is friends. So i run across the street in order not to get wet, and they make a seat for me. I am then asked if i want a beer and i politely said no, as i dont like beer, to which i was told, i had a choice beer or juice, so naturally i chose strawberry juice. So we sat there, they watched cricket, we joked, laughed, watched the street flood to over a foot deep.
The young Vietnamese guys and girls who work next door at the Thai restaurant started playing in the street, taking turns dumping each other in the water. Then they started with one of the guys i was sitting with, trying to soak him. This eventually led to us standing figuring out the best way to get home or cross the street without being soaked to the core. I didnt want to get my shoes wet for the third time this week, so i decided to take them off, roll up my pants legs and walk across in my socks. As i was rolling up my legs and about to take my shoes off, one of the Vietnamese guys looks at me and makes the gesture he will carry me across. By this time he has long been soaked from all the play, removed his shirt, and was sitting. I was going to say no, but i could tell he truly wanted to carry me across as an act of kindness, and out of fun too, because everyone got a good laugh with him carrying me across a flooded street. As my friends Darren Ruffles and Colin Patrick Weiss often say, im always astounded by the simple acts of kindness around here. I plan on buying this guy a beer or two, because i do believe after 6+ months of being here off and on, the shyness has finally left, and im just one of the regulars here. Nothing sexual, nothing perverted, just a pure act of friendship and kindness from so many people tonight."Kelly Padgett is a photographer from North Carolina, USA, now working in Vietnam, mostly in Saigon.
No comments:
Post a Comment