Gloria G- L-O -R- I- A Gloria

In my 'A-Z of Life as I Know It' theme, today's word is 'G' and I choose Gloria.

When I was in Vietnam teaching English I was introduced to a group of ex pats some of who were also English Teachers, some of who did very little except frequent this cafe and some had set up business here in Saigon.

Most of them were male,  most of them had a Vietnamese wife or girlfriend and most of them gathered at some point in the day or evening, if not every day or evening at this particular cafe, "Margeritas" as I recall.

Here they gathered to chew the fat or de stress or chill out or do whatever it was they felt the need to do there. A long table out the front was permanently reserved for this eclectic group of odd bods with the ever popular plastic table cloth and white plastic chairs.

Anyway they all had quirky nic names for some reason or another and one day as I turned up for 'happy hour' one of them said 'hello Gloria' and looking me straight in the eye said 'I'm gonna call you Gloria'. He seemed a little sheepish about this which makes me wonder what the motive was in the name Gloria but for me I was catapulted back to my childhood where I heard the words 'you're just like your Aunty Gloria'. Well ok then, my folks always said I would grow up to be 'ust like my aunty Gloria so why not I thought. And so it came to pass that I would from that day forth be known as Gloria.

Usually as I approached the cafe, someone would spot me coming and start singing
"Gloria G- L- O- R- I- A Gloria" which usually resulted in a chorus chiming in. It was all a bit of a laugh really and I truly didn't mind the name despite what they might have thought it represented.

Having met a couple of fellow Aussie teachers during my 3 month stay in Saigon they also began calling me Gloria. We are still friends today and 5 years later when I occasionally speak to them on the phone or by email  I'm still Gloria to them.  In fact one of those special friends started calling me Glorious during that time and still does to this day.