Before I go to sleep, I wanted to share an example of how ridiculously nice Hue people are.
Last night, the rim of my bike tire bent like a gummy bear (I can't quite think of any other comparison right now... maybe because I'm craving gummy bears), and I wasn't able to take it home. Luckily, one friend from our group had a motorcycle and he offered to take it up to the dorm for me, and I was ever so grateful. However, by the time we reached the dorm, the front gate was locked. Before we realized we had to go to the other side of the building, we had already dismounted and unravelled the rope from around the bike. I decided I was too tired to put the bicycle back on the motorbike, or to even throw the bike over the gate, so I locked it to a tree outside the building and called it a night.
In the morning, I wondered if my bike had gotten impounded or stolen. I came outside and saw a heavy chain around the front tire. I walked over the man who watches over the bicycles, waiting for a long lecture about how I should come back to the dorm before the gate closes, how I should never park the bike outside, etc. I put on my sweetest voice and started with a "Bac oi..." ("hey Uncle...") --
A little background on my relationship with Bac -- he saw that I didn't have a ride to the airport to catch my flight to Sai Gon, and instead of letting me take an expensive taxi, he offered to drive me on his motorbike. I honestly thought he didn't like me because I would always smile and say hi to him, and I wouldn't really get anything back. But over the bike ride to the airport, he warmed up to me and talked to me about his family and all his travels. He's really an awesome guy.
Back to the story -- I approached him very calmly and told him about the situation. He told me that he didn't impound it. He just wanted to put a chain around the front tire to make sure it wouldn't get stolen. I would've hugged him right then and there if it were appropriate. (Vietnamese people don't really hug.)
After he unchained it, the womyn who sell me banh mi (sandwiches) waved me over to have breakfast. (Once you have loyalties to one banh mi stand -- there are about 3 at my school -- you can't go anywhere else. Not that I would want to. They're like my aunties.) I told them I had to walk my bike over to the bike shop for it to get fixed. They said that it was too far for me to walk and carry it. They turned to a random motorcyclist and told me that he would drive me and the bike over the shop, no problem. Only 10,000 dong (50 cents). I lifted the back wheel, thought about walking that way for about half a mile, and decided that I could pay up the 50 cents. Another man helped us get the bike on the back of his motorbike, and we rolled off.
Once we got to the bike shop, the driver had a young boy help him carry the bike off his. I reached into my wallet to hand him the money, and he asked in Vietnamese, "Are you trying to pay me?"
I confirmed yes, but he waved me off. "It's okay," he responded in Vietnamese, and he took off.
I dropped off my bike, and came back two hours later (uploading pictures on the blog and the heavy rain kept me from coming over sooner). I couldn't believe my eyes -- the mechanic had fixed the frame so that it looked completely new. I was so convinced that I would have to buy a new one, but he found a way to straighten out the wheel within the past two hours. I had my hand on a big bill in case he was going to charge me an arm and a leg, but then he finished and said, "35,0000." ($1.75) I handed the bills to him in disbelief -- no way would Americans ever be this efficient in fixing a bike frame, nor would they do it at such a cheap price. I thanked him, trying not to seem like it was too much in shock, and was able to continue the rest of my day now that my bike was fixed.
Whenever I see my friends and family outside of Hue, I always talk to them about how super friendly and nice Hue folks are. I was told this prior to coming to Hue, but I had no idea it would be to this extent. Maybe it's me comparing the people here to people in America, where folks are mostly individualistic and untrusting (and sometimes, rightfully so). Hue is truly the epitome of what it means to be a collective society -- where people look out for one another because they value each other as a whole, and that's how their community works.
America definitely has a thing or two to learn from this city.
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