Mac qua!

We went to dinner last night at Wrap and Roll. I sat with Tran, Tim, Elliot, and Jackie. Tran made fun of us for the majority of the night, laughing at the broken Vietnamese that we were practicing and for not knowing much about the food itself. There was so much food! Tran told us that the amount that each ate would be a day and half’s worth of food for her.

We woke up early this morning, but I think that I have adjusted fairly well to the time change so that I was not too tired waking up so early. This morning, I remembered to hand the man at the door my breakfast ticket with both hands! Once again, breakfast was delicious.

It got hot out very, very quickly, and by the time we got off the bus at UEF, I couldn’t wait to get inside to start class for the day. We had a lecture about the changing economic situation of Ho Chi Minh City, at which point I learned a lot and made a few realizations. I realized, upon talking about flooding, that solutions to problems within the city are no easy fix. Entire infrastructure needs to be changed in the future, and entire mindsets of the people need to be changed in regard to traffic congestion and informal trade. Sounds like the work of an engineer!

Language class was the best part of the day today. We learned how to count and bargain on the markets, though I am not sure if I am completely ready for that! I met Tuan who helped me in class today, and taught me additional Vietnamese phrases. It’s a hard language; he taught me, for example, that “min” could be used for house, wife, husband, and more depending on the context. Additionally, it’s always great to laugh at ourselves.

Lunch was much of the same as yesterday. Once again, my favorite part has to be interacting with the Vietnamese students. They told us stories today about what they did with Plus3 students last year, and they are taking us out to dinner later tonight.

We soon left for Phu My Hung, a company that is in charge of the development of South Saigon. Originally based out of Taiwan, Phu My Hung combined efforts to develop a port for trade, a power plant, and a huge complex in South Saigon. This is what we visited. The complex itself was like a polar opposite of the central part of Ho Chi Minh City. I felt like I was in a rich part of the United States, so one can only imagine the contrast. Complex A, one of five to be built, has everything from international schools to hospitals to residences. Nothing is cheap: $2000 USD for a square foot of an apartment and $2,000,000 USD for a town home there. It was built, though, all anew, in what used to be marshland. Sand was brought in to dry up the land to build. In a way, this was the easiest solution. All of the deeply rooted problems within Ho Chi Minh City (drainage systems and other infrastructure) do not exist here because of this.

I found myself with mixed emotions during this part of the trip. Part of me enjoyed the view and thought that the complex was amazing. There was a Porsche dealership right across the street from the company building for goodness sake! Part of me, though, felt really uncomfortable. It was a system such that I felt like the company was controlling everyone, more so than control by any Vietnamese government. It is akin to Disney World for me. While Disney is the happiest place on Earth, it is also one of the most manipulative with the money you spend, where you end up within the park, and more.