Dreams of the Future

I guess our arrival in Ho Chi Minh City late last night counts for today’s entry. When we landed, I found it hard to believe that I was across the globe from home.

Driving through the city for the first time was great, though it was dark and I couldn’t appreciate it for what it is (Now that I’ve seen it during the day, I can honestly say that it is just as crowded as people had said it would be. I feel like I am playing Frogger every time I cross the street!). I was pretty tired, and I crashed soon after arriving to the hotel.

We woke up this morning at around 8 for breakfast. My first cultural slip up of the trip was forgetting to pass my breakfast pass with two hands, but I won’t forget again! I was expecting a lot of fruit to eat, which was available, but I was also surprised at the other choices, from dumplings to pork sausage to fried rice. It sure beats continental breakfast in any American hotel. The passion juice was my favorite, though I’ll have to try the coffee tomorrow morning.

At 9:15, we boarded the bus on our way to the University of Economics and Finance. I got to see the city for what it is for the first time, and as we drove, I wanted more and more to venture on foot, which will be saved for a later day. We soon arrived, though. A cameraman was on hand; we’re going to be on the news this evening!

We sat down and were welcomed with a ceremony from many of the employees at the UEF and a gift . They even prepared us some entertainment, both a puppet show and songs. Three Vietnamese guys sung “What Makes You Beautiful,” and all I could think about was the fact that they sung it better than One Direction (to which I am sure my sister would disagree).

I met a Vietnamese finance student who was 20, but his name is escaping me right now. He was cool; he turned to me during the performance and said, “I hate this song. I prefer heavy metal!” He asked me if I play computer games, at which point, not fully understanding, I said yes;I told him that I played DOTA. He asked me my favorite character, and I just responded with, “I dunno. What’s yours?” He also taught me some elementary Vietnamese for ear, mouth, eye, and nose.

After the welcome, it was off to language class. Our instructor spoke good English and made learning the language pretty fun. I found it interesting how Vietnamese is inflection oriented and has six different tones/inflections to convey ideas. I’m still not very good though. At one point, I was telling the class my name, at which point I said Eric in a French accent. Foreign languages aren’t all the same. During class, I met another Vietnamese girl. She is a friend of Jackie’s Vietnamese friend, and they want to take us all out tomorrow night.

Lunch was next. We ate rice with soup poured on top of it, fried chicken, and “pork krispies.”  It certainly was an authentic Vietnamese meal. Also, I never would have thought that meals so healthy could taste that good!

We left the UEF and came back to the hotel, at which point we hung out and got ready to visit the US Consulate. That was my favorite part of the day thus far. The consulate was so American feeling, and inside, one would not even know about the completely different scenery outside. Oddly enough, one of the workers there grew up in Sharon, PA, and went to school at St. Bernard and Mt. Lebanon. Small world.

We saw a lot at the consulate, from a tree that has seen French, US, and Vietnamese occupation to the plaque commemorating those that lost their lives during the Tet Offensive, to a plaque outside commemorating those Vietnamese that were the invaders in the same event. My favorite thing there though, oddly enough, was a quote on the wall from Thomas Jefferson: “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” It is important to learn about and commemorate those who fought and those who died in the Vietnam War, but this quote reflects just how open Vietnamese citizens today are toward our country (60% of the population is under 30 years old) and shows the progress being made between our two countries.