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.

today was the day to celebrate ‘cung co hon’ and it was fascinating. i would translate the phrase to mean, ‘pray to the wandering soul’, and it is a special day for all those who drive cars, trucks or busses.

because the common mode of transportation is the motorcycle and bicycle, people who drive larger vehicles are respected and their ability to traverse two lane roads cluttered with motorcycles, bicycles all moving independently. to drive a car here is quite a skill. to drive it from here to ho chi minh city and back so much as a scratch requires a master.

i looked out the window of my office today and saw a fascinating site. these almost all of the drivers the school employees, about 10 people, gathering around a long table covered with roasted pork and other food. in the middle of the table was an incense holder and these men went about saying a short prayer.

the sky was covered with dragonflies. they hovered and darted about, sometimes just letting the wind push them in random directions.

all of the school’s cars and busses were gathered around the table. they were all parked next to one another facing the table. they appeared reverent, a mechanical congregation respecting the wandering soul.

after the prayer, the drivers took their incense sticks and placed them in the cracks of their vehicles letting the smoke carry their prayers up to the wandering soul. the dragonflies were thick in the sky above.

each driver went to their respective vehicle and turned the lights on and blew the horn. another driver took a large pile of paper money and began to burn it. the smoke held close to the ground as the wind blew bits of paper around the parking lot. the horns were the congregational hymn, the money was the offering. the dragonflies hovered.

everyone stood around for a bit. the wandering soul stood still for a moment and, for some serendipitous reason, the dragonflies dispersed. there was silence and the ground smoldered a bit where the paper money was burned.

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?'

i was exhausted after lunch today. i rolled under the mosquito net but didn't quite make it all the way. my right leg stayed on the floor.

i don't remember thinking i wanted to go to sleep. i actually remember thinking that i probably shouldn't be sleeping and i should get back to work. that was one and a half hours before i woke up.

i woke up and my leg was still hanging on the ground. it took me a moment to orient myself. i had just been in iraq giving packs of food out to children who were quite well dressed.

the dream passed and i brushed my hair and looked at my broken face in the mirror. i gargled some mouthwash and tucked in my shirt and looked out the window.

through the bars of my window i could see the rain peacefully falling from the sky and moving a little bit of dirt from one spot to another. it was a peaceful rain. the sky seemed rested. we were all at peace and i walked out into it and drove my bicycle over a rocky road towards a cool office and smiling friends.

i taught again today. it was the first day in about four or five months and it was glorious.

i stood at center stage in front of my english literature class and talked about culture. what is your culture? where does it come from? how can we learn more about culture. by the end of the afternoon my hand was covered in chalk dust. my shirt was not tucked in correctly and i was generally a sweaty, happy mess.

it's beautiful to stand in front of a room and talk to people about ideas they don't often think about. it's wonderful to get the wheels turning. you influence, you guide. it's really a beautiful power-trip.