Last day of the week! We started out with breakfast, then more History and Culture class, and finally another Language class. I'm getting pretty good, if I do say so myself. We've all memorized a couple of the key phrases like "see you again" and "thank you," and we're using them all the time, even with each other. We learned the numbers today in preparation for going to the market on Monday. We'll have to use them to barter with the shop owners. This makes 5 languages that I can count to 10 in.
After lunch, we went to the US Consulate. It's basically an equivalent to the US Embassy. The real embassy is in the capital of Hanoi, and the Consulate is here in Ho Chi Minh City on the site of the old US Embassy in South Vietnam. So we got to step back on "US soil" in a way. We had to go through a bunch of security and leave all our cameras and phones at the front desk. We started out with a briefing from four different members of the State Department. They work in four of the different departments at the Consulate: economics, politics, consular assistance (which handles visas to America and helps take care of Americans abroad), and education. Each of the members gave a rundown of what they and their departments do at the Consulate, which was really interesting. Working for the State Department seems like a really cool job. The Q&A portion of the briefing turned into us asking questions about the department and how you can apply. It's definitely something that I would consider looking in to in the future. After the briefing, we took a tour of the grounds with the Consulate's resident historian. The former Embassy was the site of an insurgent attack that was part of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. The Embassy grounds were breached by a group of Viet Cong insurgents, who killed some of the MP's who were defending the building. They didn't make it into the embassy, but it showed the public that the US government was a lot more vulnerable in Vietnam than they were previously thought to be. We walked around the grounds and got to see the original flower pots that the dead Viet Cong were photographed in. It was really surreal actually seeing it because we've been shown pictures of the area before.
After the Consulate, we walked a few blocks to the same building that the Commercial Service is in. Their facilities have an American Center, where Vietnamese students can come to study, and to get advice and help applying to American schools. The staff wanted us to talk to some Vietnamese students about American schools. A whole lot of Vietnamese students showed up, and so we split up into smaller groups to talk to them. We were only supposed to stay for a half hour, but we all ended up staying an extra hour talking to them. It was a really cool experience. We started out talking about American schools, and Pitt specifically, but it quickly turned into conversations about us and our lives. We asked each other about a whole bunch of things, like what we do for fun and what life is like in our respective countries. I got my group to make me a whole list of Vietnamese food that I need to try. Getting a chance to speak to a new group of Vietnamese students was an awesome experience. Unlike the UEF students, a lot of these students were engineering students, so it was cool being able to compare our programs and see what they learn and how it differs from us. I had a whole conversation with another mechanical engineering student. In the end, we had a whole lot of new Facebook friends, and some really great conversations to remember.
Friday night, we had a Guys Night. One of our new friends, Bo, took all the guys out to a hot pot restaurant. The restaurant was the most authentic place I've ever been to. We were the only non-Vietnamese people at the place. The restaurant was basically a big room with a bunch of small tables with little chairs haphazardly placed around them. It was a goat hot pot place, and the food was incredible. We started out with an appetizer that was basically the Vietnamese equivalent to balut. Balut is a Philippine dish that I first heard about on Survivor, and its basically a half-grown boiled duck egg. We were all really excited to try it, but it turned out that it just tasted like regular boiled eggs. After that, we had goat, which was pretty good, and then they brought out the hot pot. I love trying new foods, so this was perfect for me. The hot pot was a big bowl of broth and vegetables, into which we put brain and goat meat. I've never had brain before, but it was surprisingly great. The texture was really weird, but the flavor was great. We absolutely destroyed the food, down to the broth itself. It was definitely one of the coolest eating experiences I've ever had. After dinner, we found a cool coffee shop to hang out in, before heading back to the hotel tired and full.
Our first week has been great. I'm really excited for the weekend; we're going to the Cu Chi Tunnels on Saturday, and then the beach on Sunday. Our time here has been going by so fast so far, and every experience has been great.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Thursday: Day 4
On our fourth day, we started the day a little differently. Instead of going straight to class, we went to the Jade Emperor Pagoda, a Taoist pagoda in the city. I've been to more Catholic churches than I can count, but I've never been anywhere quite like this. The entrance was a courtyard with a few different statues and shrines, and a big pool with a bunch of little turtles swimming around inside. Off to the side, there was another pool with a gigantic turtle and some fish. The entrance to the pagoda was all intricate carved wood with a ton of different figures and symbols. The inside smelled almost overpoweringly like incense because all the worshipers light it in front of the different shrines. The shrines consisted of carved panels, pictures and paintings, and these huge carved figures. I don't even know what they were depicting, but they were incredible. It all looks very old, and it was really cool to be able to see it. We got to walk around the whole inside. There were a lot of different alcoves and smaller shrines. It was a really surreal experience.
After the pagoda, we went to UEF for a class on Vietnamese History and Culture. Our teacher gave us a lot of extremely detailed information, and went on forever about everything he brought up. We're all pretty tired and some of us had a hard time staying awake, but the lecture was actually really interesting. He went through the history of Vietnam and talked about the different ethnic groups that live in the country. It was cool actually learning about the history of the country, since we've spent some time here already.
After lunch, we went to Glass Egg Digital Media. We were all pretty excited for this visit because the company does programming and design for video games. Historically, they've specialized in cars. They've done a majority of the cars for the Need for Speed and FORZA games. Lately, they've branched out into other genres. The tour was really cool. We got to walk all around their studio and see what everyone was working on. We could see all the artists and programmers making and designing cars, environments, characters, and other video game elements. The work spaces were all really cool, and it was awesome to see real game designers at work. Afterwards, we had a briefing in their conference room. We got an overview of the history of the company. They basically hire themselves out to larger game companies and do a lot of the artwork and element design for those companies without actually creating the full game itself. They're apparently pretty well known in the video game world. They work regularly with big companies like Microsoft and Sony, and they have clients all over the world. We also got to talk to some of the leaders of the company. One of the heads of the company was actually a Vietnam War refugee who fled to America when he was a child and who came back to Vietnam in the 90's and ended up helping found the company. It was interesting to hear his story because one of the Vietnamese teachers who's coordinating the trip and helping us out was from south Vietnam and her family didn't escape after the war. Hearing their two sides to the conflict was really interesting, and gave a different perspective on the war and its effects.
After Glass Egg, we spent some time relaxing in the hotel before going out for the night. We had dinner at this Korean BBQ place, which was really good. We all ordered individual kebabs; I had a coconut chicken and a lemongrass chicken kebab. After dinner, we all went out to a club that's actually co-owned by some of the higher-ups at Glass Egg. We spent a couple hours there dancing and hanging out before heading home for bed.
Today in particular was really cool. Glass Egg was definitely the best site visit yet. We had some great food, and are becoming even better friends with the Vietnamese students. Tomorrow is the last day of the week before the weekend, when we'll be able to take it a little easier and go on some interesting trips out of the city.
P.S.
Forgot to say that I actually got sick today. I guess I'm not as invincible as I thought. Pretty much everyone has been sick in some way since we've gotten here. Mine was just an upset stomach which turned into fever and some achey feelings, and luckily I was over it in the early afternoon after taking some meds. Over people having been getting it a lot worse. I didn't miss anything, though, which I'm very grateful for. Hopefully these are the last problems I'll have on this trip.
After the pagoda, we went to UEF for a class on Vietnamese History and Culture. Our teacher gave us a lot of extremely detailed information, and went on forever about everything he brought up. We're all pretty tired and some of us had a hard time staying awake, but the lecture was actually really interesting. He went through the history of Vietnam and talked about the different ethnic groups that live in the country. It was cool actually learning about the history of the country, since we've spent some time here already.
After lunch, we went to Glass Egg Digital Media. We were all pretty excited for this visit because the company does programming and design for video games. Historically, they've specialized in cars. They've done a majority of the cars for the Need for Speed and FORZA games. Lately, they've branched out into other genres. The tour was really cool. We got to walk all around their studio and see what everyone was working on. We could see all the artists and programmers making and designing cars, environments, characters, and other video game elements. The work spaces were all really cool, and it was awesome to see real game designers at work. Afterwards, we had a briefing in their conference room. We got an overview of the history of the company. They basically hire themselves out to larger game companies and do a lot of the artwork and element design for those companies without actually creating the full game itself. They're apparently pretty well known in the video game world. They work regularly with big companies like Microsoft and Sony, and they have clients all over the world. We also got to talk to some of the leaders of the company. One of the heads of the company was actually a Vietnam War refugee who fled to America when he was a child and who came back to Vietnam in the 90's and ended up helping found the company. It was interesting to hear his story because one of the Vietnamese teachers who's coordinating the trip and helping us out was from south Vietnam and her family didn't escape after the war. Hearing their two sides to the conflict was really interesting, and gave a different perspective on the war and its effects.
After Glass Egg, we spent some time relaxing in the hotel before going out for the night. We had dinner at this Korean BBQ place, which was really good. We all ordered individual kebabs; I had a coconut chicken and a lemongrass chicken kebab. After dinner, we all went out to a club that's actually co-owned by some of the higher-ups at Glass Egg. We spent a couple hours there dancing and hanging out before heading home for bed.
Today in particular was really cool. Glass Egg was definitely the best site visit yet. We had some great food, and are becoming even better friends with the Vietnamese students. Tomorrow is the last day of the week before the weekend, when we'll be able to take it a little easier and go on some interesting trips out of the city.
P.S.
Forgot to say that I actually got sick today. I guess I'm not as invincible as I thought. Pretty much everyone has been sick in some way since we've gotten here. Mine was just an upset stomach which turned into fever and some achey feelings, and luckily I was over it in the early afternoon after taking some meds. Over people having been getting it a lot worse. I didn't miss anything, though, which I'm very grateful for. Hopefully these are the last problems I'll have on this trip.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Wednesday: Day 3
Our third day in Vietnam! After breakfast, we started out the morning with another guest lecturer, this time on Rural Development in the Mekong River Delta. This one was really interesting. The professor grew up in the region, so he was an expert on the area. We learned all about the economy of the area, who lives there, and what their lives are like. I follow a lot of National Geographic photographers on Instagram, and lately some of them have been posting a lot of pictures of the Mekong River Delta, so it was particularly interesting for me to learn about the area. Climate change is a huge threat in the region since most of the area will be covered with water of ocean levels rise considerably. It was interesting to learn about that aspect, since it deals with issues that have a direct effect on my life, too. After the lecture, we had a short break, and then another language class. We're quickly becoming friends with the Vietnamese students through the classes. It really is a big help to have them there with us to help us with our pronunciations, and to help us practice the phrases. They're all so nice.
Since we're three days in already, apparently it's time for people to start getting sick. A bunch of us have been having small problems adjusting to the food and the climate, and it's affecting some people more than others. Some people didn't even make it to class this morning, and had to stay at the hotel. A couple more people left throughout the day, so by mid-afternoon, we had decidedly less than the whole group present.
Lunch was great as usual, and then we were off to the US Commercial Service. We didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to actually be pretty cool. The department is basically an offshoot of the US Consulate, which is located in the city. It was located in the Diamond Square Plaza, a big skyscraper in the middle of the city. We had to go through security to get in and everything. We had a briefing from the Principal Commercial Officer, Patrick Wall. Not that many people are aware of what the Commercial Service does (I had no idea they even existed before today), but their jobs sound really cool. They basically facilitate business between the US and whatever country they're in. They hire themselves out to companies for a small fee, and in return they help gauge the market interest for that company in the country, help them deal with any political or legal hurdles, and hook them up with contacts and potential partners in country. Our briefing was fascinating: Mr. Wall had a bunch of great stories about instances over the years where his department was integral in closing some big deals for some major US companies.
After the briefing, we had time to relax before we went out for the night. One of our new friends, Kate, who is the president of the English Club at UEF, took us out for dinner. At this point, we only had 14 of the 20 students who weren't either too sick or too tired to tag along, but we made do. We went out to this restaurant, and there just happened to be a cat chilling on the top floor where we were sitting. We basically spent the whole meal playing with the cat. After dinner, we taxi'd over to a bakery and got these things that I think were called Singapore cakes, which were basically creme puffs with different toppings. So good! We brought them to this awesome coffeehouse to eat. It was in this alley close to these train tracks, but inside there was a small, misty pond, and a bunch of people just drinking coffee and hanging out. It was definitely worth the drive over.
I can't believe we're almost half a week through the trip. We've already done so much! Tomorrow, we're going to Glass Egg, which will be very cool. Until then.
Since we're three days in already, apparently it's time for people to start getting sick. A bunch of us have been having small problems adjusting to the food and the climate, and it's affecting some people more than others. Some people didn't even make it to class this morning, and had to stay at the hotel. A couple more people left throughout the day, so by mid-afternoon, we had decidedly less than the whole group present.
Lunch was great as usual, and then we were off to the US Commercial Service. We didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to actually be pretty cool. The department is basically an offshoot of the US Consulate, which is located in the city. It was located in the Diamond Square Plaza, a big skyscraper in the middle of the city. We had to go through security to get in and everything. We had a briefing from the Principal Commercial Officer, Patrick Wall. Not that many people are aware of what the Commercial Service does (I had no idea they even existed before today), but their jobs sound really cool. They basically facilitate business between the US and whatever country they're in. They hire themselves out to companies for a small fee, and in return they help gauge the market interest for that company in the country, help them deal with any political or legal hurdles, and hook them up with contacts and potential partners in country. Our briefing was fascinating: Mr. Wall had a bunch of great stories about instances over the years where his department was integral in closing some big deals for some major US companies.
After the briefing, we had time to relax before we went out for the night. One of our new friends, Kate, who is the president of the English Club at UEF, took us out for dinner. At this point, we only had 14 of the 20 students who weren't either too sick or too tired to tag along, but we made do. We went out to this restaurant, and there just happened to be a cat chilling on the top floor where we were sitting. We basically spent the whole meal playing with the cat. After dinner, we taxi'd over to a bakery and got these things that I think were called Singapore cakes, which were basically creme puffs with different toppings. So good! We brought them to this awesome coffeehouse to eat. It was in this alley close to these train tracks, but inside there was a small, misty pond, and a bunch of people just drinking coffee and hanging out. It was definitely worth the drive over.
I can't believe we're almost half a week through the trip. We've already done so much! Tomorrow, we're going to Glass Egg, which will be very cool. Until then.
Tuesday: Day 2
On Tuesday, our second day, I woke up really early for some reason. Breakfast was amazing again. It doesn't change that much, but the food is still great so it's not an issue. We bused over to UEF, where we started the day off with a lecture on Urban Development in Saigon. The Vietnamese professor who gave the lecture basically read off slides for the majority of the lecture, and we have all the slides printed out in a booklet, but the Q&A at the end was interesting. It's really cool to learn a bit about the development in the area and get a different perspective from home. So far, I've seen more construction in this city than I've ever seen in any other cities around the world, so it was really cool to learn a bit about that development and its effects.
After the lecture, we had a little downtime, so a bunch of us went down the street to a coffee shop and got ca phe sua da ("iced coffee" in Vietnamese). I have a feeling we'll be drinking a ton of it over the next couple weeks. We then went back to the school for another language class. We're slowly learning how to say all the basic phrases, like "nice to meet you," and how to give basic information like where we go to school. Ironically, there are a few key things they haven't taught us, though, like how to say "yes" and "no". Our teacher is adorable, and she's really good about making sure we can all pronounce everything and we're getting all the tones right.
Our lunch was amazing as usual. They bring us a bunch of fruit after the main food, and its some of the best fruit I've ever had. The mango is absolutely amazing!
After lunch, we had our first site visit. We drove across town to Phu My Hung, a new residential and business development area. Our visit was with the company that manages the development. Basically, the area was once a jungle, but the original CEO of the company envisioned a modern area where people could live and work, and managed to raise the money to begin developing the area. The briefing was really cool. They gave us a couple presentations about the history of the area and the work thats currently going on. The company basically does things like building the infrastructure of the community, and they manage who builds in the area and what businesses move in. Its an entirely planned community, with apartment complexes, commercial businesses, presentation halls, parks, and recreational areas. They're not finished with all the building yet, but the stuff they have is really cool. After the presentations, we all got back on the bus and one of the representatives of the company gave us a tour of the area. They have a bunch of different schools, many of them international schools. It actually seems like a really cool place to live.
Tuesday night, we had our first real taste of Vietnamese street food! A bunch of the UEF students took all of us out for the night. We started out at a pho place. I've had pho before back in the US, but this was amazing. We went to a small local pho shop, and it was incredible. I destroyed mine. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), the UEF students decided that the massive bowls of pho weren't enough food for the night. We went to a square in front of the local cathedral, and they sat us down on newspaper and brought us a whole bunch of different street foods. There were big containers of tofu and meats, some sort of sauteed corn salad, crispy rice paper tacos with meat and spicy sauce inside, and bags of rice noodle salad. It was probably the most amazing spread of food ever, but we were all so full from the pho that we could barely eat any of it! We tried it all, though, and it was worth it.
After eating, we walked down to the main street in the center of the city. That part of the city is the really touristy and nice area, with all the nice restaurants and fancy hotels. It was really cool to see the "downtown" area of the city. From some street vendors, we bought a bunch of these light-up helicopter spinners that you launch into the air with rubber bands. I've seen them all over Europe, and it was cool to get some here, too. They were my dad's favorite, so I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to hear that I got more.
In all, it was a great day. We learned more Vietnamese, had our first site visit, and got to hang out with the Vietnamese students. I can't wait for tomorrow.
After the lecture, we had a little downtime, so a bunch of us went down the street to a coffee shop and got ca phe sua da ("iced coffee" in Vietnamese). I have a feeling we'll be drinking a ton of it over the next couple weeks. We then went back to the school for another language class. We're slowly learning how to say all the basic phrases, like "nice to meet you," and how to give basic information like where we go to school. Ironically, there are a few key things they haven't taught us, though, like how to say "yes" and "no". Our teacher is adorable, and she's really good about making sure we can all pronounce everything and we're getting all the tones right.
Our lunch was amazing as usual. They bring us a bunch of fruit after the main food, and its some of the best fruit I've ever had. The mango is absolutely amazing!
After lunch, we had our first site visit. We drove across town to Phu My Hung, a new residential and business development area. Our visit was with the company that manages the development. Basically, the area was once a jungle, but the original CEO of the company envisioned a modern area where people could live and work, and managed to raise the money to begin developing the area. The briefing was really cool. They gave us a couple presentations about the history of the area and the work thats currently going on. The company basically does things like building the infrastructure of the community, and they manage who builds in the area and what businesses move in. Its an entirely planned community, with apartment complexes, commercial businesses, presentation halls, parks, and recreational areas. They're not finished with all the building yet, but the stuff they have is really cool. After the presentations, we all got back on the bus and one of the representatives of the company gave us a tour of the area. They have a bunch of different schools, many of them international schools. It actually seems like a really cool place to live.
Tuesday night, we had our first real taste of Vietnamese street food! A bunch of the UEF students took all of us out for the night. We started out at a pho place. I've had pho before back in the US, but this was amazing. We went to a small local pho shop, and it was incredible. I destroyed mine. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), the UEF students decided that the massive bowls of pho weren't enough food for the night. We went to a square in front of the local cathedral, and they sat us down on newspaper and brought us a whole bunch of different street foods. There were big containers of tofu and meats, some sort of sauteed corn salad, crispy rice paper tacos with meat and spicy sauce inside, and bags of rice noodle salad. It was probably the most amazing spread of food ever, but we were all so full from the pho that we could barely eat any of it! We tried it all, though, and it was worth it.
After eating, we walked down to the main street in the center of the city. That part of the city is the really touristy and nice area, with all the nice restaurants and fancy hotels. It was really cool to see the "downtown" area of the city. From some street vendors, we bought a bunch of these light-up helicopter spinners that you launch into the air with rubber bands. I've seen them all over Europe, and it was cool to get some here, too. They were my dad's favorite, so I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to hear that I got more.
In all, it was a great day. We learned more Vietnamese, had our first site visit, and got to hang out with the Vietnamese students. I can't wait for tomorrow.
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