-^-for posterity-^-

christmas in long xuyen was, well, lackluster.

eric and i sat around all day and did very little. i worked on some of my projects, even though it was saturday and even though it was christmas. i guess the worst part of the holiday was that my email inbox dried up almost completely.

the world is preparing for the lunar new year celebration. the flower market is being built back up again along the bank of the river. people are finishing up with their work before the holidays arrive, as things tend to get busy before there is a break. pepsi, and this i find fascinating, decided to ditch their trademark blue boxes in favor of red boxes that look quite like coca-cola boxes. we all know that red is quite a lucky color over the holidays.

in one week, rachel lee swartzendruber will come out to visit me. we will spend time in ho chi minh city and then down in the delta. it promises to be a wonderful time and i am excited beyond anything i could possibly describe. before she comes, however, i am obliged to finish writing my book. i am now sitting at my computer from sunrise to well into the evening trying to translate the vietnamese sections into english. my fingers hurt from typing. my eyes hurt from straining. this is the reason that i have not been writing anything of substance.

blessings to all this holiday season and have a wonderful new year.