Haze

I look up, a lot,

on days like today.

I’m not really sure what I’m looking for. 

Related, I don’t always know what I see. 

During last month’s hazy stretch, we were near the top of the world charts in AQI.

We’re number one!

I shout to the sky. 

It’s not a proud distinction, and it weighs. The air feels heavy and my footsteps do too. 

But it’s the trade-off, of choosing to live here.

This city is life, everywhere we look. And even on days when the haze is oppressive, and we can taste the air,

life goes on.

Bicycles, mopeds, and increasingly, SUVs and EV’s. 

Life in Hanoi is constant motion. Like sharks, to exist, and to survive, is to move.

That movement means the air is not always delicious. 

But if there’s one thing we know about Vietnamese, they are resilient.

(what’s the opposite of whiny)

A sense of

let’s get on with it

is how they roll.

Life in a basin means that things accumulate.

Particulate matter, smog, smoke.

But once those clear, and they always, eventually (albeit briefly) do

the true heart and soul of this place shine through.

Family, food, fellowship, joy.

As we are guests here, we recognize that all of it is ephemeral. This, too, shall pass

and the people who make this place work, will continue to do so.

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