-^-for posterity-^-

one of my students is the vice-head of agriculture for the people’s committee in an giang province. he is an amiable fellow and the class has elected him the classroom monitor. every class has a monitor. they’re in charge of taking roll and making sure everything runs smoothly.

he invited me to his house today. i went. i enjoyed.

his daughter is confined to a wheelchair. he tried to explain what ailment she had but i didn’t understand. today he was killing a cobra. she was to drink its blood and that would help her. he said he knew it wouldn’t cure her. he just thought it would help her in some way. this man is not a witch doctor. he’s quite pragmatic.

i arrived at his home and drove my motorcycle into the front yard. his home was a sand lot and a small pool surrounded by rice paddies. this is the flooding season and, while there hasn’t been as much rain as normal, the surrounding fields were completely flooded. they looked like a sea with small tree stands growing sporadically. it was truly beautiful. boats would pass up and down the canal. the canal looked indistinguishable from the fields. all were covered with murky brown water. i had no idea how the boat captains knew where the river ended and the shallow fields began.

his daughter was sitting on the porch drinking a large glass of cobra’s blood. it was deeply red, as blood should be. we were invited in and we ate. well, as usual, the men ate and the women prepared things.

we had cobra covering a flower that was picked from his pond. the cobra was bony and tough and the flowers were bitter but my face didn’t give away what my mouth was experiencing. we had cobra curry which was actually wonderful. i tried to avoid the cobra but did not have too much success. it is the custom to fill the bowl of the guest at random and the guest is obliged to eat.

i was given a small glass of cobra’s blood for my health. i smiled, ohhed and ahhed and drank. it tasted like iron and dirt and life. that was my saturday.