Under the surface

A couple of weeks ago i was in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. As the traffic gets loud at 5 30 am, I decided to get up and find a park where people would be doing Tai Chi. I have been doing Tai Chi in Florida, and I loved the idea of finding some of those more "real" Tai-chi doers, which I have seen before in the parks of Beijing and Shanghai. I walked for 15 minutes and found a big park. It was around 6 am and many people were already there. I saw a group of about 30 Vietnamese standing in a circle, doing some movements that sounded familiar to my learned Tai Chi. I stepped closer and finding a little space in the circle, smiled and began to imitate what they were doing. I have to say that the people found this very funny and all started to laugh and to say comments to each other, in their language. I smiled and was happy to bring some laughter to them :-) . Who seemed to be leading the movements after a while came over and stood in front of me, without words, and began to correct my movements, to ensure I would do them properly. The session lasted for over 30 min, during which the whole group seemed very entertained with my participation. When it was over and they began to disperse, I went to say "hi and thank you" to those who were still around, although they didn't speak any English. A women from the group waived at me from a few steps away, and I went closer to her. She invited me with some gestures to join her, and we began walking. We did three rounds of the big park, smiling at each other, and trying to combine body language and simple words. She asked me Where you? (i said USA, Florida) - You childrin? I disappointed her by saying no. You hasban? I said yes, You work? I said.... i'm a teacher. It was to complicated to explain what i do, and education is certainly part of my job. She pointed at herself and said "Engineer". At some point we had to cross a busy street and she took my hand. As we reached the other side, she didn't let go my hand. We walked 15 minutes hand in hand, silent and smiling. It felt strange. I stepped out of myself to see the scene, and imagining telling the story to my friends. Then I went back into myself, and it made perfect sense. We were connected - and it was not through the visible similarities or rather differences. Under the surface, we connected through the energy, the invisible link that connects us all. As a friend would say -"the link is always there, you just activated it". After the third round, she pointed at her watch and said You tomorrow? I explained, with body language and words, that I was taking a plane that afternoon, to Singapore. She looked at me a bit surprised, and smiled. We hugged, like two old friends. Which we were, indeed.