-^-for posterity-^-

some of you may remember the watch i bought about a month ago in hanoi. it was grey and had the word cool! displayed digitally across the top. it also had a glowing butterfly when you pressed a certain button. it was one of the first things i purchased in vietnam and it made me very happy.

well, it’s wearing down now. some water has leaked into the face and now, whenever it’s in a hot and humid place, the face is obscured with fog. it’s hot and humid almost everywhere in vietnam. it does work clearly in my air-conditioned room and for about three minutes after leaving my room. also, the butterfly doesn’t shine so brightly. her top right wing has gone dark. the frustration of having something fail on you is grating.

there is another watch street here, in saigon. it is located, sadly, in the middle of the tourist area. it’s like wading into a vulture’s lair. sly people lurking everywhere. it’s impossible to feel comfortable. people who make a living selling things at incredibly high prices. people who make a living begging. people who try to make you buy gum or shirts but putting it in your hand. they all have glass looks in their eyes and are pathetic in an instant. they don’t seem human at all. i hate feeling like a tourist but i needed a new watch.

i browsed through the watches and found nothing that interested me. they all looked the same. i was about to leave the den of thieves when my eyes were attracted by the most fascinating, incredible, beautiful watch that ever existed. if the song of the sirens could be summed up in a watch, this was it. if the love of a mother could be encompassed in a timepiece, i had found her.

she is a plain watch. her band is brown hard leather. i’ll have to work on breaking her in. her face is an odd shade of light blue. it is large and silver and, on the back, “made in u.s.s.r.”, is clearly stamped in the metal. oh, and the front. the front is blessed with a large red hammer and sickle and the letters “cccp”. oh, to have a watch made in the former ussr! what a wonderful trinket! wearing it makes you feel like you’ve traveled back in time somehow. i feel like i’m a spy.

oh, and, i almost forgot: you have to wind it! i never had a watch that you had to wind! what a wonderful, wonderful watch.

well, i did have to barter for it and was much more successful this time. last time i didn’t know any vietnamese and now my bartering vietnamese is pretty stellar. she wanted 20 american dollars for it. (we were in the tourist area) i pretended to walk away twice (i was only bluffing. i would have never left this joy). she lowered the price. she asked if i wanted a bag for it. i laughed and put it on my wrist.

i hope you can appreciate the irony of this all. i never knew the cold war. i came into consciousness after it ended. i vaguely remember the berlin wall coming down. all i know is that there was some cosmic battle between good and evil (ha!).

oh, it is a bit strange walking around with the hammer and sickle on your wrist: it’s like having a watch with a large american flag on it.