-^-for posterity-^-

i'm going to be making a lot of trips between a city named can tho and my home in long xuyen. the drive is fascinating. last night we made it just about supper time.

there were generations of people in their homes. there were children playing along the street. there were mothers sitting on chairs by the road talking to neighbors. the husbands were coming home from work and everyone was greeting one another. it was a truly beautiful thing to see.

i watched as men waded through rice paddies, up to their waist in murky water, tending to their crop. i watched as they bent down to inspect individual stalks. they walked to the shore and climbed onto mud hills and walked home.

there were piles of dried straw on the sides of the roads. i saw two children, a boy and a girl, possibly brother and sister, playing together. they rolled around in the straw and laughed in unison. then, to top this utopian scene off, there were two puppies, probably only a few months old, playing and rolling in the straw.

the drive, while hectic at times on the narrow road, is sometimes beautiful and provides wonderful, country scenery.

i had just finished a meeting where we were deciding what part of 'great expectations' we were going to teach when talking about economic development. we were going to have the students focus on the question, 'is it possible to preserve our cultural values while continuing to focus on economic development? if so, how?'