With Hannah life is always an adventure !!

I love this lady dearly, she is the mother of our friends and she only speaks a little English but she tries hard. I think the boys have designated her as the one to take me to the Metro, which is the Costco of Vietnam. Every time she comes to take me I have a new adventure. This time her son dropped her off at our apt and we were going to take a taxi. The only problem was there were none to be had, where they usually park in front of our building. Hannah does not like to wait so she asked me if it was ok to take the bus. Sure, I am up for that. The problem was the bus stop in front of our building was going the wrong way so we walked about a mile down past the KFC that we frequent. Now you have to picture the non existent sidewalks here. The bit of pavement in front of the stores and residences are where the motor bikes park or where they set up there carts to sell things, or where the people sit and eat. It is quite the obstacle course to walk these streets and you dare not walk in the streets because even if there is no one coming at the moment they creep up on you quickly. Back to my story, as we walked past an International English School she asked if I could teach English at the school, not sure what she was getting at, I said I was not sure what they required to do that. Then she changed the subject and told me that she thought that when I get to heaven I will be very blessed because I have come to her country and given up so much. I replied that I love her country and the adventure we are on, all the while trying to watch out for the potholes on the walkway and the traffic and the people who push by you because you are going to slow. I can multitask like any other good woman !! Finally we turned down a street and she showed me these lines drawn on the road, this was the bus stop. Ok so how do I know which bus to take? She started with the number 33, no 32, no 144. Well it turns out that the bus we took, number 32 did not go near the Metro so we got off after many miles with her talking to the driver the whole time. She grabbed my hand to cross the busy street and we then proceeded to walk another mile or so and after she asked someone we found the lines on the street again and caught another bus that took us one block. We had just passed the street that the Metro was on. We still were not at the store so we walked another six blocks and there up ahead our destination was finally in sight. By this time we had been on the road 1 1/2 hours. She hit the rest room and I the cafe to get a diet soda. We had made it. When we go to the Metro I try to stock up on the meats, they are from Australia, because I know I will not get back there for at least another month or so. I can usually look at an item and tell what I am getting but when I hit the laundry detergent aisle I had trouble choosing which bag of Omo, there brand of detergent, to get. I could tell some had different scents, by the picture of the fruit that it smells like on the front but then I turned the bag around and saw a picture of a washing machine, so I figured I had the right one, asking her was no good because she could not explain the difference to me. I will let you know how the next batch of laundry turns out. We proceeded to the fruits and veggie aisle. She was showing me all kinds of stuff I knew Mark would never try. She was trying to say the English word and I think I finally got ginger root. I did get some great looking apples from Washington State. They were about $2.00 a pound. My splurge for the month. By now we had been in the store for over an hour and it was way past time to get home and have dinner, 7:30. We paid for our purchases and as we exited to the parking lot we found only one taxi left. She talked and talked and talked to the driver and as we stood there I asked if we should get in, she said to wait. WAIT, I was tired and hungry and I don't care what it cost get me home !! All of the taxi's have a meter and they all use them so I am not sure what the issue was but finally he opened the trunk of the car, we put our items in and within 20 minutes we were at the apt. I unloaded my bags and paid the driver and she decided that her son was not around to pick her up so she took the taxi to her home. I was finally able to call Mark from the front of the building, cell phones or at least mine does not work inside the store. He came down, asked what took so long and I just said it was another Hannah adventure !!