Nearly every time I drop my grandmother off at her apartment, she tells me she wants to introduce me to her friends. Back in January 2008, a few days before I left for Vietnam, my Grandmother had me knock on a woman's door on her floor. The woman opened up her door and we exchanged pleasantries. After a little banter my grandmother said, "Ben is going to Vietnam." The woman looked very confused and said, "Voluntarily?".
Well, the other day, I dropped my grandmother off at her apartment again and per usual, she wanted to introduce me to her friends. We knocked on neighbor's door and after a minute or so a woman answered. My grandmother said to the woman: "This is my grandson. He just came back from Vietnam." The woman had a look of disgust on her face and said -- and this is an exact quote -- "Oh god."
There is clearly a generation gap when it comes to Vietnam. If you talk to a young person they think it is really cool that you visited/lived in the country. If you talk to someone 80+, they just think it's bizarre.
Don't forget to vote for me to go to wine country! You can only vote one time so it's really not that much of a pain in the butt. Or as my grandma would say, "A pain in the tuchus."
http://www.areallygoodejob.com/video-view.aspx?vid=ENgJxigG7WU
