"I am married"

Eric and I have chosen to set up temporary housing for the next four months at Riverside.  Riverside is a resort that is located in District 2 in HCMC.  It has 12 buildings with four floors and a rooftop overlooking the Saigon River and the downtown skyline.  It is fully equipped with a restaurant, pool, spa, workout facility with tennis courts, coffee shop, mini mart, laundry, and housekeeping services. It caters to the the working expat community primarily employed at the four international schools in the district, so the tenants are blend of Americans, Australian, British, French, German, Chinese, and Scottish.  So when speaking with other tenants you never know who speaks English and to what degree.

I have made it a personal quest to break the language and cultural barriers and engage in conversation with as many people as possible, especially those that live in my building.  This evening I enthusiastically charged a middle aged female from China entering my building and introduced myself, "Hi, I am Mary." Eric was right behind me and I started to introduce my husband and she said, "yes, your husband, I am married too."  I misunderstood what she said and I assumed that her name was Mary too!  I was delighted that I would be able to pronounce and remember her name that I literally skipped out the building.  Eric was walking behind me with a smirk on his face and began the simple translation.