Heaven and Earth

We are couchsurfing with a Vietnamese-British family in Hanoi right now who lives in the most expensive, guarded part of the city called Chuputra. With fancy cars and private schools, beautiful mansions and parks, it is hard to believe we are in Vietnam at all. Around the corner is the Singapore International School, for example, and fancy shops and spas. It is a nice break from the chaos/pollution/traffic of the city and we are grateful for a beautiful home and a lovely family with whom to stay. On the walls of this home there are many photos, one of which is our host family with Jimmy Carter. Our host "father", Robin, works for Habitat for Humanity and our host "mother" has her own bakery just outside of this gated community. Their son, Nicholas, has laughed his head off watching our kids box in their living room! As Grampa would say, "heatscore!"

Last night our family hosted some friends and at one point in the evening, our hostess told me that the woman beside me was Le Ly Hapslip, the author of Heaven and Earth and other novels. The authoress turned to me and asked if I had read her book or seen the Oliver Stone movie. My reply, "not yet". I remembered David Suzuki asking Papa if he had read one of his books on a flight some years back.

Our hostess brings baked goods home which have not been sold and so you can imagine how excited our kids are to try Arnie-like doughnuts! Although we are still gluten/wheat/egg/dairy/soya free, I think exceptions can sometimes be made and in this case, our kids had a doughnut each after their dinner.

Le Ly turned to my children and said, "if you want to grow big and tall like Nicholas (the 17 year old teenage son of our host family) you had better eat more vegetables. If I were your mother, I would not let you eat those doughnuts because you haven't eaten enough vegetables." Earlier she commented on how Asians never eat plain rice. I responded that sometimes, I love to eat plain rice and I do and so do the kids. Especially after lots of different foods, it can be nice to just have something plain. That's my opinion. And anyway, I am not Asian...therefore, a weird alien.

Later I read about Le Ly's life and kind of excused her for her unwanted opinions. I cannot compare the torture of having to watch everything we eat and having to say "no" to our kids because of bad rashes and eczema/diarrhea/sleepless nights and unwelcome behavioural changes to what Le Ly has survived and I will not. However, we never know one's personal story and so passing judgment and making insensitive comments should be avoided, in my opinion. I don't care if you have had spring rolls with Oliver Stone or not. My kids were faced with a smorgasbord of very strange and new foods last night (maybe dog?) and ate a little of everything. For that, a freshly baked doughnut by our hostess was in order and that put a good taste in my mouth, thank you very much.

Greetings from Hanoi! Onwards and upwards!