-^-for posterity-^-

the school year. people sitting around on long, wooden benches in stuffy, concrete classrooms. i teach every day under a portrait of uncle ho chi minh. i yell over the constant whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, of the overhead fans. life is beautiful.

today we talked about dying for virtue and dying for country. this is a very nationalistic country and the students are no exception. they argued that dying for country was the same as dying for virtue. i tried to walk a fine line and disagree.

people routinely faint in the classroom next to me. about every other period you see a thickish man running with a thin, frail girl who has no shoes on. i don't know what class they are in but the bodies of the girls flop and bounce as dead.

the bell that separates classes is rung by the security guards. they amble out to a tall, thin and round bell, stare at their watch, hold their one ear shut and clang away with a small metal rod. they normally do a good job with the bells except for saturdays. saturdays and sundays is when they drink rice wine. sometimes the bell is about ten minutes late and someone has to go wake the guards up.

there is a german couple staying here. they have an adorable child. we have taken to them and they to us and we have planned to have a little food party this saturday. i forgot how different things operated in other countries. the party is going to be small, only about 8 people but they asked us to go to their house on wednesday to have a pre-planning party. we were having a small party to plan for saturday. 6 people were at the pre-planning party. i couldn't stop giggling.

there is a very annoying person here. he is doing research for his master's degree and always makes sure to tell us what to do. his hair is floppy and circles his head. he is short and smiles a lot but the smile is hiding something sinister. i don't trust him and lock my door.

other than that, things are rosy in the middle of the mekong.