Monstrous Acts of Kindness by Complete Strangers
Example 1: We took a taxi from the airport to our Airbnb at 1:00 AM. Our biggest concern was not being able to find the apartment. Addresses in Saigon, in addition to the number and street name, have alley designations as well. For example, our Airbnb was 2/17 Ky Dong. 2 Key Dong corresponds to the location of the alley, and 17 is the house number within the alley. Our taxi pulled up on the side of Ky Dong. The driver jumped out of the car and pulled our luggage out of the trunk, placing it on the sidewalk 5 rolling suitcases and 2 backpacks in total. We paid him and thanked him, and the pressure was on to navigate from there by ourselves. But apparently his job wasn’t over yet. He grabbed two of the suitcases and started rolling them down the alley in front of us. Bret and I exchanged a look and hurried to catch up. A few minutes later, the driver stops and points to the address above a door. 2/17. We thanked him profusely and he walked off down the alley back to his car. We stood there dumbstruck for a few seconds, extremely thankful and surprised by his kindness.
Example 2: Bret and I were walking to the grocery store on what we thought would be a lovely hot sunny day. Two blocks from our doorstep, the skies opened up and poured buckets. We ducked into a small shop that appeared to sell everything: locks, drills, cigarettes, snacks, drinks, safes. The woman standing behind the counter ushered us under the giant awning keeping their products dry. She even grabbed a couple of plastic chairs and placed them behind the counter, motioning for us to take a seat. But something caught my eye- hanging on a circular stand in front of me were plastic ponchos folded up into little bags. I grabbed two and paid for them. The woman took the poncho from me, opened the bag, unfolded it, shook it a few times to get some air inside it, and then proceeded to pull it over my head and stick each of my arms through the holes. She put the hood on my head and then tied the string on the hood into a bow at my chin. She stepped back, looked me up and down and gave me an approving nod. It brought me back to when I was a little kid, trying to dress myself before going out to play in the snow. My mom would end up redressing me properly to make sure I wouldn’t get too cold.
Example 3: After moving into our new apartment, we quickly realized that our landlord only gave us one copy of the key to the front gate. Now that Bret and I are starting to do things on our own, this became a problem. I journeyed out to find someone to copy the key. I was told to look for a cart with the word “khoi” written on the side. I walked for a mile in one direction, happy to explore the area while on my mission. The sky started to get dark and I felt a few rain drops, which was a sign I needed to stop meandering. I approached a woman working at a bodega-like stand and pulled out my keys. I managed to get across what I needed by pointing at my key and saying “khoi” incorrectly a bunch of times. She gestured for me to follow her and we walked down the block together. After a few minutes, she stopped and pointed to a small cart at an entrance to an alley. It had a picture of a key on it. I thanked her and she waved her hand as if to say “it was nothing, don’t worry about it”.
Example 4: I finally rented a motorbike! She’s a semi-auto Honda and man, she’s hefty. I can barely hold her up by myself. Last night when I arrived home after meeting some friends, I parked my bike on the side of the alley where I live. I unlocked the front gate and then mentally prepared to push my bike up a steep (but small) ramp that leads to our courtyard. The first time I tried it by myself, the bike lost momentum halfway up and started to roll backwards. I lost control of her and it wasn’t pretty. Gritting my teeth, I told myself “Becca, get it up the ramp on the first try. There are a few teenagers in the alley behind you, watching every move you make while they wait for their friend. Don’t drop your bike in front of them.” After a few more seconds of mental hype, I pushed the bike forward with all my strength. It went smoothly up the ramp with no problem at all! I was so shocked that I looked behind me to check out the size of the ramp, maybe I misjudged. Then I saw why it was so easy to get the bike into the courtyard. One of the teenagers had run over and pushed the back of my bike, without me even noticing. I thanked him, happy that I had the help while simultaneously upset that I’m not strong enough to do it by myself. YET.
Example 5: We skipped breakfast on Thursday morning, so by the time we got to the bike rental place, we were absolutely starving. Right next door to our destination was a large restaurant. We walked inside, and our hearts fell. There were no empty tables, the place was full of construction workers on their lunch break. We stood there for a few seconds, wondering where to go next, when a group of workers started calling to us. They patted a little sliver of table that wasn’t being used. We laughed and shook our heads, not wanting to intrude on their lunch. But they insisted. Soon, they had pulled up two extra stools for us, grabbed some cups, filled them with tea and handed us napkins and chopsticks. We sat down gingerly, very aware that all of the workers at the table were staring at us with huge grins. We ordered our food and attempted to communicate with the workers but they spoke no english. Our lunch consisted of the workers refilling our cups when they were empty, and putting strange unknown foods on our plates for us to try. One man even handed us some silverware when he saw us struggling with the chop sticks. A woman walked by and handed all the workers small bananas, and they protested when she skipped over us. With the fruit in hand, we taught them how to say “banana” and they got a good laugh as they practiced out loud to each other. The guys waved goodbye when they returned to work, and suddenly the restaurant was mostly empty. I definitely preferred the loud, squished, organized chaos and the kindness that was bestowed on us by complete strangers.
