-^-for posterity-^-

i must tell you what i do with that man that took me to the shady place along the river.

trusting my womanly intuition, i have decided to follow this man to all corners of ho chi minh city to have a cup of coffee. (that or a glass of milk and coffee) we travel at night and he knows every nook and cranny of this great place. normally, a night consists of me and him sitting over a table of coffee and peanuts talking about vietnamese and english. wonderful. i really feel like i’m living.

these coffee establishments consists of a bunch of lawn chairs and small tables facing the road. we’ve been to about five or six of them and they’re all the same. people looking at the traffic pass as loud music blares overhead. it’s rather like a bunch of people sitting around in their lawn chairs watching fourth of july fireworks.

tonight i noticed a small girl. the tables are set near the road and this girl sat in the road on a small stool looking off into the distance. her parents must have been far away because she looked to be in some danger. motorcycles would pass very close and the traffic was thick.

she had her legs crossed and was eating something out of a small bag. her hair was cropped close to her eyebrows and fell about a half of an inch from her shoulders. she wore a pink shirt and small shorts. she didn’t notice us and i kept wondering what she was thinking. she seemed to be looking over my shoulder and i couldn’t figure out what she was looking at. it turned out to be a small television in the back corner of the place. it must have been more than thirty feet away and i could barely make out what was going on there. she had come to watch some television.

when the show ended she left. i remained sitting there, in my lawn chair, drinking my coffee, with my friend. it’s wonderful drinking coffee in this great city. spending time with friends at night is enough to make me smile.