Hey, ramblin' girl, why don't you settle down?: Of Tigers and Angels and Birthdays

Working in our midst at the career centre is a bona fide angel ... Miss Nguyen Thi Bich Nhi. She is our unfailingly sweet and positive administrative assistant who is an integral part of our team and helps us in so many ways. Besides other aspects of her job, she takes minutes at our team meetings, which I am sure can be quite boring, but whenever we get together for a meeting, Nhi always seems so happy because our team is together, cooperating and planning. She sets a good example for the meeting-weary among us. She is always excited to try the next new thing, like the video-conference with our colleagues in Ha Noi and we never hear her say ... do I look fatter than usual on the screen? Did you see how my arm wobbled when I waved?:-) She is very nurturing as well, as evidenced by her care for our office garden - she is so disappointed if plants wilt over the weekend and does her best to restore them, just like she does with the humans in our office! She envisions our windowsills full of flowers and plants.

The Compleat Office Gardener

Nhi is the youngest in the office, so most everyone is ‘chị’ to her; I love to hear her call Ha, Yen, Linh, and Phoenix “chị”. She has a great voice. I do believe that I am a particular challenge for Nhi, as I frequently lose receipts and fail to note where and when I did this and that and she has been extre-e-e-e-emely patient with me in explaining my cell phone issues and teaching me how to top up my account at the machine at RMIT. And she calls all manner of people to arrange or explain or apologize to when I cannot do it for myself. What a sweetie.

Despite Nhi being an absolute angel at work, she really loves to consider herself a tiger ... her astrological birth sign, I think. According to the Internet, Tigers are aggressive yet calm, warm-hearted yet terrifying, brave in the face of danger yet accommodating, gentle and mystifying in unexpected places. Tigers love challenges and surprises, like visiting strange places and meeting interesting people. People around the Tigers are easily captivated by the tiger's enthusiasm and way of life. Tigers find enjoyment in the unpredictable, and while other people would rather retreat, they are not afraid to move forward and explore the new and the unusual. Tigers are brave and courageous beyond compare and usually come out as winners in battles.
So, a whole new way of thinking about Nhi... I believe Tiger energy would be a tremendous resource and should be embraced ... and Nhi delights in being the “little tiger” in our office ... we apparently may have another unnamed one who might order bread and could have a position of authority, possibly. But I digress...

Bich Nhi's Festooned Desk

Nhi’s birthday is in May, but apparently her birthday was not celebrated at work due to oversights and an abundance of modesty and not wanting to bring attention to herself. However, with the motto, No Avoiding! We Will Track You Down and Celebrate YOUR Birthday, we decided to fete our sweet Nhi with a surprise half birthday party. Well, you can imagine how surprised she was, walking into the office on a Monday in November and finding her desk festooned with balloons ... she had no idea we celebrated half-birthdays. Now she knows better.

Nhi and Yen

Nhi's Birthday Arrangement

There were also flowers and a card and the pièce de résistance was supposed to be a cake with a tiger on it! Yay. OK, key words ... was supposed to be ...

As you may know, many businesses in Ho Chi Minh City operate their delivery services by motorbike and it seems miraculous that all those cake stores' goods get delivered without a hitch. Unluckily, poor Nhi’s tiger came a cropper and met his untimely demise somewhere on Nguyen Van Linh Boulevard. Along with the cake. And candles. Dum-dum-da-dum, dum-dum-da-dum ... Luckily, the driver was unscathed and quickly delivered another one in time for our noon-hour party. Nhi may have been disappointed, but seemed perfectly thrilled to have the delicious, flowery substitute, which proves my point that she is really an angel. However, that is just my opinion.