-^-for posterity-^-

last minute details, nothing going smoothly, only one more night in long xuyen and i'll skirt my way up to ho chi minh city.

i want to see everyone and they all want to see me. we talk melodramatically about my departure and the two months i will be away. we sit and drink coffee and try to think of things to say. the coffee cup ends, we stand up, shake hands and leave.

'at the beginning of august!'

i normally say something like that.

i'm having to say goodbye to some things that are quite important.

i'll have to say good bye to jack and julie. they're two other foreigners who teach here and they have been wonderful supports. i think we all support each other in our own special little way. by bringing three people together from three different subsections of western culture (northern england, north western us and east coast us), and placing them in an island that is basically void of anything they would term familiar you end up creating a fascinating group of relationships. how would these three relate? we eventually find things that we have in common, talk about them, talk about them again, occasionally mention the things we don't have in common, talk about them but no one really understands, and then move on to gossip about life here.

i will say good bye to them and, for all the times that we've rubbed each other the wrong way, i truly valued their friendship and their support.

i will have to say goodbye to my vietnamese friends here. i have a number of them, some closer than others, and i will have to tell them all goodbye for two months. i will miss the endless cups of coffee, the cafe haze and zipping around town on my motorbike with them ridding next to me sometimes grazing my hand and always talking.

i will miss work. i am respected for my work. i have moved up and into the office and have been working on projects that matter, that impact. i love the feeling of doing something that will impact. finally, after 23 years of idealism, i can actually say that i have helped people in a substantial way (!).

i will miss the food. right now i want nothing more than a trip to a mexican restaurant and the words, 'jon, choose whatever you want', to fall out of the mouth of the person who will pay the bill. however, after these two months, i'm sure i'll end up missing the endless bowls of plump, steaming rice and noodles and pork and fish sauce and everything else that makes my stomach turn since i've been here.

i will miss my dog. he is currently laying on the bed in front of the fan with his head on his paws watching me type. he has been something that, in a place that can sometimes feel lonely, offers unconditional love. when i had a bad day it was magical to come home to his wagging tail and his shaking paw to greet me at the door. i will miss him.

i will miss the motorcycle. i will miss zooming, no, roaring down narrow streets weaving in and out of groups of people, turning into masses of motorcycles coming the other direction only to have them all skirt out of the way at the last moment.

i will miss much more. i still have to pack.