Oatmeal

I have been eating oatmeal at work to avoid going out and eating huge calorie lunches every day.  The thing is, oatmeal is not easy to find around here.  Last night, Diep and I went on a search for oatmeal at the local supermarket and came up with nothing; so on the way back, we stopped by our apartment complex shoppette to see if there was any there.

After looking through the five rows of goods that the shoppette had, Diep asked the counter girl if they carried oatmeal.  The conversation went back and forth for a couple of exchanges before she said they didn't have any left for the moment.  We didn't really expect them to carry it anyway, it just happened to be on the way back from the store, but her question as we were walking out the door kind of caught me by surprise.  She asked Diep if we wanted to buy it to eat or if we were visiting friends.  After I asked Diep if she said what I thought she said, I thought it was hilarious.  Vietnamese custom is similar to western custom in that when visiting friends for dinner you would bring a gift, i.e. a bottle of wine or some flowers.  In Vietnam, apparently it could be something else like... a can of steel cut dry oatmeal.  So, don't be surprised if I come over to dinner with some oatmeal next time!