-^-for posterity-^-

i didn’t realize how big the fire was. at school today that’s all everyone talked about. the main student newspaper’s headline read, “500 people trapped in burning building.” the soot and ash that i was breathing was, in part, the remains of humans. some people had heard that 200 people had died. some heard that 150 had died. the lowest number was 100. well, the lowest number came from the owner of my apartment. i saw her this morning and she thought that maybe four or five people died.

guess she didn’t want to scare me off.

i got back from class and turned the tv on. the first story i heard on cnn was about the fire. they said that 59 people had died and that that number was expected to rise sharply. like i’ve said, i didn’t think it was that bad of a fire. the mood outside was like a carnival. no one understood the severity.

today i played basketball again. there weren’t any vietnamese there to play with so me and a couple canadians shot around. it was fun and the sun was burning hot. i sweated and sweated. afterwards we met this very small man. he spoke french with one of the canadians.

they communicated rapidly and it was wonderful listening to them. my canaidan friend would translate for me. this man was small and frail. he wore a round hat that was the color of peas. his face was just like leather and i could see a scar from an earring that he once had in his left ear. he was very nice and spoke wonderful french for all i could tell. he had been practicing since 1950 he said.

he first made us order drinks and food. it was lunch time you know. he was an old industrial mechanic but has been retired for a number of years. he talked about communism and intellectuals. it was all quite fascinating. he seemed to understand a great deal about the world.

we were not allowed to pay for the lunch. he insisted. he invited us to his home next wednesday to meet his daughters and one son. he has 5 daughters that all speak english well. should be interesting.

he thought that a little less than 200 people died in the fire.