o be there for this day. I arrived early in the afternoon on Christmas Eve (December 24) and walked around the city to see what was going on. I had arrived in the city prepared for the holiday. Earlier I had a tailor make my Santa Claus non la, the traditional Vietnamese conical hat but covered in red and white like the cap of Santa Claus. At first I was disappointed since no one said anything as I walked down the streets in District 1. In fact, I felt a little foolish. Here I was, a grown man walking around a city with a silly hat on. I'd thought people would smile or greet me, but no.However, as evening approached and as people started to leave work to prepare for the holiday, their reactions began to change. People smiled at me or said "hello" or "Merry Christmas", and this made me feel better. When it became dark, the traffic on the streets started to get increasingly heavy, and many of those on motorbikes had children who were also dressed up. Some, like me, just had on Santa headgear (though none had a Santa non la like I did), but others were wearing whole Santa outfits: cap, jacket, pants, and boots. The kids, of course, looked adorable, and I took a lot of photos.
As the evening went on, about 20 people asked to have their photo taken with me, and maybe another 100 simply took my photo without asking for permission. And that, of course, was fine by me. Anyone who dresses up in a silly Santa hat on Christmas Eve is asking to have his photo taken, and I was certainly pleased that people wanted to include me in their photographic memories of this night. I took maybe a hundred photos of people, stores, costumes. Some didn't turn out very well because of the poor light, but others came out pretty good.
What did I learn on this example of "Going Places"? Well, I learned that sometimes it pays to be patient. What seemed like a silly idea at 4 PM (namely, walking around with my Santa non la) turned out to be, at 9 PM, a pretty fun thing to do. I also learned that sometimes it's a good idea to take a bit of
a risk. I wasn't sure if my hat would work and was a little reluctant to try it, but I'm glad that I did. Finally, I learned the importance of planning ahead and of testing. It took several days to get my hat made, and if I'd waited till the last minute, I wouldn't have had any hat to show off in. Also, I got a chance to test my Santa non la the night before at the annual English Department Get-Together at Tra Vinh University. The reaction there was positive, and that gave me more courage to go ahead with my idea of parading around a major city dressed in a somewhat crazy manner.
a risk. I wasn't sure if my hat would work and was a little reluctant to try it, but I'm glad that I did. Finally, I learned the importance of planning ahead and of testing. It took several days to get my hat made, and if I'd waited till the last minute, I wouldn't have had any hat to show off in. Also, I got a chance to test my Santa non la the night before at the annual English Department Get-Together at Tra Vinh University. The reaction there was positive, and that gave me more courage to go ahead with my idea of parading around a major city dressed in a somewhat crazy manner.
No comments:
Post a Comment