Cu Chi Cu Chi Cu

….Then I woke up at 5:45 am. I was asleep for thirteen hours! Dear lord! I felt great, to say the least. Woke up, showered, had a good amount of time to eat, got on the bus for Cu Chi tunnels. Great visit. We watched an interesting video from the Northern Vietnamese perspective of the war. A lot of talk about the courage and valor of Viet Cong guerillas (of which there was certainly, the men and women of the Viet Cong were dedicated and loyal soldiers), and some intriguing description of certain people. Several of the Viet Cong depicted in the videos were awarded “Medals for killing Americans”, an interesting designation to hear as an American. But, at the end of the day, it was a war being fought, and I can’t say I have an ill feelings towards anybody involved. It’s certainly not my place. At any rate, we bore witness to bomb craters, terrifying booby traps used by the Viet Cong, the smells and sounds of a live firing range, the epic tightness of a real Viet Cong tunnel. I only needed to crawl on my hands and knees once; the rest of the time was in a Gears of War style crouch run. I could dig it. Very hot and sweaty, and everybody was yelling and using up my oxygen. It was fine though. Once I lose my laziness I’ll post the video I took: with a flashlight in one hand and my camera in the other, I documented the whole three-ish minute venture from start to finish. I thought it was cool. We had lunch at Cu Chi as well. They fried a whole freaking fish and put it on the table. Impressive. Next was a visit to the War Remnants Museum, which had some awesome hardware: a Chinook, a Huey, some planes, M-48, M-51, three howitzers, two anti-aircraft batteries (one flak one machinegun), and a lot of bomb casings. There was also a model prison, which was absolutely terrifying/shocking. The conditions that the prisoners were subjected to definitely portray they original name of the showcase: the War Crimes Museum. It was awful. I don’t even want to describe what the prisoners went through. After this, however, Dr. Berman had recommended a souvenir shop for us to visit, which had some really nice things in there. Pricey, but nice. We also took a stroll around the bend, where we found the Lion’s German Brewery, at which we placed a reservation so that we could take our Vietnamese friends out and pay them back for the amazing two weeks they had shown us. After a run in with the worst cab driver ever and a whole lot of frustration the half of us that had gone in that specific taxi showed up a half hour late for our reservation. I had American food (BBQ Pork Spare Ribs) and it was a strange experience. I still felt it necessary to use the chili sauce I usually throw on squid and octopus. It’s weird what total cultural immersion will do to you. After that we had dessert and Snowee Ice Cream, a Swiss invention of epic proportion. So much ice cream. I partook in a joint effort between Laura and I, sampling and Apple Pie concoction and a Strawberry Cheesecake concoction. I ate a lot. And, for once, that brings me to right now, writing this blog on time. Well. Now that we’re here, this is kind of awkward. Eh jeez. Bye.

Oh my word. So disappointed in myself.

Waking up was fun! I mysteriously woke up at 8:07 am in time to get changed and hit the bus. I do not know how. At any rate, we went through some basic introductory language in class; Hello, my name is, I am from, my hometown is, I study this program at this university. We have a test on this stuff on Friday! WOAH! Our culture class also yielded some more interesting concepts, with the focus being on the “saving face” aspect of the Vietnamese people. It doesn’t matter if I’m wrong, or you’re wrong, or everybody’s wrong, we are beating around the bush until we are at a mutual understanding as to which third party to blame and no one’s opinion is being depicted as incorrect. In some cases it might be too nice, but overall it shows a lot of compassion on the side of the Vietnamese. It is, after all, a love based culture. We had a quick break after lunch to change and prepare for CBRE, a realty firm. This was an interesting (?) presentation, because the first thing we did was to leave the building. The meeting room that was our initial location had been used up by a meeting that was running late, so we took a short stroll down the street to a local café, where we were treated with drinks on the house and a nice chat about Vietnam. I got a milkshake, smiley face. We talked about Vietnam as foreigner’s, as the CBRE representative we met was an American named Patti. She moved to Vietnam in 1996, and has seen a lot of the transition that has taken place in recent years. She knows first-hand the warmth of the Vietnamese people, but has also born witness to some of the grayer sides of Vietnamese life. It was an interesting outsiders view on the country we were visiting, whereas previously we had just gotten the shiny view offered by thriving business men living at the tippy top. Very interesting. Dinner was supposed to be at seven, and due to our early wake up time Steve and I laid down for a nap. That was about 4:45. My alarm was meant to go off at six to give me ample time to shower and change and generally get ready to go. I woke up at 7:48. Eh crap. Oh well. Then we both woke up to a doorbell ring at 10:45 pm. Meh. They didn’t ring twice. And….

The Name Dropping Victory

You know, I swear someone is cutting my toenails in my sleep. Not only are they too short to be indicative of sustained growth over a week and a half, but some just seem shorter than the previous day. Anyway. Back to class! Our bus was waiting for us! No wallet. Nothing. Tin hadn’t heard nothing from nobody. My iota of hope that for some reason it would still be present and accountable was hardly perceptible to begin with anyway. Oh well. Gears keep a-movin’. We learned more crazy Vietnamese cultural stuff. Buddhism was instituted to fight Confucianism. Any Chinese that attempted to move to Vietnam for cultural change (a term called Sinocizing, or the attempts by the Chinese to Chinese-ify Vietnam) actually ended up assimilating into Vietnam due to the strength of their culture. Interesting enough. Today also marked my shining day of glory: the visit to Glass Egg Digital Media. Steve, Kim and I were in charge of the initial presentation to the group about this company, and we were amped up and ready to go. Glass Egg sits on the 7^th floor of the rather impressive e.Town main building, e.Town being an office complex consisting of four large modern office buildings. The inside of Glass Egg, although at first sight just an ordinary office cubicle set up, definitely had a Google edge to it. It’s tough to explain. Every graphic artist had a cubicle of their own, most equipped with double monitors, incredible desktop towers (the towers themselves were clear and LED lit), and some artists had pin-ups of their current work coating the walls. One side office had four art directors inside, scrutinizing each and every bit of art that the artists currently were currently working on before sending it along the chain to be processed and sent to the client. Another side office had been dedicated to Glass Egg Online, a game Glass Egg is starting to develop. The white boards were covered in statistics about online gaming in Vietnam, and other stuff that I couldn’t grasp the purpose of at a glance. A presentation by a French guy showed how legit their operation had grown to; you know you’re too cool for school when you no longer have to seek out clients and they start coming to you. They have licenses with Microsoft. Enough said. The French guy was kind of… French though. But it was alright. After Glass Egg we came home briefly, and then Steve and I shipped out to Ben Thanh Market where nothing was purchased. Tee hee *wink wink*. We came home. Then went out to Barbeque Garden where we made our own food. Boo. They gave us raw skewers of meat and fire. I mean come on. Cook my damn food! I was tired and hungry. Any way. We came home again and, at the invitation of Steve Reid (CFO of Glass Egg), did some name dropping. We went to Lush again, said the name “James”, got hooked up with a VIP booth and an eventual chat with the owner of the club. Five hours later we left. It was awesome.

Vung Tau Beach Pics

Panorama of the harbor at Vung Tau

Church? I assume?

I enjoy the panorama setting. 

Statue of a god outside the pagoda

Faces.

Big Jesus

Hai yah. Yippee Kayai. Crouching Comer Hidden Austin.

A Much Needed Picture Update (May 11-14)

The Karaoke place we went to way back when. Excellent institution.

The awesome rating of this location makes pictures fuzzy.

Graves of ancestors buried near rice fields to give good fortune.

Cocoa beans chilling out under a tarp to hide from the rain.

The man running the cocoa farm we visited. All around good guy.

Cocoa beans chilling in a pot. I don't know why they were in there...

Some angry fire ant like species of insect eating leaves and stuff.

The inside of one of the post processing machines. Also used to punish bad boys and girls.

Panorama of the cool walkway connecting our lunch destination to other locations in the area.

A cool old school boat parked amidst a lot of larger motor boats.

The crew had to run laps in sweatsuits duck taped at the wrists and ankles in order to make weight and not sink the boat.

The Vietnamese lap dog

Viet Nam Thai Ltd International JSC Dot Org What?

No class again! Gah! That meant no searching the bus, and no going to UEF! Cadswallop I tell you! Instead, we had (essentially) a day visit with Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company. It was quite the inspiring tale. We spoke primarily with Dan Thai – who is the brother of founder David Thai – about the companies origins, growth, activities, partners, and composition. The company began when David Thai left America at the age of 21 with $700 dollars because he was bored. Honestly. It sounds like something I would do. He spent $300 of it in Korea, leaving him with $400 in US dollars chilling out in Hanoi in 1996. From there, he decided to make Vietnamese coffee into the product it was meant to be. Back then, Vietnamese coffee was sold in random café’s and on street corners, brewed with any number of awful additives (including fishsauce). David Thai wanted better coffee. Highlands Coffee, his start up brand of Starbucks style coffee stores (Starbucks style being loosely defined, Highlands is much better), is now worth well over $500 million dollars, and it is only found in Vietnam. The numbers are mind blowing. Viet Thai International, the company David and Dan Thai founded as an umbrella for all of their subsidiary companies, now serves as a partner for premium luxury brands to sell within Vietnam. Viet Thai has successfully opened franchise outlets for Nike, Aldo, and even a Hard Rock Café. The Hard Rock is where we initially went in the morning for Dan Thai’s presentation, a secondary talk with the general manager of that specific Hard Rock Café (there’s a second Café built in Hanoi), and lunch. The Peking Duck Wrap I ordered was typical Vietnamese composition; too much vegetation and too little meat. The meat and sauce that was actually in the wrap was spectacular, despite its small quantity. We then headed over to a nearby shopping center to see a few of the stores that Viet Thai owns and operates. Armani is still expensive… Then I had cheesecake at the Highlands Coffee downstairs, it was gelatinous on top but you get through it. We then shipped out to one of the main Highlands coffee locations, where they have a training center/conference room set up for training new staff. I had a look at one of their training presentations, and was rather surprised at their level of rigidity when dealing with appearance and hygiene. On the powerpoint slide of “Things Not To Do” there was a picture of George W. Bush picking his ear; I celebrated a silent victory on that one. We then had a more in depth talk about the Highlands brand specifically, along with various snippets of information on the coffee market in general and the future of Vietnam’s economy. After that, we had a short break before going out to dinner and karaoke with some of the Viet Thai staff. I booked it out the door and literally wandered aimlessly looking for any location to do a Western Union transfer. After fifteen minutes of turning random directions I came across Southern Bank on… Ly Tu Trong Avenue? I think? At any rate, I walked out a richer, more financially stable young man about twenty minutes later. I think it would be a great idea if two people pretended to be the same person, and both tried to withdraw from the same wire transfer at the same time in different locations. You could double your money for sure! I came back home and went straight out to karaoke with Viet Thai, featuring such hits as “Let It Be”, “Jessie’s Girl”, and “Xin Chao Viet Nam”. After that I… fell asleep again. Sigh…

Uncreative Title

May 15, 2011

Beach beach beach beach beach beach. Early wake up time, headed out to the dock. We nearly missed our freaking hydrofoil hydrozoomer hydro-2013 because one taxi went to the wrong dock (how weird is that, docks and all that jazz). However, we managed to board intact, and Anh was the nicest person ever because she brought us a cheese wheel and a bunch of bananas (remember this subject/adjective grouping for later compare/contrast). After a pretty sweet ride on a pretty sweet boat, we arrived at Vung Tau. My word. It was the epitome of exotic resort town. It was beautiful, captivating, enchanthing, fascinating, gorgeous, handsome, inviting, lovely, mesmerizing, stunning, and tantalizing. Source: thesaurus.com. Yet, for all intents and purposes, Tin was out to torture us today. Proof of this will emerge with time. We did not immediately go straight to the water. After an hour and a half boat ride, with the whole group (minus Tin apparently) was ready and raring to stretch those thighs and see the sights. In due order, our first stop is… some bar. “So you can relax” says Tin. TINNNN! Get this show moving! We then went to a parking lot to see a rather large statue of the Virgin Mary, depicted as an apparent body builder as she was all “nbd” holding a standing Baby Jesus on her palm, her arm practically fully extended. Okay Mary, okay, good deal. Next stop was a pagoda of (what I took as) undetermined denomination, as it appeared Buddhist or Confucian, but had large statues of Hindu gods. I don’t know. At any rate, I prayed with incense for the return of my wallet. I would have bought a little birdie to set free and make a wish come true, but I didn’t have any money… I feel as though that state of being earns you a free wish bird. Our next stop was the beach not. Instead, in the ungodly heat, humidity, and sun, Tin decides to take the white people out and WALK THEM. Up many stairs. At the top was a not Baby Jesus (which personally makes it a less awesome statue, but that may just be me), looking large and in charge with his palms outstretched. After a quick sweat up the hill, we found Jesus. He was quite lovely. The Vietnamese claim it’s the highest Jesus statue in the world, although that’s hard to believe because the Brazilians have a pretty epic hill Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro. Just saying. There was also an old howitzer next to Jesus (he was apparently drafter way back when) which I summarily mounted and became king of. Then we went back down the hill, which always sucks worse than coming up for some reason. Then we went to a restaurant next door. BEACH TIN, BEACH! The reason I did not kill someone was two-fold: the girl putting ice in glasses was incredibly cute, and the shrimp was amazing. I mean, it was, ah. Spectacular. I ate a good plate and a half of those bad boys by myself. Garlic lemon lime cream sauce for the win. I had a fish head too. The eye was chewy. Bones are obnoxious. FINALLY THE BEACH ARRIVED. No sun screen for this guy! Changed up, shirt off, straight in the water. Salt. Bleh. It was like salty bath water. I’m sure I’ve used liquid of similar composition to rinse my sinuses. I quick dive underwater confirmed that, indeed, the sea was a great nasal wash. People slowly began to complain of burning and/or stinging sensations, and I thought they were being big babies. “Something touched my leg!” “My back is burning!” “I’m bleeding!” That last one is bull, nobody started bleeding. Eventually people began to be fed up with the stinging, blaming jellyfish and infamous hornet fish that don’t exist. During our slow walk out of the ocean, I got jabbed by something hardcore on the inside of the bicep. I still have a really clear bite/sting mark from the encounter of marine type. Then came the games… Tin walks up, a devilish gaze upon him. Anh divides us into teams. Tin gets the bags of bananas. He puts us on lines drawn in the sand, gives one side bananas. He says, “You put it between your legs, and…” Woah woah woah Tin. You can’t just make fools of the white people. And yet, we played… Worst game ever. So wrong in so many ways. Another game involved a group hug session on a tiny piece of paper. Another one eventually led several of us to hold ocean water in our mouths. In all honesty, they hate us. There’s no other explanation for this horrible series of games. What kind of sick twisted mind comes with these kinds of things? After the games came the trek home, after which I am fairly certain I crashed, burned, died, and fell asleep. At the very least I slept the entire hour and a half on the boat ride back. After that, who knows.

Ohs noes :'(

Today was a sad day. I lost my wallet. Sorry mom and dad. We put out a search party on the bus and UEF, so hopefully tomorrow yields something awesome. I don’t think I left it at breakfast, because I think I had it upon getting on the bus initially. That means I lost it either on the bus or in the classroom. Time will tell. Anyway. We had a guest lecture on the Mekong Delta today, which supplies a surprising percentage of Vietnam’s agriculture. If my memory serves me correctly, the Delta represents 50 percent of Vietnam’s rice and 70 percent of fruit exports. Rather impressive, no? This lecture was intended as a intro to our trip to the Delta tomorrow. Language class included months, days, and overall review of things we learned. I’m a tank at tones, just saying. And dancing. Hu said so. Bam. After lunch we headed out to ACDI/VOCA to experience a smaller scale business than that which we have previously seen. AND WE GOT HATS AND BAGS. Phu My Hung is trash compared to this operation. Almost kidding. Almost. ACDI/VOCA stands for something, and they have been active in Vietnam working with cocoa growers since 2003. Since then, they have invested around $10 million dollars in training and expanding smallholder cocoa plantations through funding donated by USAID and USDA. They helped to set up and operate hundreds of “cocoa clubs”, where farmers can receive seedlings, training, and avenues of sale for their cocoa crop. We’re all pretty much experts on cocoa farming in Vietnam now, kind of a big deal. After this presentation we had karaoke with Tuan and Khuong! The building was legit. They care about their karaoke here. It was a good eight floors of just private rooms for parties of people who want to do karaoke. It was awesome. We had to pay a 150,000 dong cover charge, but that included any expense up to 150,000 dong, which meant that we essentially paid for food and got two free hours of karaoke in a baller establishment. A man that looked remarkably like myself ordered a dry coca-cola (confused, yes, I know) and was the classiest lad in Ho Chi Minh City. We also sang “I’m in Saigon Bitch” by LMFAO. Great times all around. That was my evening. I lost my wallet. Sad face. 

Dualism, Caodaoism, and... Existentialism...

May 12, 2011

Today was a good day. They’re all good days. So. This morning was a really informative Vietnamese culture class, where we learned about the Duality of the Vietnamese people. Traditionally, the Vietnamese are a “love based” culture, essentially meaning that they are very friendly and hospitable to their friends and guests. However, outsiders are treated with a kind indifference/distance. However, when Confucianism was introduced, it brought with it rigid social structure and hierarchical order. This created the difference in pronouns seen in most Asian countries, and also is the reason behind the conflicting attitude Vietnamese may present when talking to strangers versus friends. Most of the concepts are difficult to reiterate concisely, so I apologize for how unclear this probably seems. However, we also learned our numbers in language class today, in order to aid our pursuits in Ben Thanh Market. We also made plans with the UEF students to attend a dancing class, which I will discuss later. Today’s company visit was to the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is housed in a branch of the U.S. Consulate located in Diamond Plaza (a short walk from the hotel). Here we met a man who will not be named, who is among the most well-spoken and intelligent people I have ever known. Officially he is meant to be concerned with facilitating the export of American goods in to Vietnam. However, in the two years that he has been in country, he has apparently systematically analyzed most aspects of the economy and the Vietnamese people’s relationship with it. It was more than just impressive. He just knew. He had knowledge, and gave it to us willingly. I really don’t know what else I can say about the matter. At any rate, this trip was followed up by a romp in the pool before dance lessons. The lessons were awesome. Really basic steps, but I rocked them. Me and Nikki destroyed the… whatever dance we did. Just saying. Laura sucks. We then headed out to dinner at Xao Gi, which was interesting, just like all Vietnamese food and restaurants that exist. Last thing, we walked around and found… Kem Banh Dang? I think? Ice cream. It was good. It was topped with star fruit and dates. I like dates.

They have us running three-a-days!

I would like to begin this post by apologizing for its belatedness. I fell asleep last night at 9 with the intent of getting up a half hour later to head out with the team for a night on the town. I woke up just before 11. Sad face. Anyway…

SO MANY COMPANY VISITS! Three! We had no language class, so that was sad. My fluency is going to be rusty for tomorrow’s class. That’s okay. For the first trip we headed out to VSIP I (Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park I), which was built and maintained by a subsidiary of the Vietnamese government. They offer tax incentives and building space for commercial enterprises, and have so far expanded to include three other parks totaling around 3,000 hectares in size. No, I don’t know what a hectare is equivalent to. Inside VSIP I is II-VI (Two-Six), a company that is actually based in the Pittsburgh area. At this location, they build thermoelectric semiconductors and precision optic lenses. It was a spectacular site. We were most likely breathing in deadly fumes, but you know. Oh well. After lunch, we headed out to EximBank in District 4, which (surprisingly) may very well be one of the best visits of the trip – the only reason I say surprisingly was because this particular visit was thrown together the day before we arrived. We went up to the second floor for our presentation, at which I am pretty sure every single member of the executive board for that particular branch was present. It was rather impressive. They even had a professional photographer on site, who must have taken hundreds of pictures. The first executive began speaking in Vietnamese, which scared every one of us. After a few minutes of this and a rough translation, each of the bank executives began to speak more freely in broken English about the economy, banking in Vietnam, and their bank in particular. Jay (one of the business students) asked about interest rates on savings accounts. The executive replied with what we had initially thought was 40 percent. Our jaws dropped. Clarification yielded that she had actually said 14 percent. Our jaws maintained low formation. This was not a misunderstanding. Naturally, we all wanted to open accounts immediately – to our dismay, we learned that this rate only applies to the Vietnamese Dong. Our shock turned to sadness. “American dollars only get 3 percent” was the follow up. Only three percent?! I get a quarter of a percent at PNC! My mind is still blown. We ended the Q&A session, and headed back downstairs to see the floor. Much to our befuddlement, the bank executive leading us had everyone working down there clap as we came down the stairs. No, I have no idea why. Yes, I am just as confused. Alex sat down at the personal loans desk and began macking on the loan officers there, throwing down mad skills and getting two business cards. After that, we took a picture outside and peaced. We came back, changed, led a small contingent to wander towards Ben Thanh market to scout it out, went back to the hotel, showered, went out to Pho 24 for pho (big surprise), came back, and summarily passed out on the bed as afore mentioned. Disappointment abounds.

Day Two in Nam

Xin chao ban! Ban co khoe khong? As you can see, I am fluent in Vietnamese now. Today’s outfit consisted of darker khakis, black shoes, and a grey shirt with black stripes (or a black shirt with grey stripes, I’m not really sure).  After a deceptively long two hour presentation about Urban Development in Ho Chi Minh City by a guest lecturer at UEF, we jumped right back into a language class, where our focus became how to pursue small talk in Vietnamese. The first two sentences at the beginning of this entry read “Hello! How are you?” Stunning, I know. My partner for today’s class was Phuc, who was very helpful in teaching me some of the nuances of pronunciations and (especially) tones. This class was followed up by another amazing lunch provided by the UEF cantina, this time complete with good old fashioned mystery meat, of which I am not sure what exactly it was. Unfortunately it was delicious, so if it was meat belonging to a certain domesticated animal, I cannot say that I hated it. Immediately after this we headed out to Phu My Hung for a presentation. Quite honestly, I was blown out of the water. From the picture displayed in the most recent post, you can see a rough estimation of the size of the project. It’s awe inspiring. They’ve developed an area from nothing but marshland into one of the most desirable living spaces in Vietnam, if not the world. Residences range from apartments for middle class families to villas for rich expatriates, valued at $1,000,000 USD. They have built a huge convention center, hotels, a mall, apartment complexes, and the Crescent, a water front complex combining a mall, three residence halls, commercial eateries, and a business center. The entire urban area must have cost billions of dollars to develop to this point, and they are only 40% complete with the commercial zones that they have planned. It’s ridiculous. A few of the UEF students went with us to this presentation, and invited us to join them at dinner, which we gladly accepted. After a short nap at the hotel, we headed out to Long Huy restaurant, which is known for “one type special food” according to Ton, one of the students with us. This specialty food consisted of a pancake like shell stuffed with (in this case) beef , shrimp, and bean sprouts. To eat it, one took rice paper, placed various leafy vegetable matter on it (obtained from a plate that had lettuce and mint on it), and then removed a portion of the pancake-type deal and placed it on the paper, rolling the whole thing into a burrito like object. This structure was dipped into fishsauce (the local staple dressing for all types of food) and eaten. Absolutely amazing, despite its odd nature. This was complemented with spring rolls and water. Afterwards, we went to… I don’t remember. Some odd Swedish sounding frozen yogurt place. Here, they added fruit to frozen yogurt, and blended it fresh into a new flavor of soft serve, making the texture and flavor much sharper than that found at Razzy Fresh. Ingenious idea, I must say. That concluded the day.

Pictures from May 9th and 10th

To follow up the first post, here is a small selection of photos from the first two days:

This man is believed to have been awarded "Citizen of the Year" by the Vietnamese government.

An awesome prank. (Note the helmet atop the bamboo poles)

This is about a quarter of the bikes parked at UEF (University of Economics and Finance) at any one time.

A set of Residential (Tan roofs) and Commercial (High Rises) districts in Phu My Hung as they stand today.

A presentation by Mr. Hien of Phu My Hung; the model is the current master plan for the entire "city" Phu My Hung has created. White buildings are in existence/under construction, whereas brown buildings have yet to be designed.

Currently a small community, these buildings have been purchased by UEF and will eventually be destroyed and their owners displaced to make way for a new UEF campus. Admirable...

What I assume is a bumper sticker with a witty spin on the term "viet kieu", used to describe people of Vietnamese ethnicity who are not citizens of Vietnam.

I'm getting better at actually using my camera, so hopefully I can have better pictures up eventually as the two weeks go by.

(A Belated) May 9th Post

So after much anger and destruction dealing with Facebook chat, texting Google verification codes, and broken text boxes, I am finally able to post to my blog. So here is what should have gone up yesterday:

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Heat. Oh dear lord. The combination of temperature, humidity, stillness, smog, vehicle fumes, and sheer density of buildings forms the most intense heat I have ever experienced. Wake up, shower, go in the hallway: smacked in the face by a wall of heat. The windows on both ends of the hallway are open, pouring in heat and city noise. At seven o clock in the morning. I imagine that breakfast will be similar each day, so I will only talk about it once unless some disparities occur, at which point I will note those accordingly. The orange concoction they serve is spectacular. And then… noodles? I never imagined noodles for breakfast, but, so many noodles. I ate pho soup for breakfast. And dinner. Very strange. Tasty, but strange. The hard boiled eggs looked scary. So, after not-eggs and noodles, we headed out to UEF for reception and class. The university was a walled in, gated compound. White washed walls, and a hugely largely jam packed area in the back for motorcycles. The reception was at once interesting and hilarious. Two students sang songs for us. I would have felt bad taking pictures, so I just watched and conversed with nearby students. I met Loc and Truc (forgive the absence of accent markings, if there are any), who both talked the entire reception period. They asked what I was studying, what I thought of the people singing, where I was going, what I was doing,  etc. And then came the introductions. My word. Matt Long went on to have each of us introduce ourselves. Mr. Tin, our guide and token eccentric Asian man, had a Vietnamese student ask each of us a question after our introductions. The girls may as well have gotten marriage proposals. Some of the guys got similar questions from girls, while others got serious questions concerning the Plus3 program. I was asked what I thought of Vietnam, what I thought of Vietnamese women, if I like to karaoke, and if I want to dance. The girl asking the question had just previously performed a traditional dance for us all. So, naturally, I went up to the front of the room, grabbed a pretty pink fan, and did my absolute best, much to the hilarity of the crowd. Afterwards I went for a hug like a normal American person; Vietnamese do not hug. That was awkward… We then got drinks at the Cantina. The Sprite-style beverage here is exceptional. Our language class was also really fun and interesting. I now command a very small amount of Vietnamese. Hello friend, what is your name? My name is Austin. It was nice to meet you friend. Xin chao ban, ban ten la gi? Toi ten la Austin. Rat vui duoc gap ban. That’s right. Owned. Lunch was extraordinary, as I expect most meals to be. We then came home to change for the consulate visit, at which point I donned my light khaki dress pants and a swell looking light green polo. I fully enjoy looking classy. We drove through one of the wealthier districts of Ho Chi Minh, complete with PUMA stores, Burberry’s, Coffee houses, huge banks, and expensive looking local stores. This two million Dong is burning a hole in my pocket, let me tell you… At any rate, I finish the day exhausted. Whether it was from jet lag or ordinary lack of sleep and heat exhaustion, we will never know. However, we do know that this is going to be an amazing two weeks.

Xin chao, hen gap lai.

Link to the Plus3 Site

The link to the main Vietnam Plus3 website can be found here.