universal language

So today I was having my nails polished, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT I LIKE TO DO, and a lovely older woman was doing them.  We chatted just a little bit about how pretty her salon was, and I asked her about the pretty cherry blossom branches on the walls.  It occurred  to me that she had to have made them herself, and, indeed, I was correct.  She said, "We could not buy it big.  But we wanted it so badly.  So we just, make it."  She said she couldn't decide how to change it for autumn and winter. 

Then her friend came and sat beside her while she worked on my hands.  I have often observed the quiet exchanges between the employees- they are almost inaudible, a lilting sort of language- Vietnamese?- that is at once glottal and melodic.  So these lovely women were talking and laughing with each other, and I was closing my eyes and just listening to the rhythm. 

But they were really laughing more and more.  They were telling stories back and forth, repeating phrases and laughing harder and harder.  I peeked and saw that one of them was actually wiping away tears.  They were getting a little louder, and their laughter was so infectious that I was laughing, although I had no idea what they were talking about.

Finally, mid-lilt, out came a quote, "Excuse me sir, he come in ONE MINUTE, he's ina toilet!"  Gales of laughter.  Then she repeated the quote.  Then back to the lilt.

Really.  Could YOU have let that go?  I said, "I don't know what you're talking about, but it's hilarious."  So they confided that they were talking about one of their nieces, who is 23, "but she act like a baby sometimes."  They tried to describe her through anecdotes: "She ask the customer, 'Do you want me to keep talking to you, or do you want me to stop talking to you?'  (Auntie observed that there is no way to answer that question- it's a trap.)  and finally through a stereotype: "You know a blond?  A blond people?  She like a blond people."

We were on a hugging basis by the end... sigh.