This morning, we woke
up at around 8:00 and had breakfast at the hotel. There was a buffet breakfast
with all sorts of things that I had never seen before. I ate bread, rice, a
tiny piece of what looked like some sort of banana bread or coffee cake, this
mini jelly-filled pastry, and “Passion” juice. Then we all piled in the van to
go to the University of Economics and Finance of Ho Chi Minh City. They had
Welcome banners printed and people were videotaping us from the moment our van
pulled up. We met our guide, Tran, who works for the University as well as some
other students. I met two girls named My (19) and Dam (19) as well as a boy
named Tuan (21). They were all very friendly and eager to meet us as well. The
University welcomed us with a puppet show and two musical performances that
were all very impressive. We then heard several speakers from the University
and exchanged welcome gifts. After the welcome ceremony we went upstairs to a classroom
for language class. I learned how to say: “Hello”, “What is your name?”, “My
name is Kathy”, “Thank you”, “Excuse me”, and “How much for this?”. Afterwards,
we went to the restaurant within the university for lunch. We had rice,
vegetable soup that we were to pour over the rice, pork wrapped in what looked
like Rice Crispies, chicken tenders, chicken wings, cauliflower, a
vegetable-potato salad, and these little apple/cherries.
This afternoon, we went to the U.S. Consulate that used to
be the U.S. Embassy when Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam. The embassy
was basically destroyed during the war, so the Americans tore it down and built
a new building (which we walked through today) over the site of the old
embassy. Three foreign services officers met with us and explained some of the
history of Vietnam as well as the current political and economic situation
here. We went outside to the site where the Viet Cong invaded the embassy
during the Tet Offensive and got our picture next to the American plaque memorializing
the event. Interestingly, on the other side of the wall around the consulate
grounds, the Vietnamese have a plaque memorializing their soldiers for the same
event.
Riding around Ho Chi Minh City, I was amazed at how
different the city looked from any city in the United States. The population is
a little lower than that of New York City, but the buildings are mostly three
or four stories, instead of big skyscrapers. All of the buildings are painted
different shades of orange, yellow, cream, pink, blue, and green, creating a
very colorful picture. There are motorbikes everywhere, weaving in and out of
traffic. We saw people riding on motorbikes, some with two people on them,
carrying groceries, a ladder, and one woman even was holding a baby.
Apparently, by law everyone has to wear a helmet on a motorbike, except children
don’t have to, which doesn’t make much sense to me. The city is very crowded,
and the traffic doesn’t generally follow traffic laws, so crossing the street
was pretty scary. You sort of just have to walk out in the middle of the cars
and motorbikes speeding around you and hope they see you in time to go around.
Tonight we had dinner at a restaurant called Wrap &
Roll, which served all different types of spring rolls as well as the
ingredients to roll your own. They had shrimp, pork, chicken, and beef as well
as rice noodles and different types of vegetables. You wrapped these up in a
sheet of rice paper, which I thought tasted kind of like plastic. They brought
plates and plates out of these tiny rolls, and then they brought out burners
with a little pan and oil to cook your own calamari, jellyfish, and shrimp. I
was pretty hesitant since I don’t like seafood at all, but I decided to try the
calamari and the jellyfish. They were both pretty weird-tasting, but I’m glad
that I tried them.
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