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.