Well, Huyen's family has nearly the same policy. On the ground floor -- where the ceramic shop is -- you can wear your outside shoes. However, if you want to go up the stairs you've got to put on a pair of "upstairs slippers." Then if you want to use the bathroom you've got to take off those slippers and then put on another pair of slippers that are for the bathroom only. The one problem is that the bathroom is on the ground floor. If you can't wrap your mind around this process let me break it down for you:
STEP 1: I was reading a book upstairs and had the urge to tinkle. I got off the bed and put on the "upstairs slippers":
(PICTURE: Upstairs slippers.)
STEP 2: I walked down the stairs and had to take off my "upstairs slippers" and put on my outdoor sandals:
(PICTURE: Outdoor shoes.)
STEP 3: I walked three steps to the bathroom, took off my outdoor sandals and put on the bathroom slippers:
(PICTURE: Bathroom slippers.)
It turns out that there is a reason for this madness. As I was about to leave Huyen's house to come back to Hanoi, Huyen asked if I wanted to use the bathroom. I had just tied my shoes and said, "I'll wait till I'm back in Hanoi. I just double knotted my shoes." The thought of having to change shoes was just too much for me. Huyen told me not to worry about it and to just go into the bathroom. Well, I went into the bathroom and after taking two steps in, I saw why you need special bathroom shoes: two huge mud footprints were where I had just stepped. That bathroom had never seen dirt in its life until Ben August came over.
6 comments:
Let's hope that was mud.
Good thing your feet are not too big. When I go into a patient's home and am handed the slippers, I hobble around with my very big feet and feel like a klutz. I then usually ask if it is ok if I just wear my socks...
I had this problem in japan! When I was at my cousin's house (he is american) it was ok when i messed up the etiquette. but then when we went to his wife's family's house (they are traditional japanese) i was ridiculed by four year olds about wearing my hallway slippers inside the bedroom. Nobody explained to me (at least not in English) that even inside there are different places you can and can't wear slippers. Although it was a lot to keep track of, there is a part of me that gets weirded out by feet in general, and walking barefoot on surfaces where shoes from the street have also been, so I kind of get it.
so are you saying you spent all that time worrying about breaking something ceramic and ruining everything with huyen, only to trek mud into the bathroom at the last second and ruin everything!? (that was both an exclamation and a question. i can't figure out the punctuation.)
Good question/exclamation, Laura. I'd like to think I won over her family by the time I tainted their bathroom.
Hey Ben, your outdoor sandals...are those two different shoes?!
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