Off the chart: How to fit road rage and Mexican food into your Southeast Asian Worldview

There are moments in life when the unexpected happens. We could all agree on that, right? We take the unexpected as it comes and, usually without conscious thought, assimilate it into our worldview. Por ejemplo, you find yourself caught up in a bank robbery. The thief gets caught, like they all do, and you come out of the situation unscathed. You go home a little shaken up but none the worse for wear. Now, you have to fit that situation into your worldview in order for it to make sense.

"Well, I guess I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

The above statement implies you have a worldview based on fate and not one of providence. The latter would say,

"I guess there was a reason for what happened today, even if I can't see it now!"

Why am I talking about worldviews and the unexpected? Well, today was a fun day in Hanoi. The Farnums (picture on the way) had Team Lao and Team Cambodia over for Mexican food tonight. The Farnums are ELI team leaders here in Hanoi and have been serving as hosts - more appropriately, babysitters - for us trainees. They let us do laundry, show us around town, hold our hands across the street, etc. Aparently their house help can cook Mexican, so Erin Gripper (more about her and others later) dropped a less than subtle hint and, BINGO, dinner date for Thursday night (tonight) for Team Lao and Team Cambodia. Team Vietnam had already been over for Mexican, so they weren't invited.

So......

Ben Peters and his lovely and pregnant wife Andrea, Berkeley Shorthill Ph.D., Erin Gripper, Sarah Price, Melissa Tucker, and I piled into a seven-passenger van and headed for the Farnums. (Yes, there were eight of us).

On the way, our taxi driver... Wait... Lemme back up... There is a typhoon hitting Vietnam right now. It's name is Kummuri or something like that, and it's probably not a typhoon anymore. It just looks like a typical stormy day on the Gulf Coast, actually. So anyway our taxi driver was driving in the bad weather and accidentally bumped (barely nudged more like it) a moto at an intersection. The driver looks at his bike, looks up at us, looks at his bike again, gets off, comes over to the drivers side, we all hold our breath, the guy yanks the door open, cusses the driver, slaps him, and slams the door....

Excuse me! Waiter? A round of heart palpitations for me and my friends please!

Moving on from that adventure... wait... I need to say that I wanted to slap the jerk, because our tiny little taxi driver (couldn't have been more than 20 years old) was so embarrassed. I could tell. He just sat there and took it and didn't look left or right. I wanted to cream the guy on the moto, and I wished I could say, "Don't worry about it!" in Viet.

Ok, moving on from that adventure we arrived at the Farnums, and this part will be really short: WE ATE THE BEST MEXICAN FOOD I'VE EVER HAD. PERIOD.

So, upon reflection, I want to say that life throws you curve balls sometimes. I mean, homemade tortillas and guacamole and road rage were not on the agenda for today. How does one begin to process Mexican food, nay, outstanding Mexican food in Hanoi, Vietnam??? Much less during a typhoon.... I might point out that all this is taking place while my friends and family are asleep in bed on the other side of planet Earth, the implications of which I'm still unable to process. I think I need some tylenol.

I suppose the answer to my questions is found in knowing that, in our lifetime, little is left that is truly remote. I would also add that the more I'm around people of other cultures the more I'm struck by similarities rather than differences. Road rage? Could be Mobile, Alabama; could be L.A. or D.C. or, heaven forbid, Hanoi, Vietnam.

So what do you do with Mexican food in Hanoi??? You eat it, of course, and lots of it, and you don't ask questions.

Bryant