Picture-Perfect Park

I love going jogging in the parks in the morning. The parks in Saigon are very well exploited. In the very early morning, they thrive with locals doing their daily exercise, tai chi, and yoga; throughout the day, they're frequented by people going for walks, playing badminton, reading books; at nightfall, they become lovenests for young couples wishing to have some privacy (although definitely not private enough for normal people like me who jog there at night!!!).

This morning I went jogging in my favorite park near my home, Hoang Van Thu Park, close to the airport. It was 8am by the time I got there, which is past the prime time of exercising as the sun is already starting to scorch at that time. Nevertheless, I was surprised to see still quite a few people relaxing in the park, given that it was a Monday morning.

I don't know if there is a park heaven, but I feel like parks here come straight down from fairytale land. People just seem to be doing the prototypical park things. I mentally smile as I jog my usual circuit around the park and take in the delightful scenes.

I jog past the singulars reading novels and the sweet couples on the benches facing the (not quite) lake, a middle-aged man doing keep-ups with his soccer ball round the path, a group of young adults practicing bartending tricks with bottles, people using the park exercise machines, students sitting down around a table for a study session, a lone man playing his flute...

The lone man in fact un-loned himself when he approached me and inquired about my background. Long (his name) was eager to learn English, you see, and I guess my taking photos of everything around the park gave myself away as a foreigner. Long followed me to my next workout station, chatting with me and excited at the prospect of meeting an English-speaking person whom he could practice with. However, I soon learned that this prospect was not a prospect but a strong insistence on his part. As I did my crunches on the situp machine, he started asking me how to say different phrases in English and pulled out a little notebook and pen. Each time I would tell him the phrase, he'd asked me to write it, and I would tell him that I was doing exercise and that perhaps he could try to write it himself, and plus it would also provide as good practice for him. No, you can finish your exercise, please take your time, we can have a real session after, was more or less his reply.

I eventually was able to tell him that this teaching session which he had conveniently scheduled for himself could not happen and that I was here to do my exercise and had to get going thereafter. It was funny how he was the one that got offended when I tried to offer him a good solution that would work for both of us, that I'd correct his work after each set. He finally accepted the arrangement, and as I exercised, he learned English. Soon I was timing my enunciation of the syllables in a phrase with each rep of my lunges, crunches, and pushups, and in between sets I'd correct his writing and write in his notebook.

Soon after, a local man and his little son came to see what the exchange was about. Near the end of my workout, I found myself in a dynamic I never would have guessed I'd be in when I planned to go jogging. Here I was, exercising in a circle of strangers including an inquisitive friendly father who took the morning off to take his first and only son to the park, a little boy climbing the exercise machines and telling me to do more situps, and Long, a 30 year-old man who always carries his flute with him (he's been playing it for 15 years) looking to quit his job at a restaurant which he works at everyday until 10pm, and doing a double task of learning English and trying to court me. The phrases he asked me to tell him were, in precise order: "What would you like to order?", "Do you have a boyfriend?", "Can I be your boyfriend?", "You look very beautiful."

Although I had to stop Long from kissing my hand goodbye and instead opted for a polite handshake, it was still pleasant to meet folks like him and my other two workout companions today. The people in this city are quite easygoing and take the time to relax like going to a park. I equally draw such equanimity from the parks and I find no better way to start the morning than having a jog through this storybook park.

 

Here is a short video of the picture-perfect happenings in the park!