the neighbors have a dead body on display in there front room. funerals here are a big event. this could be a long weekend. i hope my new neighborhood has less people dying.

my alley looks nice but can be really loud.

i got a new hat.

i love when they spell it out for you, just incase you didn't know what to call it.

i saw one the other day that was crime. i'll try and get a pic.

sometimes i miss my friends.

in the midst of the chaos of saigon i am starting to find some thongs i really enjoy. i don't enjoy being unable to communicate with people, i don't enjoy everyones rude attitude, i don't enjoy sleeping on a box spring with no mattress, and i don't enjoy being quizzed down about my wage and relationship status by hostesses at the bars. i do enjoy my new job, working at a preschool. the kids are adorable and a ton of fun. i leave every day with a smile on my face. i also really enjoy watching the lightning storms from my roof. every few days a good storm will roll in and i'll go up to the rooftop patio with a bottle of scotch and my ipod to watch. the sheet lightning lights up the city and for a second the raindrops freeze mid air like a giant flash bulb popping. when the storm gets closer the thunder is so loud it shakes the air out of my chest and when the lightning bolts are so close i can see the raindrops exploding i can feel the electricity in my bones. watching these storms is my favorite pastime here. it makes me feel so small and insignificant, like my troubles aren't real there just in my head. this is when i feel at peace in saigon, standing in the rain watching a storm.

so last week i was all excited to buy a new bike. i had found a steel fuji track bike for sale at one of the small bike shops across town, and after frustrating attempts to barter we settled on a price around $200. waiting for pay day i anxiously checked up on it several times and i told myself it will be fine, "no one else is looking for a track bike in saigon." well i was wrong. three days after my last visit i finally got payed and with pockets full and spirits high i made my way across town to the little bike shop. devastation swept over me as i crossed the bridge and peered into the shop. the bike was gone, some other asshole is riding around on the bike that should be mine, the only track bike in saigon.

today i went out to the bike shops. there's a small street in a low rent neighborhood, across the river, that has a dozen or so used bike shops. just like back in seattle, on my day off i like to parruse the used parts shops even if im not looking to buy. today i found a zunow frame at a price i couldn't pass up. i knew that i wanted to upgrade my frame set,which weighs a ton, but i figured it would be after the wheel set, which also weighs a ton. but for $60 i bought a new frame and got all the parts swapped, and now i want to build it up with all shimano 600 parts, seven speed.

oh and i found this sweet 3rensho saddle at the shop too, but i didn't but it.

at 5:30am the sound of a marching band tears me out of my sleep. staring at the ceiling i wonder if in fact i am still dreaming, what would a marching band be doing wandering the maze of alley ways at 5:30 in the morning on a saturday. for fifteen minutes i hear horns and drums moving closer and then further away, before the sound fades for good and i can get an hour more sleep. as im getting ready for work the band starts up again and as im leaving they pass my house and i get a chance to see what was going on. a ten member band plays at the back of a funeral precession that stretches half a block. on my ride into work i pass them on the street, taking an entire lane the precession marches slowly toward the cemetery dressed in traditional garb, carrying the ornately decorated casket with the band keeping step.

well there were no forth of july celebrations here in saigon. its strange, so many of our young men died here for there freedom and its as if they dont even appreciate it. just joking. i spent the forth working. classes are going pretty good, i have a group of beginners on sunday afternoon that are pretty fun. theres twenty two students in the class all around the age of six and were learning colors and numbers and family members. they ask me questions in vietnamese and i ask them questions in english and we both look at each other with an expression of pure confusion. in the evening of july forth i went out for some drinks at my favorite pub. i was the only american there and i yelled at the brits about how we kicked there ass. i drank beer from singapore on ice and jim beam whiskey straight. i wore my bald eagle tee shirt with pride. freedom baby, freedom.