How this will change me

I was out with some girlfriends last night, entertaining a woman from Paris who had come to Ho Chi Minh to work with my company, who is publishing a few books with her. This was her first time in Asia, and as we were sitting in a bar after dinner we just started talking about how different it is. She had been to Singapore before coming to Saigon, but when asked to describe Singapore, she said "It's a lot like London." I haven't been there, but I've heard it's true--the laws are very strict regarding littering and other activity that could look the least bit unclean, and there are cameras everywhere. So, it feels like London.

She then looked around the street outside the bar, at the women with children selling gum and tissues for money (to give to men probably hiding in the shadows, watching them), the vendors selling sunglasses and lighters and pot...and she was just like "I will never see people the same way again."

And it's just so true. I am glad to be here for several practical reasons, the main one being that it is waaaaay more affordable to live here than it is to live in the States right now, even on my low salary. The less practical reasoning is that, because I do know that I want and, for my vague career goals, need to go back to the States to start working my way up the publishing ladder, this experience is giving me a new set of eyes--a set that has seen this part of the world, and is learning just how different it really is.

Ok, I started writing the above paragraphs a few days ago, and then ran out of steam on what I was saying, and now that I'm going back to it I can't quite pick it up again. But there you have it--some random thoughts on living here.

Hopefully I'll have some more interesting things to write about soon.