Letting Go of Control

I've been learning a bit about letting go of control here in Vietnam. The language barrier makes it difficult to express myself, so I can do little but allow things to happen as they may. On top of that, the Vietnamese seem to be very concerned about making things right, whatever they think that is.

The landlords have keys to our house & enter often to rearrange furniture, clean up, & bring us food. The other day, the landlady, Nam, brought us a cooler of ice & wanted me to put my fruit inside. I don't really like cold fruit, preferring to eat it at room temperature. But she wouldn't let me leave it on the counter, so I put it in the cooler. It was more important to make her feel like she was helping me than to refuse her efforts.

Yesterday Nam took me to the beauty salon. I had made a comment (really just a gesture & a smile) on her own decorated nails, & she was nice enough to take me to get my own nails done. The salon was not as bright & clean as you would find in the US, but it worked.

I decided to ask for a pedicure. My toenails soaked in tuperwares of water as I relaxed in a plastic patio chair.

I only wanted them to paint my nails blue (in honor of Sharon S!)...

...but they had a better idea. I decided to let them do whatever they wanted rather than try to stop them.

So now I have Vietnamese toenails!