Fili’s world

.

“Excuse me” was a bad opening that had to lead to something unexpected. Usually, if they’re acting friendly, they would make an effort to call me by my name, but the use of the official “Excuse me” meant trouble. I turned around to hear Law and Anh saying “Tomorrow, we have big group coming, make reservation one month ago, you switch hotels… only one night…”. I paused for a second and made them repeat the statement so I would be sure that they’ve really said what I thought they said. The question “What do you mean - switch hotels?” was followed by “You go Sea Star Hotel across the street.”. Not that it matters in this case - but Sea Star Hotel is the hotel I ran from when I first got to HoiAn, being a crappy shithole. A storm was building up inside me and I had to make sure this is not some sick joke - “You gotta be kidding me…”. Their serious somewhat embarrassed faces under the boss’s stares had suggested that they do want to move me over there. “Why do I need to move? … I’ve been here for a month! you move the big group’s guests - not me… there’s no reason for me to move because some @#^^&% group is coming…” was all I could master. “Please, for me, I give you night for free, maybe you stay in the Yum’s (boss’s daughter) room”. Arrghhh! No use, I was already WAY pissed off, and replied - “This is truly unbelievable… I don’t want to switch rooms, not to anybody’s personal room or a dirty hotel, and it doesn’t matter if you pay me…” and left. Sending Tam to try and convince me didn’t work, as I’ve explained to Tam that in my twisted mind this is an unacceptably impolite-not-honorable-inexcusable hotel behavior. Every time I would leave my keys at reception they would say “Tomorrow you move hotels, okay?” to which I usually replied “No, I don’t think so”. So, this morning, as I was heading out the question repeated and as I said “No”, they said “So we don’t have a room for you tonight…”. I’ve looked in deep to gather all my anger management resources to keep from bursting into chaos at my one-month-good-hotel-friends. “This is fucked up, but so be it. I’ll pay when I come back and I will checkout… your loss”.

My second month VISA is going to expire at the end of the month (31/07) and there’s no way of extending it any further. If I wish to stay longer then I need to reside in a different country while my new VISA is being rearranged or go to Hanoi. Both options suck, and there isn’t too much time left here. The third option of a work VISA doesn’t seem possible or attractive at the moment.

Marketing systems overload. I can not bear hearing another Vietnamese person offering me - motorbikes, drinks, bicycle, clothing, shoes, sandwiches , food . Please! No more “Come have a look at my shop”, “I do cheap cheap for you”, “You’re very handsome”, “Take a look at the menu”, “O-to mo-to-bike, man”, “Where do you go?”… It never seemed to bother me too much, but my blocking mechanism isn’t working very well recently.

I thought I was here all alone. Aside from a small encounter with an African guy, it’s been ages since I’ve heard anyone speak Hebrew. But that all changed as I’ve learned that a family of Vietnam Israeli residents are staying in a hotel on my street. One day, while playing cards with Nhung (pronounced “N-Yum”) I did the mistake of calling out to them in Hebrew as they walked near the shop. Thanks to the help of Lieu, I’ve exchanged messages with their little 18 years old girl to try and meet up the Israeli family for dinner. So, we set a time for dinner at some restaurant that was suppose to be opened by a Vietnamese friend of the Israelis and I came to their hotel not knowing what to expect. Dear god, heavens above, Buddha have mercy. Nope, it wasn’t the one small family I saw on the street. There were 3 of them families, about 7 adults and half a million Hebrew screaming kids. Any hope for a quiet talk with local Israeli residents vanished into thin air as I tried to overcome the shock of hearing so much Hebrew in such a loud tone. Dinner was bad, really bad, not only because of the whole fanatic Israeli youngsters but also because the restaurant wasn’t prepared for such a massive demand on its first night. They’ve offered apologies, and I’ve tried to calm them down assuring that it was an “interesting night”, but I knew that this was Ko-Samui’s “Passover seder experience” revisited. If, at the night before, I thought that maybe I miss some of the Israeli fuss back home, then after that night I felt so exhausted that the whole experience might last me another couple’o month before I’d think that again.

.