Post A5L8npfcfd2XxNPYrQ by Jane@social.quodverum.com
(DIR) More posts by Jane@social.quodverum.com
(DIR) Post #A5L7TY3IMgSNZLFQQK by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:17:21Z
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THREADMy first day in Vietnam and my little brother says, "If you get into accident with someone on a country road and are seriously hurt or unconscious, they WILL kill you."He said that if you're in an accident with someone who dies, you're on the hook for no more than 10 million VND - less than $500.However, if they live and are hospitalized and/or disabled, you could effectively end up as their slave, supporting them for life. Ergo, "...they WILL kill you."But.
(DIR) Post #A5L7i2JIf8ppT1dt2m by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:19:58Z
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While that does happen, it's exceptional. The reality is not so melodramatic.It's much like Brits I know who have the impression that MOST Americans are packing. And, thanks mostly to Hollywood and urban legends, we're all gunslingers who have shootouts all the time.BUT.In my first year I was on my motorbike to work on a NARROW side road.As I eked past a parked taxi, the rear passenger door suddenly opened.The door caught my right hand squarely, shattering bones in my hand and wrist.
(DIR) Post #A5L7rZEnbnOeCD58a0 by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:21:41Z
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THE SNIFF KISSBefore I continue I need to explain something about the Vietnamese.When they "kiss" someone precious to them, like a baby, or someone they just love dearly, it's not a smooch pucker kiss.They suck their lips back and bite down onto them before making a "kiss" that is no more than a quick SNIFF. Weirdest, cutest thing ever, they do it all the time with babies. Want to show someone that you ABSOLUTELY ADORE them? Give them a sniff kiss on the cheek. They'll get it.
(DIR) Post #A5L89D2YsPdwZ3loOG by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:24:53Z
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So now I'm laid out in some ratty-ass bushes off to the left.The taxi driver is out and screaming at the old woman in the back who opened her door on me. She's more terrified than he is.The HUGE BRUTE of a driver lifts me, APE STRONG, straight up and out of the bushes.He's apologizing up one side and down the other. Hands everywhere trying to make sure that I'm okay, with multiple sniff kisses to the sides of my face!I knew his fear.In that moment I also knew that he was free.
(DIR) Post #A5L8LeGNULoGTBAET2 by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:27:08Z
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My compassion for what he was going through (on several levels) and how he handled that with me, was on afterburners.I KNEW my hand was screwed but drew no attention to it. I just smiled."Không sao đâu!" Literally, "no star where", but it means, "No worries! Forget it!"I thanked him, sniff kissed him back. His relief registered as SHOCK. Total grateful astonishment. Waved goodbye to the scared old lady, same reaction, got on my bike and crippled it the three remaining blocks to work.
(DIR) Post #A5L8fYtj98VTcZ457g by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:30:43Z
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When I walked into to work and held up my hand to explain the administrator screamed.It was the first time I saw that two of my fingers were sticking out in impossible directions!And it's also when the pain began to finally KICK IN LIKE A BITCH!I went white-green in the face. Two school parking attendants raced me to a clinic.$4, x-ray, $20, cast and pain meds.And a great memory of probably the best sniff kisses I would ever get, next to my wife's, of my life.LIFE IS GOOD! END
(DIR) Post #A5L8npfcfd2XxNPYrQ by Jane@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:32:12Z
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@StevenDouglas I love your stories. Thank you!
(DIR) Post #A5L9TUadRAp8jtwYCG by Pmcd07@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:39:45Z
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@StevenDouglas I grew up in Indonesia. My people do sniff kiss too. My mother used to do the big ones (loud full inhale) on my cheeks, hated it!
(DIR) Post #A5LAE5f7w20h2RGQnA by ilumanous@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:48:10Z
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@StevenDouglas Great story. I love it even more after hearing your other stories. Your reaction on the road there in the Philippines had to be different than the way you would have reacted earlier in in your life.You should write a book with a mix of the stories of your life and how living in the Philippines has relieved some of the pain you have had to deal with in the past .
(DIR) Post #A5LAMHtYL1OVIHv7o0 by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:49:38Z
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@indiv1dual I lived in Wuxi, a one-hour bullet train ride from Shanghai, and loved it.HATED Shanghai. It's not "China" at all to me, it's nothing but rabbit hole. I only went to Shanghai when I absolutely had to, and it was almost NEVER overnight. Here's a post on the genesis of my love for Vietnamese people - the five men, and one in particular, who had a tremendous ripple effect throughout my entire family, but especially with me.https://social.quodverum.com/web/statuses/105436307030637957
(DIR) Post #A5LAaXS9I4jNbHtioy by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:52:14Z
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@ComeAsYouAre Hello back!Yeah, you could say I had a good time. Such a good time that I never left.I'm in District 3, heart of Saigon, with my Vietnamese wife and two young children!
(DIR) Post #A5LAwGzjAAxEvUy3fc by bonmarche946@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T16:56:09Z
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@StevenDouglas I loved this story! TY! Sniff kisses! 😊
(DIR) Post #A5LC4g6jmFAV5Gon6u by ilumanous@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T17:08:53Z
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@StevenDouglas Great story. I love it even more after hearing your other stories. Your reaction on the road there in Vietnam had to be different than the way you would have reacted earlier in in your life.You should write a book with a mix of the stories of your life and how living in the Vietnam has changed you in a positive way. Or negative, if there are any.
(DIR) Post #A5LD8l1lWkYbSH0AfQ by MadBeachBimbo@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T17:20:49Z
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@StevenDouglas wonderful tale. Sometimes it’s the smallest of things that impacts the most.
(DIR) Post #A5LDDr4sSao9fQt7OC by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T17:21:44Z
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@ilumanous Thank you, and you're right. I am not who I was in younger life, save at my innermost core. I cringe when people say that I'm "a good man". I appreciate the sentiment but I'm a mixed bag like everyone else - and working on it.Thomas was right when he said that if someone tells you they're moral, they're LYING. I don't make that claim.And ZERO negatives to my life from living in Vietnam. All upsides, no down. Vietnam has been oasis and incubator to me all at once.
(DIR) Post #A5LG9nOOWGnYwSlyro by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T17:54:37Z
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@ComeAsYouAre You're only 5 minutes from me, we'll do that. We can have a mini-Quod meet right here in Vietnam.
(DIR) Post #A5LQkswhple4QD97q4 by oystergirl@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T19:53:22Z
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@StevenDouglas I am so glad you are OK and were, in that moment, able to treat the people with compassion as they struggled with their fear. I also think it is so cool that even in Vietnam you will be able to have a Quod Meet! Welcome @ComeAsYouAre !!!
(DIR) Post #A5LRCuLEEsM8rGyjia by oystergirl@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T19:58:26Z
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@StevenDouglas Everything that we have done, or experienced contributes to who we are today. I bless it all and don't judge myself, as all is needful in the whole. @ilumanous
(DIR) Post #A5LRWSl0VR7r6CMRAO by oystergirl@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T20:01:59Z
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@StevenDouglas As you know Steven, my dad grew up in Shanghai and shared many stories of it's beauty and also of the horrible things that happened there during his youth. He went back once with my mother in the early '80's and found numerous places he had been as a child, including visiting Aurora University where he went to medical school. Now he google maps Shanghai and almost nothing he remembers is there. All remain in his memory. So sad. @indiv1dual
(DIR) Post #A5LUTpmsiuszWHfy08 by scottgfx@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T20:35:06Z
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@StevenDouglas Fascinating story.
(DIR) Post #A5LUw3qc2dgpEcsemG by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T20:40:13Z
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@Envoy @ComeAsYouAre Welcome welcome!
(DIR) Post #A5LhdCkg0hpWkkRWa0 by StevenDouglas@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-18T23:02:29Z
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@indiv1dual @oystergirl For me it was the Olympics in Beijing. Tens of thousands of shanties destroyed, and all poor people near and around the "nest" arena were driven away as the eye sores they were thought to be by the CCP. Food vendors, thousands of recyclers, peddlers of every kind imaginable. Soul crushing, as it was an "anti-boon" to them.I was going to do a thread on this about "snails in the aquarium". How they keep everything clean even if nobody wants to look at them.
(DIR) Post #A5MBzrJGtWrRXMLJr6 by ObiJimKinobi@social.quodverum.com
2021-03-19T04:42:45Z
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@StevenDouglas THAT. Is a great story. Thank you sir.