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By chance, going to the Tan Dinh market, we saw a foreign woman walking, wearing a hat and polite clothes with a foam box in front with various kinds of cakes. This person smiles very cheerfully, offers everywhere in the market, sellers and buyers have little communication but use body language to talk to each other. When people are asked, she knows that this woman has been selling cakes here for many months, everyone knows.
Lan asked again, I found out that her name Irina Khmilnikova (47 years old) is Belarusian, she cannot speak Vietnamese or English. He said he can speak Russian and Belarusian. I made an appointment for him to drink iced tea on the roadside one afternoon when I had just finished selling cakes in front of a high school in District 3.
A simple shirt, a T-shirt, an always smiling face is a familiar image of a “western sister” selling cakes in the eyes of many people in the Tan Dinh market with body language, mainly because Irina can only speak. Belarusian and some English |
The cakes that Irina sells at the moment include: double chocolate, cocoa cake, honey cake, cream cake, chocolate cheese, … with prices from 25,000 – 35,000 VND / piece. |
Ms. Tay sells cakes in Belarusian
Our conversation began with a history of language differences and communication difficulties. Fighting for a while, we just found a way to solve this problem using … “sister Google”. However, it was also difficult for us to fully understand the intentions of others.
The language differences were also the biggest difficulty for Irina, as she could only speak Belarusian, a little English, and a few sentences in Vietnamese such as: hello, thank you, my name is, thirty-five thousand, … and count the number “one”. , Two Three”.
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[VIDEO] Meet the rare western street vendor in Saigon – his mouth always smiles and says thank you
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After that, Irina presented more about the cakes she is selling which include: double chocolate, cocoa cake, honey cake, cream cake, chocolate cheese, … with prices of VND 25,000 – 35,000 per part. The name of the cake and the sale price are written in Vietnamese and glued in a foam box for convenience.
“Since I don’t have a motorcycle, I walk slowly through the streets to sell wheels. In the morning I sell at the Tan Dinh market, in the afternoon I pass through schools and parks. Some of my friends and I have baked for almost a year, the quality of the cake is very important to us, ”he said.
“When they ask you – Are you going home? !! – Vietnam, this is my house”, confided Irina. |
Irina took photos with her clients. |
Currently, her colleague runs the company in Nha Trang and Irina lives alone in Ho Chi Minh City. Each week you will receive the cake in the mail and you will go for a walk, the earnings you make to pay for the house and other expenses.
“I love everything about Vietnam”
“I really want to learn Vietnamese to learn more stories. Vietnamese uncles, grandparents, children, brothers and sisters, they are really kind, hospitable and compassionate. Great! And it is because of her feelings for me that motivated me to learn Vietnamese, ”shared Irina.
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“She’s my friends,” Irina describes when talking about the sugarcane vendors near where she sells every day. |
She showed us the historical knowledge she learned, for example, that Vietnam had just finished the defense war and was in rapid development momentum. “I have traveled by motorcycle to many places in Vietnam such as Ca Mau Cape, Da Lat, I also went to Hanoi, Ha Long to love everything, from the climate, the people, the food, the nature, the sea and the air”, he said. River.
While he was talking to us, his son called. The mother and daughter spoke in Belarusian for about 10 minutes, and suddenly she announced that her son had just announced that she was going to have a grandson. We all laugh to congratulate the great happiness of this woman. She called and introduced us to our daughter-in-law, and we chatted enthusiastically despite our disagreement with the language.
“I try to follow the rules and regulations of life in Vietnam, in the temples, in the streets,” said Irina. PHOTO: NVCC |
Obviously, the life of a foreign woman in Vietnam is not easy, especially the language barrier. However, when asked if she wanted to go home, we only received one response: “Why do I have to go home when this place is my home? Now, I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without being here. He also told us that next time he will “invite” his children to live in Vietnam.
Irina on a tour of the city center with friends |
In the late afternoon, we ended the conversation by buying her 2 cakes and not forgetting to take a photo together as a souvenir.
Irina waved to us and gave us a big smile and walked home, getting ready for a new day at work. Here, Vietnam has become familiar and is the everyday “breath” to the rhythm of Ms. Irina’s life.
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