This weekend is my second experience with very high humidity. The humidity presents me with a very interesting conundrum! We have a saying in the US that goes something like, 'Discretion is the better part of valor.' My (limited) experience in Viet Nam is that discretion is not just an honorable way to act, but a strong cultural expectation. Here's the next piece. To dry your clothes, you have to hang them outside in places that are usually public, take my room for example. Now, the question...how do you dry your underwear....outside...discretely? AND, how do you dry them when, by hanging them outside, they actually absorb the humidity and become saturated???
The answer I have discovered...you iron everything!! Yes, including your underwear! And, then you hang all your clothes everywhere possible in your room and plan on ironing them again later in the day...in part, to dry the moisture they absorbed whilst hanging to dry!
It's quite humorous, actually! And, I imagine, were I to tell a Vietnamese woman of my laundry adventures, she would have a hearty - though highly discrete - laugh! I think, in general, I provide some smiles to my Vietnamese friends, who very politely watch me struggling the simplest of things. And being, as I am, spoiled by western amenities, there are many basics of life that I am just learning!
Anyway, another topic! Today, after ironing my clothes, I had lunch with my friend. After lunch, she taught me how to drive a moto! It was actually really easy and I had a blast! So, I have a helmet, a poncho and the confidence to take to the streets! Now, it's a matter of finding my Hanoi Harley!
I wish you at least three good belly laughs today and a couple dozen smiles!
k
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