There is a market in Ha Noi that is like no other. It’s unique.

People who sell fresh meat, fruit and vegetables have started to do exercises together in the market.

They do them while they are working.

However, if people want to buy their produce, they stop exercising for a few minutes and help the customers.

The exercise they do is called aerobics.

by Le Huong

It’s 11am, and all the selling and buying activities are in full swing at the Kim Lien Market near a busy residential area in Ha Noi’s Dong Da District.

Chu Kim Oanh, 58, a seafood seller tidies up her stall at a meat-selling area, sets up an iPad and a loudspeaker to prepare for her daily aerobic practice right in the market. She calls neighbouring sellers to join the session.

1, 2, 3…The sellers, young and old all soon lose themselves in the rhythms echoed from the loudspeaker connected to the iPad, which shows models practising aerobics.

From time to time, some of them stop to serve some customers and then resume their practice. The market seems to be bustling with the music and movements.

The activity is familiar to frequent customers here but may astonish strangers to the area.

"It is so much fun," Nguyen Phuc Hai, a passer-by said. The market corner seems to have turned into an aerobics centre with butchers and fish sellers all a part of it. They even sharpen their knives to the rhythm of the music."

“We have been practising every day at this hour for nearly a year,” Le Thi Hoa, a butcher, said. “More and more people here have joined in. This kind of exercise is very useful.”

“First, it is good for our health. We do not feel tired or bored at the market. We also can stop for a while to serve customers, then practise again. It is a kind of time-saving as most of us don’t have enough time to visit fitness centres. I enthusiastically support this kind of aerobic practice.”

Nguyen Thi Thu, who has sold pork at the market for 20 years said she had joined the practice since the last two months.

“I feel it is good for my bones and joints. I am already 60,” she said. “All sellers here used to dream about joining an aerobics class like those in the parks. But we do not have time. Oanh here has an iPad and we thought of holding a class by ourselves right in the market.”

At 2pm, another aerobics session takes place in the other corner of the market.

The afternoon session draws an even bigger crowd with many elderly women over 70 participating.

“We choose the time with fewest customers after a quick snap at noon,” Truong Thi Dinh, a fish seller said. “It does not harm our trading activities. All of us feel excited when the time for exercise comes. The session brings us closer to one another.”

The aerobic sessions last for around an hour. The market then returns to its normal work as in hundreds of green markets in the city. – VNS

GLOSSARY

It’s 11am, and all the selling and buying activities are in full swing at the Kim Lien Market near a busy residential area in Ha Noi’s Dong Da District.

When buying and selling activities at a market are in full swing, people are very busy with buying and selling.

A residential area is an area where the buildings are people’s homes rather than their workplaces.

Chu Kim Oanh, 58, a seafood seller tidies up her stall at a meat-selling area, sets up an iPad and a loudspeaker to prepare for her daily aerobic practice right in the market. She calls neighbouring sellers to join the session.

Aerobics is a type of exercise aimed at improving the health of your heart.

1, 2, 3…The sellers, young and old all soon lose themselves in the rhythms echoed from the loudspeaker connected to the iPad, which shows models practising aerobics.

Rhythms are sounds that are repeated in a pattern.

When sounds echo they can be heard from different directions. In this case it would happen because of sound waves bouncing off walls.

From time to time, some of them stop to serve some customers and then resume their practice. The market seems to be bustling with the music and movements.

To resume their practice means to go back to doing their aerobics practice after taking a break to serve customers.

The activity is familiar to frequent customers here but may astonish strangers to the area.

To be familiar with seeing market stall holders doing aerobics while they work means to be  used to it and therefore not find it unusual.

A frequent customer to the market is somebody who goes there often to do their shopping.

Astonish means surprise.

“We do not feel tired or bored at the market.”

To feel bored means to feel unhappy because nothing that is around you is interesting.

 The afternoon session draws an even bigger crowd with many elderly women over 70 participating.

Participating means taking part.

WORKSHEET

Find words that mean the following in the Word Count:

1. The activity people perform in the market.
2. The type of meat that Nguyen Thi Thu sells in the market.
3. Her age.
4. Instruments that butchers sharpen to the rhythm of the music in the market.
5. The device that Chu Kim Oanh uses to play music for exercises in the market.

ANSWERS:

© Duncan Guy/Learn the News/ Viet Nam News 2016

1. Aerobics; 2. Pork; 3. Sixty; 4. Knives; 5. iPad.