A Lovely Time

On the 5th floor of RMIT, where the Academic English Program is housed, there is a coffee bar called Bobby Brewer’s. The nicest young women work there, and as they serve really good lattes, I am a frequent customer. The staff varies from time to time, but there is a core group of barristas whom I have gotten to know fairly well. They help me a lot with my Vietnamese pronunciation.

Miss Thy is my strictest coach. She is also tiny tiny and as light as a feather. She cracked me up when she told me about having to do her military training recently, as part of her university program. She had to disassemble and reassemble an assault weapon that was probably the same size as she is. The defence of Vietnam is not in jeopardy, however, as she is feisty as all get out.Then there is Miss Be (sort of like Bay with an undulating inflection) who is the chief barrista and who often puts a heart on the top of my lattes. She is a latte artiste and always has the sweetest smile even though she usually works seven days a week.
Next is Miss Chau, who has got the coolest burgundy red hair. She is a student at RMIT and works part-time at Bobby Brewer’s. She is a go-getter and a lot of fun. Then there are two Anhs.The first Miss Anh has been at Bobby Brewer’s since a week or two before Tết and she is a tall self-confident young woman who is also very forthright and capable.

The second Miss Anh has been at Bobby Brewer’s for just a couple of weeks and she is quite quiet. I don’t know her very well yet, but she seems very sweet. Both Anhs primarily work on the cash register, although the first Miss Anh is making smoothies and frozen coffees as well.
At any rate, these fine young ladies invited me out for dinner on Sunday.

The first Miss Anh picked me up on her motorbike and we went into District 3 to a restaurant called Ganh, which is named after a “don ganh” (the two baskets slung from each end of a wooden or bamboo pole, which frequently carry food for sale in the street). The restaurant serves food typical of Nha Trang, which is a very popular beach resort, about half-way between Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang City.

So, none of my friends had ever been to Ganh before; they had looked it up on the Internet, and thought it sounded pretty neat. Well, we feasted, let me assure you. We had two kinds of fresh spring rolls and one kind of deep-fried spring roll. There were a few other appetizers of meat and shrimp in rice pancakes. And of course there were delicious blended fruit drinks. As for me, I love to drink tra da .. Vietnamese ice tea. We also had seafood lau, which is the Vietnamese hot pot. Along with the seafood go a lot of vegetables, such as bok choy, cabbage, okra, beansprouts and banana blossoms, which are sort of shaved very thin. The broth was just wonderful, with a hint of pineapple in it. Yum. Or should I say rất ngon ... very delicious!Here are 'before' and 'after' pictures.Miss Be took me home after dinner. I do love to ride on the motorbikes! I was so appreciative of the time we spent together but also aware that everyone had to get up early. Bobby Brewer’s is open by 7:30 ... and we were all a little tired the next day. It really was a lovely evening - one I will remember!
Just a note ... on Monday it was International Women’s Day, so I got to practice saying Chúc Mừng Ngày Quốc Tế Phụ Nữ ... which is a mouthful. All the female staff received red roses. A very nice tradition, don’t you agree?