i have the cat virus.

a few days ago i noticed some red spots on my face and my left hand. i didn’t think anything of them because, in this tropical environment, we’re exposed to a number of strange flying and crawling things that bite. inevitably you end up with odd bug bites that sometimes hang around for a few days. this, however, was different.

the red marks stayed and grew. they didn’t itch as all red blotches on the skin are supposed to do, but they hurt like a bruise. i put some antibiotic cream on them for a day or so hoping that would cure them. it turns out it was the cat virus.

after about three days i began to worry a bit. the blotches grew and hurt more. they one on my arm turned white in the middle. i asked my friend if i could go and see a doctor.

the doctor’s office was in the middle of long xuyen. it was on the bottom floor of someone’s house. the sign out front said ‘dermatologist and heart disease’ two doctors were working in the same ‘office’. the ‘office’ was two pieces of white wood that were hanging from the ceiling. the room was about 10 feet long and 15 feet wide. the actual office was hidden behind the hanging wood. the waiting room was a row of metal chairs along a wall. we sat and listened to motorbikes and cars scream by.

i was waiting behind three old people. they were all accompanied by younger children and all had a difficult time getting up and around. one old man had spots on his face. one old lady had a sore on her arm and the third old lady had a mystery illness that could not be immediately seen. i waited thought about what it would be like to be old and have skin problems in long xuyen.

finally the doctor arrived. he had been out eating lunch. his motorcycle was not new, but respectable. it had a number of stickers advertising condoms on the front. his hair was long and he wore a hat from the 50’s. he treated the old people first and then it was my turn. i walked in the doctor’s office and sat down. i leaned against one of the wooden walls and it swayed back and forth. there was a short bed to one side, the doctor sitting in the middle, a nurse talking to the doctor and a young girl who handled the money and the medicine. the doctor asked me what was wrong with my arm. i explained what was wrong. he looked at my arm under a large lamp with a magnifying glass. he looked at my eye for a long while. he said something quickly to the nurse and she agreed.

the diagnosis. i had cat virus.

i have no idea what cat virus is or how one can acquire the virus without any contact with cats. i have no idea why one would call something a cat virus if it created red splotches on your skin that hurt like bruises. it should be called the painful red blotch virus. i guess there’s a reason for the name.

i was given medicine and told to rest at home for three to four days. i’m fine. no one worry. i’ve got jota by my side and a good book. the dog’ll surely chase away any cat in me. (couldn’t resist the pun. sorry.)

ny had a black-out and it was the front page of every newspaper in the world. long xuyen has a black-out and no one notices. people here really don’t even seem bothered.

it’s quite normal to have mini-black-outs for entire days. normally, the black-outs are confined to the summer months and then they only last for a morning, an afternoon or throughout the night. today we had a black-out at the most inopportune time.

i was about to print off a test for my business class. we have the final examination this week and everyone has been studying hard for a long while. i was about to take the test to get printed when the unthinkable happened. all the lights went off. the air conditioner growled to a halt and everything became quiet.

i drove around town trying to find an internet café with electricity so i could print off the test. i drove to the other side of long xuyen, waited in a long line and finally printed the test off. i drove again to find a photo copy shop with electricity. the shop was jammed with other poor souls looking for power. i wasted half my day trying to find electricity. i came home to a stuffy, dark room and took a long nap. we end up relying so much on technology and only realize our addiction when something goes awry.

every time i send an email i imagine what the weather is like in america. i say, 'bet the leaves are turning', or, 'wonder how cold it's getting', or, 'wow, i guess spring's just around the corner.'

besides the fact that i'm getting more and more corny as days pass, i'm being quite serious.

before writing those brief lines, i always shut my eyes and try to imagine home. the beginning of december was always a disappointment for me when i was a child. i always assumed that it should be colder or that we should be having snow, which would obviously cancel classes. i used to bundle up and be frustrated that we couldn't play football in the back yard. the ground was usually getting too hard. only rarely did it snow.

when i was older, the beginning of december was a beautiful time. i used to wear plain sweaters and dark coats. i used to wear beanies and gloves. i enjoyed looking at the naked trees. they were skeletons without their leaves. the hard ground didn't bother me because i never bothered to play outside in the grass. the cool air was biting and reminded me that i was alive. the frost on the car window in the morning was art.

the closer winter comes to pennsylvania, the more i miss home. i was walking around this morning fairly early and something in the air felt like a beautiful july morning. i reminisced back to the days i would get up early for work. i remembered so much. still, i do miss days walking around covered in thick clothes. i miss seeing my breath and naked trees. i miss the hard ground and opening your window when you're driving to feel a rush of freezing air push past you and through the car.

school has finally ended. we have finals and nothing more. i have been worked raggad for the past few months and now i have a chance to sit back, read and relax a bit.

i left my last class feeling like i was leaving highschool for the last time. i was humming that one song by that one terrible band in the 1980's. 'schooooooool's out for tha summer....... schooooools been blown to pieces...' and so on. i never thought teacher's had those same feelings of elation when school ended. i never knew they were really skipping in their head as they slowly trudged down the sidewalks.

i am now giddy. i am giddy enough to post a picture of what i look like with my teacher's hair. some people have emailed me asking me about it. here's what i look like. i am sorry for all of those who had higher expectations and dad, yes, i do look like i did in my 5th grade picture wearing a blue shirt and a side-part.

english speaking club.

this is the last one for a few months. the semester is ending and teachers are getting a well deserved break.

tonight we had about 120 students come for games, prizes and lots and lots of yelling. we play games that involve powerpoint or some simple computer program. we play 'box of fortune' which is obviously a smaller version of 'wheel of fortune' except without ms. white, the wheel, pat and the flashing letters. the students pick pieces of paper from a box hoot if they get money, yell of they get a lot of money, moan if they loose their turn and scream if they get bankrupt. by the end, if it's a good game, we have about a hundred students standing, clapping and yelling things in vietnamese.

tonight we had some teachers there from other departments and they also got into the fervour. they started in the back quietly observing and, by the end, were standing in the front translating what i was saying in a high-pitched yelp. i had about three translators tonight; they seemed to be all fighting for the job. i kept giggling.

the end of speaking club always is dramatic. we give the 'necklace of greatness' to whichever group performed the best (they are divided into groups depending on what department they are in). the students sit quietly as i ponder the decision. i wear the necklace of greatness, which is actually a silver knob you would screw into the end of a banister tied onto the end of a piece of black cloth that was ripped from a cape i wore during halloween, and furrow my brow. the time comes for a decision. i exhale slowly and dramatically. i put on my most serious face and, in my lowest, most authoritative tone, announce that economics has won tonight. everyone stands and cheers. they come up, i put the necklace of greatness on them and we all leave happy and tired.