settling in

4 months down, 3 months to go, and finally unpacking. after staying at a half dozen cheap guest houses and a couple of temp apartments, im finally ready to pick up my backpack full of 19 kilos worth of stuff i obviously didnt need. its been in storage since feb 1 when i went to australia, and took just what i could fit in a backpack that so diminutive, it would not fit my laptop. naturally, ive purchased a ton of shit along the way, many times opting to simply rush into a store and snag a new outfit appropriate for school rather than try to rush all the way home.

i really liked the last place i was at, staying with Hai, a young asian bisexual dude, Simon, a french guy in the rice trading business and his viet girlfriend My. it was well situated, right over a short bridge from downtown, walkable if you didnt feel like spending the buck for a taxi, which isnt very much, but trying to communicate where you are trying to go is sometimes so taxing, its just easier to go on foot. but the timing is about right. what was a charming little neighborhood when we moved in just weeks before, situated round a tiny triangle of green space where streets converge in something other than a 90 degree angle. the vietnamese are pretty crafty at building tall slender towers, and have no trouble putting a multi story apartment complex on a parcel no bigger than a postage stamp, despite the fact that neighboring buildings are all just a couple of stories. in light of this, its surprising to see any open space, since there is not a parcel small enough to be unused.

while this nook was spared from construction, the crews descended upon our neigb in a big way. within a few days, two of the neighboring buildings got demo'ed. forget about one of the great benefits of this early semi-retirement plan ive signed up for, namely, waking up when your body is good and ready. crews start loud banging around 6 am, and only the aged who have lost their hearing are spared. using the hard labor of workers recruited from the countryside, who are equipped with the most basic tools, constructing with ladders fashioned from bamboo and rope, constructing their own man made scaffolding from bits of discarded materials, fashioning rebar by hand into the shapes they need to build forms which are only roughly symmetrical.

in contrast, my new place is in a far busier area, with no more charm than say 8th avenue in the 30's. but, the little alley i live on which is only wide enough for a single motorbike to pass has no traffic, is perfectly peaceful, and provided the first good nights sleep since sledgehammers slammed against brick some weeks back.

after a shower, i venture out on foot on the first night to see what kind of food options await me. i am riding a bicycle these days, but i opt to go on foot to see whats near. not far from my door is a brightly lit fresh juice and smoothy cart, where avocado shakes look tasty. heading further down the main street, i approach a well lit corner, that has several food stalls clustered all together with the usual offerings: sandwiches, seashells of all varieties, all dishes a buck or so. but i opt instead for the well lit and very tidy 24 hour pho 5 sao, regular wisdom would suggest that i stick with the noodle soup, since this is what they are obviously best at. but the dennys style menu offers page after page of other options. pizza, spaghetti, all with pix that look reasonable good. meal deals couple many popular dishes with a large cup of pepsi and some weird looking desserts. i opt for lasagna, something i havent had since the last meal in an american diner. it comes with 4 slices of toasted white bread. burgers are also offered, tho they are referred to as hambogo. perhaps next visit.

on aging

teaching my students the different stages of life, i asked them what they thought middle-aged might be. with a little coaxing, the began to grasp the idea that this is somewhere around the halfway point. but when asked to show where this fell on a timeline i'd drawn on the blackboard, they put a mark around 30. first, i thought this was a misunderstanding, or possibly the concepts students often have of their teachers being ancient. did you used to go to work by dinosaur, etc. except, these were not the young kids that i teach, but adults who learn english at night after work. then i realized, this is the right answer in vietnam. the life expectancy is considerably shorter here. perhaps this explains the complete disregard of safety. a dad will pilot his motor-scooter with just his right hand which is needed to accelerate, under his left arm, just like you might carry a bag of groceries by pressing it against your body, is his infant child. hope the cellphone doesnt ring.

blessed with smooth skin, women who rarely grow taller than the average 14 year old in america look like children dressed in barbie® goes to work attire. my boss wears braces, shuffles around like little a youngster wearing fuzzy slippers. though she doesnt look a day over 15, she could be twice that, which is to say, middle aged.

i remember reading an article about gillette, the shaver conglomerate setting their sites on china. while the average asian man shaves far less frequently than his western peers who are clearly not as far along in the evolution process, theres a billion of em. who am i to doubt the wisdom of a huge multi-national company, but i cannot see these hairless dudes ever hitting the shaving aisle, if such a section of the drug store even exists. more likely, it would seem like these would fall under the kind specialty items you might special order if you have a freak condition, like shoes for people with one leg inches shorter than the next, gloves for those born with webbed extremities, or a colostomy bag for those who can no longer use the original exit provided.

when you do spot old people, they are ancient. old ladies wear the same pajama suits which are essentially house coats, and bamboo hats like youve seen in the movies. the perfect uniform for toiling under the intense heat, squatting to do washing and baby care duties that are still exclusively ladies work. most likely, this older generation has not felt the slow creep of womens liberation. besides the obvious giveaways such as white hair, crazily wrinkled skin, and a mouth full of gums with maybe just a single rotten tooth remaining. they tend to sport the hairstyle from their day. keeping it up in a bun is apparently very old school.