Today the Vietnamese Service had a nice despidida/retirement party for Dick. He has been working for the government for 60 years! He came to VOA in 1962 after serving as PAO in Taiwan, Thailand, and Hong Kong and serving in the Pacific War. I don’t think he is ready to retire but he has had a taxing year, with some health problems and also his son passed away. Aside from being Service Chief for Vietnamese and Thai, he also has been writing this great radio series “All About Idioms” for year – he has all these great slang dictionaries that I use all the time. He had wanted to pass the torch and have me write the features but I was lame. I also didn’t think there was any way I could live up to his legacy.
Such a charming man with great stories about Asia– very The Quiet American. His wife (second or third, definitely younger) is a grand dame Vietnamese who is also a skilled Chinese brush painter/teacher. He is really well loved and I’m going to miss him greatly after this month.
Although the Vietnamese party was really nice, it was small, and he needs a grander send-off. The Great Vietnamese Accident of December 2003 occurred today when stupid security made Trang and Stephanie put the food through the x-ray machine (I mean, how idiotic – like they would put land mines in the glass noodles) and everything spilled all over the place and two dishes were ruined. Trang was very upset. It was a mess downstairs. I made Jay yell at security for being Nazis.
Speaking of messes… I walked into the room of Bumblefuck house mate, the clumsy, hairy one (you should see the carpet in the tub) and could help but burst out laughing. He had broken two of Daniel’s antique chairs – I mean split in all sorts of directions, all over the place… he is THAT clumsy. So very unwise of Daniel to bring him into the house without my meeting him first. Any one could tell that our house is too small and too fragile for a 250-pound gorilla.
I have to organize the goddam office Christmas party once again at the very last minute. Basically it is a completely unsentimental feeding frenzy with a cast of thousands. Wish me good cheer.
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