Blending In
28 Jul
When I start talking about something I want to do, I can’t rest until I’ve done it. I so hate when people are ATNA (all talk no action) that I will do anything to avoid this. Often, this means that I do things too quickly and don’t plan thoroughly. But sometimes it works out.
I’ve been talking about buying a blender for a week or so now. I’ve started dreaming up smoothie concoctions – banana, mango, and soymilk or passionfruit, banana, and yogurt. Maybe I can use cucumbers for something. Or avocado. Does mangosteen work for smoothies?
I haven’t been this into smoothies since middle school when they came out as a hot new fad. But I’ve been searching for a breakfast routine here quite unsuccessfully. I went through a phase of eating pho, of making oatmeal in a rice cooker, and of eating yogurt with homemade granola. But I’m so fickle lately. Now the idea of smoothies has captivated my every cell.
Finally, on my way home today, I stopped at an electronics store on electronics street. I instantly fell in love with a retro green blender. It costs 650,000VND, the lady at the store told me.
Shoot, I only had 550,000 VND in my wallet. I showed her my empty wallet. I knew this meant that I would just have to come back another day and buy my blender. But I was CRUSHED.
She showed me a different blender that cost 550,000VND. It was white and boring – nothing like the cute green blender that reminded me of the Kitchenaid products I’ve always coveted. “I don’t like this one,” I said.
“Hold on one minute,” she told me. She went to confer with someone else. Then the miraculous happened – she told me I could have the green blender for 550,000VND.
It wasn’t even that I had set out to bargain. Had I had the extra 100,000VND (all of US$5) in my wallet, I would have paid the amount she told me and thought nothing of it. But my inadvertent bargaining strategy had worked – probably because I was totally sincere and they felt sorry for the girl who was about to spend all her money so that she could make breakfast smoothies.
Anyways, it felt good to be on the right side of a rip-off. Maybe now that my 1 year anniversary in Vietnam is coming up, I am finally starting to get it.
And now I will dream of smoothies.
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