I did Europe by train for a month and didn t do a very good job of keeping in touch with anyone back home except Alex

Together we worked our way through much of Southeast Asia, rarely spending more than 10 a day, and talked obsessively about our futures. He was so excited to start teaching English at one of the citys underprivileged schools, totally taken with the idea of shaping young minds and mentoring the poorest and the most neglected, in the way that only Alex could be. My goals were not so lofty: I was intent on finding a job in magazine publishing.