After dinner, we walked back to our hotel the long way
through downtown. I walked and talked with Ngan, and it was funny because now
that Jackie was gone, we could make fun of Tim. I started it by calling him
“autistic” in Vietnamese, the equivalent to “stupid” here, as he crossed the
street. We saw Notre Dame and another French building. Tim and I conversed in
French a little bit, and everyone was so interested to learn the language. We also later saw a
poster of Nick Cage, an actor that my friends and I enjoy watching in the
United States. Ricky and I explained to the Vietnamese the view that Americans
have of Nick Cage in the States: comedic value from his attempted dramatic
films. We also tried to convince our Vietnamese friends to come to the beach
with us on Sunday; hopefully they will say yes!
They walked us home around 10:15, and everyone came back to
hang out in my room. Tim was soon asleep, and I followed. It was probably only
around 11 PM, but I was exhausted. Good thing I woke up this morning on my own;
I had forgot to set an alarm!
At breakfast, it seems that I had finally gotten over our
craving for American food, as I was content again with the rice and other
choices being offered. We got on the bus for the day and soon arrived at
school. I was excited to attend history class with Nguyen Ngoc Tho. He offered
a lot of insight into Vietnamese culture; I find it especially cool how the
Vietnamese were able to conserve their cultural identity despite one thousand
years of Chinese colonization and how so many cultural groups can exist within
one country. It made me think of our own culture, where diversity is our
cultural identity itself.
The Vietnamese take pride in their culture, but they are also influenced more and more today by Western ideals. Here is a video that we watched in class today.
We ate lunch at the canteen. French fries were part of the
choices for food, and they went so fast! At lunch, we watched Vietnamese music
videos on the TV. They certainly are interesting and remind me of old US music
videos where people actually dance.
After lunch, we hung out in the library before game time
with the UEF students. I checked Facebook and friended a few UEF students. Then
came game time. Alex and I repped team nan (five) with My and a few students I
had not met yet. At first, we just talked about our cultural differences in
regard to food, greetings, and housing. Then we played games, including
charades, a dance off, and a game like twister. One game involved me picking up
one of the UEF girls and spin her around my body without her touching the
ground. I felt so bad because her jeans kept falling down, but I think I was
more embarrassed than she was. Eventually, Alex climbed around me as well. The
highlight of the games, though, had to have been the catching the pig game; UEF released
a pig in a small pen and we had to catch it with our bare hands. UEF even offered it to us as a pet to take back to the
US. I don’t think customs would appreciate it so much.
Our afternoon concluded with the exchange of gifts and
singing all together. We chose, of course, to sing Backstreet Boys “As Long as
You Love Me” in a circle, as I have found Backstreet Boys to be quite popular
here in Viet Nam. We had a dance party after. I’m sure the Macarena and Chicken
Dance would have been pretty funny sights to witness for anyone watching.
We tried so many new foods today: a lotus plant, a dragon
fruit, and a “sugar apple” type thing with spikes. All delicious, would not be
possible to get in the States.
We are on TV here in Vietnam at 7:45. Can’t wait to watch.
After, we are going out to finally try pho with our Vietnamese friends.
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