-^-for posterity-^-

so jack is up here this weekend. he’s an american teaching down in long xuyen. he’ll be here two years too and we’ve led incredibly parallel lives. he spent six months in the same town in spain and we both speak spanish. that really confuses people.

he is very tall. he has a tuft of orangish-blonde hair and thick eyebrows similar to mine. his face is long but comes together nicely. he always dresses casually and is in love with asia: he is a fan of the exotic. he seems to be motivated by curiosity. his experiences are broad and wonderful but i haven’t found him gloating. i really haven’t found him doing anything strange. we are destined to be best friends whether we like it or not. it’s as if we’ll be trapped on a cultural island together: we’ll have to lean on each other when we’re desperate for the familiar.

we have been driving around on two bicycles the hotel provides. one is trusty and grey and the other has no brakes. it’s dangerous but a free spirit. stares seem to be compounded as we slowly cruise around. when you get that much white skin together doing something traditionally vietnamese, there’s bound to be gawking. last night we drove home late. the road was packed with motorcycles and they seemed to flow around us as if we were a rock in a stream. warm, salty nights and thick traffic. two white boys on socialist bicycles trying not to cause trouble but looking for something very real.

well, jack is my blind date and i’m happy for it. we’ve been matched up randomly and we’re destined to spend two years working, sweating and pedaling around together. he has been teaching and so i’ll lean on his experience. i’ve been studying the language so he’ll lean on me too. i’m guessing that me and jack will be good friends long after vietnam. two young men searching for something in a far off land. either we’re crazy, naïve or just wonderfully excited to be alive.