There are just so many that it only seems appropriate to start sharing the gaffs with a wider audience. We have gotten very good at making our Vietnamese friends roll on the floor and tear up with laughter. Here's the latest:
Last night in our favorite restaurant (owned by our friend Ha), the night began with John asking "How are you?" in Vietnamese - or so he thought. Ha scurried over. John spoke, and she said, "You want me to buy oranges?" I doubled over laughing (as usual), and we said, "How are you?" in English. Ha is extremely patient, so she spent the next hour or so trying to perfect our Vietnamese intonation. We have gotten used to making fools of ourselves every time we try to speak in Vietnamese, so the language laughter will keep on coming.
It was the cultural cluelessness that really got them going though. John had ordered a plate of prawns steamed in a banana leaf for dinner. It arrived with a steaming bowl of "broth" that appeared to have spinach (or a cousin) and lime floating in it. John thought...Bonus! Free soup. That Ha is so sweet. He enjoyed his prawns, ladled the mild soup onto his rice and shared some with Brianna. Shortly thereafter Ha's niece walked through the restaurant. She glanced at the soup with John's spoon in it and politely said, "That is for hand washing when you finish your prawns." Laughter. Again. This time there were about four women around the table trying very hard to be polite and not pee their pants as they laughed with us. Glad to provide happy hour in Hoi An where the jokes are free (and always on us)!
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