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"So now I'm going back again
I got to get her somehow
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives
Don't know how it all got started
I don't what they're doing with their lives
But me I'm still on the road
Heading for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point of view
Tangled up in Blue"
-Bob Dylan

I have been living in Vietnam for over one-year and, I still find this fine country precocious and filled with wonderment. I am awe stricken on a daily basis.

The aspects of life here that once induced a state of sheer terror and wild hysteria are now comforting. The organized chaos that passes for traffic used to incite white-knuckle anxiety episodes. Now, I can drive from point A, to point B without self-medicating and, a minimal amount of blood being shed.

Being woken up at 6:00 am by my neighbors shrieking, "MOT, HAI, BA . . . YO!", is as routine as the crowing of a rooster. The karaoke systems, wired to ensure that every half-deaf farmer huddled under a bush in a 5 kilometer radius can clearly hear every drunken note, have become like ambient background noise.

I do miss the vast array of fine dining establishments in Hawaii and California. But, I've never seen King Cobra or, Great Dane on the tasting menu at The French Laundry. The culinary delights in Vietnam are exquisite.

Like any foriegner, I still have many things to learn and, many dues to pay. I look forward to all of them.