Tomorrow we are flying to Vietnam for 6 days, we are going to Danang. From there, we will visit Hoi An and Hue, then Hanoi and Halong Bay. Waouh, I am so happy to visit this beautiful country.
Demain nous nous envolons pour le Vietnam pour 6 jours. Nous allons a Danang. De la nous visiterons Hoi An et Hue, puis Hanoi et la Baie de Halong. Je suis si heureuse de visiter ce magnifique pays.
Vietnam has always appealed to me. When I was very small 4 or 5, we had a Vietnamese maid for several months. She hardly spoke French and was difficult to understand, I remember her face so flat and so wrinkled. She threw away a Roquefort cheese that my mum had bought, saying : "It's rotten, it's all blue and green" my mum was furious.
Le Vietnam m'a toujours attiree. Quand j'etais petite, 4 ou 5 ans, nous avons eu une bonne Vietnamienne pendant quelques mois. Elle parlait a peine Francais et etait difficile a comprendre. Je me souviens de son visage plat et tellement ride. Elle jeta a la poubelle un Roquefort que ma mere avait achete, en disant : " Pas bon, pourri, tout bleu et vert". Maman etait furieuse.
She also tried to introduce us to Vietnamese cuisine which I thought delicious and exotic. But she disappeared quickly because my mother was not patient enough to teach her French language, way of cooking and civilization.
Elle essaya aussi de nous initier a la cuisine Vietnamienne que je trouvais delicieuse et exotique. Mais elle disparut rapidement car ma mere n'avait pas la patience de lui enseigner le langue, la cuisine et la civilisation Francaises.
There was also Robert Dennery, one of my father's best friend who died during the war (WWII) in Vietnam. He was an only son and my father used to take us to visit his parents who were so learnt, so knowledgeable and so sad, always wearing black, obviously happy to see my dad, their son's friend, but sad to see us (my brother and I) while they would never have grand-children. They died quickly because we stopped visiting them. They did not know where in Vietnam their son died, nor why he died there. Intelligence?
Il y avait aussi Robert Dennery, un des meilleurs amis de mon pere mort a la guerre au Vietnam (2eme guerre mondiale). Il etait fils unique et mon pere nous emmenait voir ses parents qui etaient si distingues, si cultives et si tristes, toujours vetus de noir, visiblement heureux de voir mon pere, l'ami de leur fils, mais tristes de nous voir (mon frere et moi) alors qu'eux n'auraient jamais de petits-enfants. Ils durent mourir rapidement car nous cessames d'aller les, voir. Ils ignoraient ou leur fils etait mort au Vietnam, et pourquoi il etait mort la-bas. Services Secrets?
Then there was Mr Pham a South Vietnamese attending Ecole des Mines, who taught maths and physics to my brother Gilbert when he was in MathSup. Mr Pham spoke in a very jerky and staccato voice, which I found very attractive and which made me dream of his far east country where people continually fought with pointed hats in the rice paddies.
Et puis il y eut M. Pham un sud Vietnamien eleve a l'Ecole des Mines, qui enseignait les maths et la physique a mon frere Gilbert quand il etait en Maths Sup. Mr Pham parlait d'une voix hachee et saccadee que je trouvais tres attirante et qui me faisait rever a son pays lointain d'extreme orient, ou l'on continuait a faire la guerre en chapeau pointu dans les rizieres.
Vietnam is part of my childhood, it made me dream of colonial strange life in remote exotic countries, as attractive as dangerous, it suffered so much for so long and is very slowly recovering.... but so slowly.
Le Vietnam fait partie de mon enfance, il m'a tant fait rever a l'etrange vie coloniale dans des pays lointains exotiques, aussi attirants que dangereux, il a tant souffert pendant si longtemps, et il se remet lentement... si lentement.
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