The last time I went out to wash my hair was 5 months ago
Ms. Truong Thi Hanh is working for Matsuo Industries Vietnam Company. Her husband is also a worker but works for a private company. The couple's income, including Ms. Hanh's overtime pay, is about 15 million VND. Ms. Hanh and her husband, 3 children and grandmother live in a rented room with enough space to store 2 beds, and all other activities are on the floor because the area is too small.
From Thanh Hoa to Hanoi to work, get married, have 3 children, the baby is only 8 months old, now, in addition to working hours at the company, Ms. Hanh spends all her time with her family. After work, she took the opportunity to cross the market to buy food, go home, carry the young child a little, take a little breath to make the mother and child miss each other less and then take care of the food for the whole family. The couple and children keep fighting each other for dinner.
Ms. Hanh's day off started with cleaning her youngest child and taking vitamins. After that, the whole family had breakfast together. If the house is messy that week, Ms. Hanh can play with her children, clean up and let the children study for about 30 minutes. turn around until lunchtime. On holidays, she plays and takes care of her children, while her husband supports the meals.
After feeding and sleeping at noon, Ms. Hanh still spends all her time playing with the children in the afternoon. Every child wants to ask, so Ms. Hanh has to keep answering. Ms. Hanh shared that sometimes when she wanted to relax and take a break, she couldn't because the adults came to the children and asked: Mom, why this is like this, why that is like that?... Sharing that hardship in the mother's eyes reflects the boundless happiness of being with her children and taking care of them. Therefore, no matter how hard it is, Ms. Hanh still has a bright smile on her face.
When asked how long it takes to get outside to wash her hair at once with long hair, Ms. Hanh said that the last time was 5 months ago, when the baby was 3 months old. One time in the village, where Ms. Hanh's family rented a house, it cost 50,000 VND, including shampoo, shower and facial massage. At that time, Ms. Hanh had to shower every 4-5 days. Now that her child has been 8 months old, Ms. Hanh no longer goes out to bathe, partly to save money.
Will sleep if you have a day dedicated to yourself
Since getting married and having children, Ms. Hanh has spent all her days off or free time on her family. "If I had a day for myself, I would have spent it sleeping" - Ms. Hanh said while laughing gently.
That is, if there is a day dedicated to herself, but now on holidays, if not raining, Ms. Hanh occasionally takes her children to the supermarket to play at a soccer house. The boarding house is too cramped, with no space for children to play, so the couple wants to take their children to a place with a large space for them to run, dance, and move their bodies.
Usually on such days, if children are busy playing after lunch, the whole family will choose to eat outside at a popular restaurant somewhere. "Only eat at popular restaurants, but only occasionally, but eating at restaurants is never easy because circumstances require saving money" - Ms. Hanh confided.
With the couple's income having to cover all expenses in the family, shopping is only for the husband and children. She always thinks about how much to save to take care of her children. Just like the recent Lunar New Year, when returning to Hanoi from Thanh Hoa to work, the couple took the opportunity to bring pork and vegetables to the motel. These foods help the couple less congested going to the market in the first week of work, when prices outside the market have also increased a little; the main thing is to save some money to take care of other things.
During the conversation with Ms. Hanh, we always felt the happiness and optimism of the wife and mother who was performing the function of a billionaire. Getting married, having children, taking care of children... all of those things have spent almost all of her time. The work of making money, sometimes having to work overtime to earn more income, takes more than half of a day. No time for yourself. But for Ms. Hanh - a female worker directly - taking care of her family is taking time for herself, just like the inherent virtue of sacrifice in every Vietnamese woman.
