Arup Sudi

The Vietnamese call it Arup Sudi. At least, that's how it sounds, no idea how they spell it...

I'm going to visit Saudi Arabia in a couple of weeks time, as I've been offered a job there. I can't talk about the details here, but suffice it to say that I've promised everyone I will make my decision after I've been for the look-see.

I'm naturally a very decisive person, so I am finding the self-imposed limbo quite challenging!

Today I'm in Hanoi. I was scheduled to come up for a work trip today anyway, and lucky that was so, since I also have to visit the Saudi Embassy to get my passport stamped. In Hanoi, like in Saigon, most of the embassies are on on the same street, so in the taxi I drove slowly along until the next gate said Saudi Arabia on it.

Yesterday, I called to ask what time the embassy opened, whether I needed to make an appointment, and what the fees were. The guy on the phone spoke almost no English. I asked "do you speak English?" And he said: "Visa, 10 o'clock. Visa! 10 o'clock!" at increasing volumes until I said "OK!" and hung up.

I sent an email to the address on the website and got an error message: this email address does not exist.

I'm glad that I was already coming to Hanoi anyway, and wasn't making a special trip, as I may have had to - I wasn't filled with confidence.

At the gate of the embassy were two security guards. I arrived deliberately early at around 9:30, fearing a queue and knowing I have other meetings today. The guard said: "10 o'clock!" and "Arup Sudi?". I think they were worried I was in the wrong place, I'm not wearing my abaya today. When I asked if there's a cafe nearby they actually smiled and pointed me in the right direction. Let me tell you- it's not easy to get a Hanoi security guard to smile.

When it was confirmed that I would be going to Saudi, I put up a message on the Saigon expat listserv we like to call Unfair Neighbours.

I have to go to Saudi Arabia, does anybody know where I can get an abaya in Saigon?

And lucky for me, a kind lady wrote back and said she had one she's been trying to get rid of, and I was welcome to it. I picked it up in the morning before work on Monday, and my workmates helped dress me in it, and then took photos.

 

It made of very light fabric, but it's still hot under an abaya. Luckily I won't have to wear it all the time on this trip, just at the airport, and on the journey from the airport to the campus of the university. On campus it's not required.

I can say one thing about this decision - if I had to wear an abaya all day every day, I wouldn't be going.

It's now nearly 10 o'clock. 10 o'clock! Visa!

UPDATE: "The man who will sign this not come today."

"When is he coming?"

"We don't know."

 

Well, shoot.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Crackers?

A lot of life in Vietnam is sort of hurtling towards death. I don't just mean the motorcycles - though that's an obvious example.  Consider rather the demented bloody-minded ants who are thriving precariously on my kitchen bench.

Or the enormous, at least seven centimeters long, oily cockroach - whose rattling feet are audible on the tiles  even to me* - who was just sitting in the corridor outside my place this morning, waiting for someone to tromp on him.

Yesterday there was a lot of commotion around the canal - and a lot of people fishing too.  Overnight, someone had dumped A LOT of golden fishes - little ones, and great big ones and schools of them in all the sizes in between - into the murky waters.  And they swam! 

It's always surprising when someone pulls a live, usually quite menacing looking, fish out of the canal.  Just looking at that water I imagine that any organic material would dissolve on contact.  These fish were so alive yesterday that they attracted a crowd.  And this morning they were there still, swimming. Mr D slowed down so we could get a good gawk over the side of the bridge. 

What does goldfish taste like, anyway?

*Reverse cookie bite - look it up if you know me in real life.

Weird things people say

This morning somebody said to me:

"Wow!  Nice tan!"

And I went, Really?

And he went, "Yeah - your weekend really betrays you!"



I can only assume he was being sarcastic (though his demeanor didn't suggest as much).  I don't have a tan. I have what the Melanoma Foundation calls skin type 1: pale, freckly, always burns.  I've never had a tan in my life.

Furthermore, my weekend was spent either indoors at the shopping mall or indoors at home. I didn't do anything remotely interesting (hooray!).

What I think he was actually reacting to was the fact that today  I'm wearing no makeup (mascara is not makeup), and this is unusual on a weekday for me.  It's not a tan, it's a natural glow...