-^-for posterity-^-

today we went to a football game. there's a large, concrete stadium in the middle of long xuyen and one of my students invited me and my remaining family to watch a game. it rained and rained and rained and rained. it was one of those rains that wrinkles your skin and makes you miserable. one of those rains that lowers the temperature fifteen degrees and contorts your face. it wasn't a gentle, summer drizzle. no, no. this was a jungle monsoon combined with a charcoal grey sky that hung low; it barely hung above the rooftops.

we bought our tickets at the front gate. about two dollars for the best seats in the house. we drove our motorcycles in the rain to the back of the stadium and parked. we walked through throngs of people and entered through large, manila gates. we sat three rows from the pitch directly in the middle.

the teams came out and were in high spirits. this game was being played in remembrance of the 115th birthday of uncle ton, the second leader of vietnam after uncle ho. the stadium wasn't packed, but it was full.

the field was terribly muddy. the ball sailed through the air smoothly but darted every which way when it hit the wet grass. the players never seemed to be able to compensate for the wet weather and there were a number of hilarious plays. the players took full advantage of the dirty field and slid and dove and pretended to be hurt on numerous occasions.

nothing bothered me more than the medical crew. they sat under a large umbrella and smoked. they would run out on the field wearing white shirts with red crosses on them carrying a stretcher. they would pick up the injured player and carry them off the field. the players were obviously in agony. when they reached the side of the field the player would spring to life as if they were mistakenly carried off the field. they would dart back on miraculously cured. that really bothered me.

we (an giang) were playing binh duong. they were a scrappy team but we prevailed. we have a wonderful player (number 9). his legs are like tree trunks and he can't be taller than five feet. he darts this way and that taking many more footsteps than are actually necessary. he scored a number of goals. their team had a huge goalie that was very uncoordinated. he lallygagged back and forth and fell oddly in the mud. he missed a number of saves. he was gangley.

we won the match five to two. every time we scored a goal my brother and i would turn around and hug a man who stood behind us. he was wearing a pepsi shirt and was very happy to hug us. we didn't say a word with the man but, after every goal, we turned and dutifully hugged him. he was our new friend and we were all proud of our home team.

we were wet and happy. we drove home and were wet.