The Beginning and Being Tired

So my last post left off as we were about to go to UEF for the welcome ceremonies. Those were amazing. All of the students were so excited to see us. Felt pretty exotic. They had prepared dances for us and then tried to teach some of us the dance. It was pretty atrocious overall but a reminder to me what a phenomenal dancer I am. After that we all sang a Michael Jackson song. Apparently Vietnamese people sing a lot as groups, and were pretty surprised to hear we didn't. The UEF student sitting next to me, Jiang (I am pretty sure that spelling is incorrect), was embarrassed to tell me he didn't remember the lyrics and was shocked when I said I had heard the song maybe twice. After that they presented us with gifts (some UEF polos), and we took pictures. I neglected to take any pictures myself and have none from the ceremony, but there should be good ones on other people's blogs.

After the opening presentation we went to language class and it was HARD. The teacher was totally animated and I can't even begin to pronounce her name, it just sounded like a high pitched squeak. The hardest thing about learning Vietnamese is that the intonation of what a person says changes the meaning of the word. There are six tones, and for example, if you say a word with a rising pitch it has a totally different, unrelated meaning to a word with a falling pitch. Also, the consonant noises are pretty different from English and the vowel noises are no more similar. The UEF student teaching me, Minh I believe, was fabulous and really helped me make my letters sound right.

Here's a picture of the parking lot on UEF's campus. Everyone in Vietnam drives these motorbikes because cars are really expensive. The traffic is absolute chaos and I'll get a good picture before I leave.

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Here's a picture of the place we went for lunch, and will be going to lunch most days. It's quite delicious. In this picture right in front are pork and shrimp. The shrimp served in Vietnam still has the heads on so eating that is a strange experience for most Americans. Pretty crunchy. Also, the drink they serve is some sort of tea with a really mild flavor. Everything is so much lighter in Vietnam though. It's usually just meat, rice and maybe some herbs. Also, there's usually fruit for dessert. So far, Vietnamese food has been good.

After lunch, we went to the US Consulate, where we aren't allowed to take pictures or even have our phones. It was crazy how tight the security was though, plenty of heavy doors. They talked about careers as foreign service officers which, although interesting, did not sound like a career path for me. A little crazy. After that we got a tour. The Consulate is where the Embassy was located in the Vietnam War, so it's the same place that was attacked during the Tet Offensive. We learned a lot about how the attack actually played out, being able to see the spots where cover was taken. We took a picture in front of one of the round planters that is in the famous photo of the aftermath of the attack. One thing that was pretty difficult was right across the street, there was a visible memorial commemorating the Viet Cong who died in the attack. As our tour guide pointed out the symbolism was pretty strong, with two memorials separated by a wall. 

After the Consulate, we came to the hotel and I took a little nap, then we went to dinner. It was at a restaurant called Wrap & Roll. We had some sort of rice paper and would roll up different ingredients into these little wraps. I was extremely tired so I neglected to take any pictures, but it was pretty good. Greg managed to pull off a nice social atrocity by falling asleep head down on the table. Besides that, it was a pretty average meal. 

After dinner, we came back and hung out for a little, then a bunch of people went to hang out with UEF students, but my door was closed when they left so we got left behind. So those of us who were left behind just went to the hotel bar, being that we're of age here, and it was actually really fun. We met an Australian guy who had been all over so talking to him was fun. He said he had gone to the US, but only to Las Vegas, which he said "wasn't really part of the states." I thought about it and I have to say I agree. Weird to think that you have to go to certain areas to really get a taste of the US. 

This morning we started out getting breakfast at the hotel, which was surprisingly good. There wasn't one thing we didn't enjoy.

Here's what I got, some noodles, bacon, pork, and a miniature banana. I've never seen anything quite like that. This is where we're getting breakfast every day and I'm quite alright with that. 

After breakfast we went over to UEF for a lecture on urban planning and then another language class. The urban planning lecture I really didn't understand, the language class is only getting harder. Again the UEF student with me was really helpful, but I have little understanding. All of the sounds are so different and there was some serious psychological phenomenons going on, as when I'd hear a sound, I would think I knew what sound it was only to be proven wrong. For example, I thought I noticed ch- words beginning in a "t" sound. I was watching mouths and I grew really confident that that was the sound those letters made. Then a th- word came up and made the "same" sound. So I asked the UEF student with me, and it turns out it ch- makes a sound nothing like a "t." After this, I became mentally exhausted, but I can say hello and a few other phrases!

Here's Greg looking good at UEF.

I was trying to get good traffic pictures, but it was tough. Between the two right-most bushes, there's a guy on the back of a motorbike carrying some sort of large appliance. There is so little regard to safety on the streets here.

Here's another picture of someone carrying a ridiculous amount of cargo. This is fairly routine and I hope to get better photos throughout the trip. We saw a guy carrying a pane of glass that was maybe 12 feet tall? He looked ridiculous but our main concern was the wind resistance and the workout he was getting. The roads will likely be one of the main topics of this blog.

This is the old presidential palace from before Ha Noi was the capital. 

This is the tallest building in Ho Chi Minh City. About two thirds of the way up, you can see the heli-pad. 

All of the road pictures were taken on our long cruise over to Phu My Hung. It's an urban planning company, but I'm still not sure exactly what they do. It seems like they build buildings and rent them out, but some of what the presenter was saying made it seem like that was not the case. Everyone else was really impressed with the business plan, but I was mostly just confused. Sucks to be stupid. What really stuck with me was the view.

The pictures don't do it justice, but the view was incredible. The room that the presenters spoke in had huge windows on every side. The weird thing about this view is that it's only from the 12th floor. Ho Chi Minh City is really really flat. I seriously haven't noticed a single incline the entire time I've been here. A far cry from Pittsburgh. 

A cool garden from the balcony of the presentation room.

This is the model of the vision of the area of Ho Chi Minh City that Phu My Hung is developing. It's actually really far along, but the model is too cool. It was definitely neat to look out the window and see the buildings that there are models of.

After we got a bus tour of the Phu My Hung area, we went and hung out by the pool. Now it's dinner time with our UEF friends, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the locals think is cool.