There was a long wait at the nail salon I've been going to, and I got grumpy so I went to another place on Lincoln, Lee's, near Ashland in Santa Monica.
Note that Lee's has a Monday special for their manicure and pedicure at $22. That's very cheap. The owner, Lee worked on my hands, while another woman did my feet. Lee's didn't have the razzle-dazzle of my other place, but neither did they have these aggressive women who were constantly pressuring you for massages, and Lee's did a good job for half the cost.
More importantly, I got a story from Lee, the owner of the salon!
Lee came from Vietnam, is a die-hard Catholic, and a chatterbox.
Lee asked me where I come from and when I told her that I originally came from the Philippines, she beamed and said she loves Filipinos. I've heard that before and I smiled, but Lee must have had a flood of memories because she could not stop talking. She has an accent and I had to work to get her story, but bit by bit it emerged.
Lee and her son were boat people, one of the 800,000 refugees who had left their country following the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army.
Their boat made it to Hong Kong where they stayed for three months. It turned out she was pregnant and she said the officials pressured her to have an abortion: Get rid of the baby. What will you do? You have nothing. They talked to her daily, but Lee said she was a Catholic and said no, she would not get rid of her baby.
After three months, the refugees were moved to the Philippines. She talked of how differently they were treated there. Filipinos were nice to them; they housed and helped them. They gave her vitamins so her baby would be healthy. She lived in Bataan, which had a Philippine Refugee Processing Center. They had to walk far to fetch water, and when she was seven or so months pregnant, she was carrying water and fell. She was afraid she'd lose the baby, but with God's help, didn't. The baby was born with half his face black (bruised, I assume). This eventually faded.
Philippine Refugee Processing Center in Morong, Bataan, Philippines
Lee went on to tell me that she had no problems with her children. They went to school while she worked. In fact, the girl, the youngest, had to stay home without child care and she would even prepare dinner for them. (Lee said she would stand on a stool to reach the stove.) One son is an engineer, another is a professional as well, and the daughter is in medical school. They are all Americans now, but she reminds them of where they came from, and she tells them to pray. (Every three o'clock, they pray the Divine Mercy prayer at the salon, she said, every three o'clock.)
On Mother's day, she obliged her children to go to Mass with her, and they did. She said they had gifts for her and kept telling her, "Mom, you're very strong."
Lee said she may work for seven more years, until her daughter finishes med school, and then she'll retire. She has been travelling on pilgrimages with her church group.
Well ... before I knew it my nails were done! I was almost sorry to leave the salon because I had more questions for Lynn, and I didn't even get to take pictures of her and her work place.
Next time, I'll do that.
Pictures of the boat people and PRPC are courtesy of Wikipedia
Read also
Manicure and Pedicure at Vietnamese American Nail Salons
The Pinata District of Los Angeles, California -- Ole!
Los Angeles, California: The Fairfax District and Canter's Deli
Tags: Vietnamese, Vietnamese American, nail salon, Leen's, boat people, Fall of Saigon, refugees
This is all for now,
Cecilia
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