-^-for posterity-^-

saigon is full of white people. they lurk around every corner. they ride in every taxi and they all have black socks and large backpacks that they wear on their chest.

in long xuyen there is only jack, charles and me. a population of a few hundred thousand vietnamese people swallows us whole. i have become used to the absurd situation. i have become used to being the albino rhino running with the thousands of other, normally colored rhinos. i understand.

when i lived in ho chi minh city i never really noticed that many foreigners. i never saw them around every corner and sitting in every other café enjoying a coffee. it’s amazing how your point of view can change so rapidly.

i want to stand on the street corner and yell, “i live here! i am not a tourist!”, but i know it is only because i want people to know that i am not here for the t-shirts and museums. i am here for other reasons, reasons unexplainable even to myself. i know i can’t stand on street corners and yell. i know no one would understand and i would only look like a moron.

back in long xuyen i feel at home. i enjoy driving my bicycle around and having people stare at me. their albino rhino has returned. i feel so much more real here. when i was in saigon i felt so real too, but things have changed.