give to our friends.) Also in return, we will be sure to buy all our goodbye cakes from them before we leave for our respective provinces and bring our friends by to buy more pastries.