-^-for posterity-^-

the dust from teacher's day settles and all is back to normal. the routine of waking at 6, taking a cold shower, eating rice for breakfast and drinking iced coffee only is interrupted for a day. the warmth and the dawn make every morning feel like a july morning in south eastern pennsylvania.

the dust also settled on my tv appearance. it was rebroadcast a number of times. all the students saw it. the people at the coffee shop saw it. the lady that makes my lunch saw it. the lady that lives in the guest house saw it. i spend my whole day walking around and having people tell me they saw me on tv. the 6 o'clock an giang local news. i had to appologize to all of them for my poor vietnamese but no one cares. for most of the town i am just that 'one white person who teaches at the university who can speak vietnamese.' that phrase will soon be amended with, 'and i saw him on tv the other day.' the attention is wonderful and i revel in it while pretending to be aloof and naive. it’s strange being famous in this small town standing in a red tie with yellow stars behind me.





and here i am pretending to know some vietnamese.