-^-for posterity-^-

tomorrow is vietnamese independence day and the air is festive. people are floating around the offices and everything has been, of late, successful. we have a total of three new foreigners working at the university and, because i work in the international relations department, i have been working feverishly in order to set their lives up comfortably.

we need mobile phones. in place of a phone in the home, a mobile phone is actually quite a wise purchase. it costs just about as much as a normal phone but is, well, mobile. we drive around, look at different models and eventually buy the cheap one.

we need bicycles. if we don't have a bicycle, we can't really go anywhere. sure, you could walk places, but strutting down sunny streets isn't my idea of fun. you're going to sweat enough, spend as much time as possible inside.

we need home furnishings. everyone wants their room to feel a bit like home. i've accomplished this by carefully leaving my dirty clothes hanging from a number of tables and chairs, thus creating what is termed the 'dorm room effect'. people want to buy rugs and things for the walls and cushions and so on. we drive and find and barter and buy.

thus is my life. tomorrow is a day off but i'll probably take advantage of the empty offices and the fast internet connection to get some serious work done.

our foreign community here doubled almost overnight. the dog doesn't quite know what to do.