Just a simple human

One of the questions I have posed to my students as a conversation starter is, "If you could have any super power, what would it be?" While answers like flight, super-strength, and invisibility are certainly acceptable, I try to get them to be creative. To give them an example, I usually tell them that I would want the power of knowing every language. Every time I say this, though, a part of me raises a little flag. Would possessing an innate knowledge of every language make them less valuable to me? Sure, at a basic level, languages are about communication. If I knew every language that would be undeniably useful, valuable, even super. But, if I wasn't learning languages, if I just knew them, would I analyze them the way I do love to do when I am working to internalize every new word and structure?  Is part of my love for language the thrill of the chase, the sense of triumph that comes every time another piece clicks into place? Absolutely.

This evening I had dinner plans with Trang, but before that I accompanied Morena to go get some food. On the way back, Anh Thu, the pajama shop lady, waved at us from across the street and gestured for us to come over to her. I wondered if she was going to try to sell me more pajamas. I probably would have obliged. However, she just wanted me and Morena to sit and chat with her. At first things were going surprisingly smoothly. I understood enough words to understand her questions. She asked how many people were in our families. I answered. She asked if I had a boyfriend. I said yes. She asked how tall he was. I told her how tall. She said Americans are very big. We were having real conversation. And then we hit a road block. We spent around 15 minutes trying to get around it. It was at this time that I reflected on the relative joys of learning languages versus knowing languages. I have to give Anh Thu credit; she wouldn't give up. Actually, I intuited what she was saying pretty early on, but I didn't know how to make it clear to her that I understood. She was inviting us to join her for lunch tomorrow. She tried using English and I tried rephrasing with my limited Vietnamese to make sure my intuitions were correct. But, neither one of us was quite getting through. Eventually, we concluded that yes, she was inviting us to lunch with her tomorrow. Next she wanted to know what we liked to eat. Everything. But I don't know how to say that in Vietnamese, so I just started listing all the food I know (which is the bulk of my vocabulary anyway). She just laughed. We may have spent over half an hour having a conversation that would take five minutes between two people who are fluent in the same language, but it was really nice to just sit and talk with someone and discover or confirm that I am able to have some form of conversation, at least when my co-conversant has the patience for it. Tomorrow I'll find out what comes of tonight's chat, and I'll bring my dictionary to have smoother sailing.

Anh Thu and her little helper

I went out to dinner with Trang, her son, and her sister. We ate a fancy version of spring rolls. Beef thigh, pork thigh, mystery greens that were even mysterious to Trang and her sister (one smelled like licorice or anise), pickled papaya and shrimp, cucumber, pineapple, pickled orange and white carrot, and vermicelli. Despite my penchant for piling an unladylike amount of everything onto my sheet of rice paper, I was able to maintain my daughter-in-law-quality rolling. Once again, it seems fitting to say that this was one of my favorite dishes.

Next we went for drinks and dessert. I ordered a jackfruit smoothie, but got coerced into getting an ice cream like everyone else, as well. On one hand, having ice cream feels so out of place here, but the topping of peanuts and caramelized jackfruit helped bring me back to Vietnam.