Tôi Vui!

I rode with Ngan last night to finally try pho. Seeing as it is one of the only Vietnamese words that we all knew coming here, it was interesting to finally try it, as it is a very popular food in Vietnamese culture.  Basically, it is a soup that consists of noodles, some greens, beef, and a few other ingredients. One extra ingredient in the pho that I tried was cow skin! Though the pho was good, I did not really like the skin, as it was much too textured. I did, however, like the coffee that I had to drink (coffee sua da), a sweetened ice coffee that we learned about in Vietnamese class yesterday.

At dinner, I showed everyone American money and gave out a few dollar bills for everyone to have. They were so appreciative when I gave them the bill and coins as a token from the United States, and I was happy to share a bit of my culture. I felt like it was my turn after everything they have done for us thus far this week.

After dinner, I took a taxi back to the hotel with Nino, Jackie, and Elliot. We had plans to go out! The others stayed and rode around Ho Chi Minh City for a while. We decided to check out another restaurant and took a cab there.

The restaurant had a nice atmosphere. We could have sat on the street but chose to sit on the roof. The four of us chilled on the roof, observing the tallest building in Vietnam in the distance. After, we were going to walk around a bit but decided to take a cab home right away instead. The cab drivers all night wanted our money, and we were convinced they were driving in circles. It’s cool…we got a tour of the city!

Today was another great day. We woke up early once again, and unfortunately, I dropped my camera and it won’t turn on right now! I am going to search online to see if it can be saved, but if not, I’ll be relying on others for pictures from here on out!

Culture class was really interesting today. We talked about dualism in Vietnamese culture and the concept of the yin and the yang. I never realized how much a school of thought could influence a culture. In Vietnam, the yin and the yang dominate weddings, housing, and more. It made me start to think how we as Americans are influenced by Western thinking.

Language class was, as always, very interesting. Today, we learned basic adjectives like tired, happy, good, and more. We can now describe how we are feeling. Toi vui! After class, we had lunch at UEF again. We had omelets, soup, and pork. I really enjoyed it.

After lunch, we traveled to a company visit at ASCENX technologies where we talked the majority of the time about the company’s expansion. I find the role of outsourcing particularly interesting, especially in finding a middleman. I never thought that a supply chain could be so popular (US outsources to Singapore who outsources to Vietnam), but I am seeing this trend more and more today. I also found it interesting how ASCENX uses engineers in Vietnam as part of the “India Model,” outsourcing the easy engineering jobs from the United States so that engineers at home can do the more advanced work.

More interesting, though, was Tung Bach’s story. He was, as he said, SOB (straight off the boat). A boat person, he left the country and entered the United States as a refugee at only nine years old. He also told us about his family: his father’s death, his uncle’s time at a reeducation camp, and his grandfather’s refusal to leave the country. Learning about the events following the war affected me greatly. It reminded me of reading first hand accounts from The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien. O’Brien has quickly become one of my favorite authors and was pivotal in my decision to visit Vietnam in the first place.

After the company visit, Tung Bach took us out for coffee. He is a really nice guy, and he showed genuine interest in our program and allowing us to get as much as we could from the experience. We told him that we would gladly stay after the two weeks were up because we all really enjoy it here; I definitely would come back to Vietnam if given another chance in my life. I may even want to take language classes at home. Hopefully it’s not the travel bug; that could get expensive!

After getting stuck in a little bit of rush hour traffic, we are back at the hotel safely before Tuan and friends pick us up for dinner. On our way home, though, there were few things that struck me. We saw a few children begging in the middle of a busy intersection for the second time today (same kids, same spot); this made me a bit upset to see. An older man on a bike who smiled big and waved soon cheered me up, though. This reminded me of South Vietnam’s friendliness and openness to foreigners. I feel welcome here, despite a language and cultural barrier.

We are eating Dominos pizza tonight, and I am excited to see what American food is really like in Vietnam. We’ll have to see if it compares to pizza at home!