"In Bed" with a 100 year old women

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November 28th 2005

Published: November 28th 2005

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Governor

"In Bed"

Ngat with Mother.

When Ngat Dao came north to meet me in Hanoi she had another objective. She wanted to meet her 100-year old Grandmother who she had never met. Her Mother had not seen her Mother in 30 years. So, both hopped a train and came north to Hanoi and then a bus to Làng Gừng, Hải Dương Province. This little village is about 71 kilometers East of Hanoi. This caused a family reunion that Ngat and her Mother got to meet all of her Northern relatives.

When Miss Ngat told me about visiting her Grandmother I told her that I would like to meet her. Also, I thought that this was a perfect first bike ride being only 71 kilometers to Làng Gừng.

When her family heard I was coming they built a new toilet on the family compound. This was amazing. After going without a formal toilet for 100 years this women built one just because I was coming

Miss Ngat, her cousin Dũng and I started biking about 7:30 AM and easily got to the village by 1:00PM. That includes stopping for breakfast. They were waiting for us with a Vietnamese feast. This was good and

"In Bed"

"In Bed" with Grandma.

bad. Good in that most of the food was good. Bad, in this they always make 10 times more food then needed. They made no bones about it they flat out told me that it would be impolite to not eat everything they put on my plate.

Grandmother broke her leg when she was 97 and sits up in bed all day. If you wanted to talk to Grandma, you sit on her bed. While “in bed” with Grandma I asked: “In 100 years what was the happiest day in your life?” She told me it was when I came to visit her. “Why did that make you so happy?” “ Because all my family came to visit me. I hadn’t seen my daughter in 30 years. She was the reason for my second most happy time of my life. That was when I gave birth to her because for two days I had no food and after giving birth to her in this house some people came and gave me some food.”

She went on that her whole life she had been poor, miserable and almost always hungry. Grandma and her husband built their house 70 years

"In Bed"

Kissing a 100 year old women.

ago. It was a dirt floor barn type shack. It did have electricity. She had 500 square meters of land but when she dies the government will take the land away and give it to someone else.
Grandma, Nguyên Thị Ngoan, might have had a hard and miserable life but she has a loving family. The future does look better. Her Granddaughter Ngát Đào just graduated from college. Her grandson Dũng who is helping guide me around Hanoi will soon graduate from Technology College. Another Grandson is in training to be a pharmaceutical salesman. Another nephew has a cottage industry that makes coat hangers. Another nephew is a teacher.

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