Gossiping In Eden Center

Dana, Dao and I were at Thanh Son today buying some sweet treats. The line was long and Dao didn’t want to stay inside. I took him outside while Dana was waiting to made orders. Outside the store, there were two women selling fruits and banh it (sticky-rice dumplings). The older lady is probably in her late 70s and the younger one is probably in her mid 40s.

The younger one is quite aggressive. She would grab anyone walking by trying to sell them something. One time she grabbed me and offered me some banh it in the bag for $10. I told her that I only wanted half of it for $5. So I handed her a five-dollar bill, but she insisted that I give her a twenty because she needed some change. When I gave her a twenty, she threw it in the bucket and gave me two bags of banh it instead. I took my money back and told her that I didn’t want to buy anything from her. Since that day on, she hasn’t harassed me to buy anything.

Back to today, as Dao and I were outside waiting for Dana, I heard the two of them arguing. The younger lady accused the old lady of spreading rumor about her. She said in Vietnamese something like, “You told people that I have diabetes.” The elderly responded, “I do not spread rumors. I only mind my own business. Yes, I said you have diabetes, but I never said anything about your pussy dripping wet.” The exact Vietnamese words were, “lon chay nuoc.” I couldn’t help laughing, but I had to drag Dao away. When I told my wife, she said, “You don’t need to be in Vietnam to hear Vietnamese gossiping.”