Day 3: August 23, 2014

One of the first things I did today was go out and buy a big jug of water so I always have it with me since it's recommended we don't drink the tap water. Thankfully, there are stations with water that is safe to drink so that I don't always have to buy a jug of water but can just refill my water bottles as needed.

My giant jug of water. Only 30,000d!

At 10am all of the students met with their partner students and we went to get a Vietnamese cell phone. It is a very simple phone but will work for staying in contact with each other and people we meet during the semester. It was kind of confusing in the store to figure out what we were supposed to get, but thankfully the partner students got things straight for us.

My awesome, super cool new cellphone with gifts from my two partner students.

We had time before lunch, so we just walked around the streets looking at everything there was around us. In lots of ways, this country reminds me of Kenya, one of them being the garbage on the streets. It's simply everywhere. Maria is an environmental engineer and is interested in waste management so today she had a lot of questions about how garbage in Chicago is different compared to the garbage we see here. For example, in Vietnam you throw everything in one garbage can and then somebody else separates everything.

Lunch was with our partner students and a few of the staff members from the Vietnam Center. We had banh mi sandwiches with Pringles and lots of fresh fruit including yellow watermelon, dragon fruit, passion fruit, and some strange fruit that was good but was kind of like a grape. After lunch we went to the supermarket which is right next door to the dormitory. This also reminded me of Kenya because it was crazy, there were people everywhere, and they sold anything you could want. We were told that when buying bath products to be careful and make sure we don't buy anything with whitening cream. The Vietnamese would rather be white than tan, so the products they buy actually make their skin lighter instead of darker!

Maria invited me to see her room so of course I went to see it. While we sleep three to a room, they sleep eight. Seriously, eight! There are four bunk beds, eight desks, and a bathroom they share. I couldn't imagine sharing a room with 8 people! One of Maria's roommates was there and even though she said her English wasn't very good we tried to communicate. She wants to continue practicing her English and said that all three of us should go get smoothies sometime.

Maria and myself.

Soon we were whisked away off to supper at a restaurant as part of orientation and we all took a taxi to get there. When we got there, we were met by our second partner students from Open University, which is the university where we will be taking classes, and some professors. Her name is Thao and she is studying English. We were told by our student living assistant, which is kind of like an RA, that he thinks we have two because the partner students from Bach Koa (Maria) are very studious and don't necessarily go out while the students from Open University (Thao) are more likely to have time to show us around.

During supper I sat next to some other Vietnamese students and even though they tell me their names again and again I have a very hard time remembering them. I think it might be because their names are hard to pronounce and their very different from what I consider the typical name. We talked about everything from favorite movies to favorite songs to what we like to do in our free time. We were served all types of home style Vietnamese including Kang Kong mixed with beef, deep-fried chicken wings with fish sauce, sautéed diced beef (with French fries), crispy fried eel, steamed shrimp (which came out whole and we had peel), bread and red cooked beef, fried rice in clay pot, and fruit for dessert. For a drink I had passion fruit juice which was delicious. The students I were sitting next to were joking that we were eating American food because of the chicken wings and French fries. The only thing that I didn't really like was the eel.

After supper Wilson took us to a backpacker bar so that we could experience the local night life. We all tried Saigon beer for 15,000d. Not a beer fan, but it was a neat experience.

Some things I've noticed while here: The only that is really getting to me so far is the smell sometimes on the street. It basically just smells like garbage. The streets are lined with trees that made it through the Vietnam War so they are a really cool historical factor. I really only feel out of place when I notice that people are staring at me--not sure if it's because of my height or my skin. But most people will wave and say hi so that's pretty nice. The sidewalks are not really for people to walk on but are instead to park the motorbikes and sell food. If you want to cross the street, just walk into the road when there is a break and carefully make your way across. Everything comes in a plastic bag. And I mean everything. Order a coffee and they give it to you in a small sack. I've also noticed that anytime I eat fruit I look around for the compost bin.

We also got motorcycle helmets today so hopefully I'll be able to ride one soon!