Market

2/15/14

When I woke up around 8:30am, Dad and Hoan (brother) were already gone to work, and Mom was already up doing household stuff. After I had rice with cooked fish and pickle for breakfast, Mom let me borrow a bicycle and took me to a Market near her house. There weren't too many people shopping but there were enough people who were selling meat, vegetables, fruits, clothes, sponges, detergent, buckets, bra, etc...you name it, they were all there at the market. Mom stopped a few places to see if there was any good stuff to buy by lightly poking meat and talking to the sellers, but she seemed to have a particular seller she always go to. Most of the meat was (I think) pork, chicken, and duck (some of them were sold as alive). One of the meat looked almost like a dog, but I wasn’t sure (Luckly, Mom didn’t go to that table). All the meat was placed on wooden tables. *If you are worried about germs and “health department”, this is not the place you should go. Mom chose which parts she wanted and bought them by kg. She also bought a cabbage, a type of parsley, green onions, quit (a type of orange), and vu sua (star apple). It looks like everything is all about quality and negotiation of price comes after that.

２月１５日

８時３０分頃起きた頃には、もう既に皆起床。お父さんとHoanは山へ芝刈りへ、お母さんは川へ洗濯 に行っていました、と言いたくなるように、お父さんとHoanはもうお仕事へ、お母さんは家事に取りかかっていた。朝ご飯に白米と煮魚とラッキョウの漬物らしきものをお母さんと食べた後、自転車を貸してくれ一緒に近くのマーケットへお買い物。そこまで買い物客で賑わっているわけではなかったが、お店は十分に出ていて、肉、野菜、果物、衣類、桶, マスク、ブラジャー、などなど見ればみるほど統一感はなく、結構ありとあらゆる物が並んでいる。お母さんは途中途中止まりながら、鶏を見たり、肉をつついてみたりして具合をチェック。肉はそのまま生で売られていて、多分豚、鶏、アヒルだったと思う。中には、これってもしや犬？と思うものもあったが、確かではない。お母さんはもうお通いのところがあるのか、一人の女性の肉売り場へ直行（良かった事に、お母さんは犬らしき所にはお通いじゃないらしくちょっとホッとする）。肉は木机の上でそのまま置かれ売られている。（＊潔癖症だったり衛生面で気になる人は行かない方が無難かも。）お母さんは欲しい部分を言って計り売りしてもらう。その後、キャベツ、芹、ネギ、quit と言うミカンみたいな物、スターアップル（っていうのかな？）を購入。お母さんの買いぶりを見ていると、まず第一は質。値段は交渉して二の次という感じ。