Day 7: First Time on a Motorbike!

I followed my routine of the past few days and had pizza again for breakfast. (Why not?) My first class today was history at 10am, so we left around 9:15 by taxi. History is not my favorite subject, so this class may be a little difficult to get through. The professor is obviously very excited about history, but she also reads directly from her PowerPoint slides. Today we covered all of the pre-modern Vietnamese history.

On Thursdays I am supposed to have another class at 1:30 but it was cancelled today because Julio, who is the professor, is in the Philippines. I met Thao for lunch but before we went she gave me some French bread she bought. How nice! We headed to a street stand where we had eggs and rice with soy sauce and un-ripened papaya. It was very delicious! The rice was in squares and it is more like a rice paste they put in square forms to get the shape and the egg acted like an omelet holding it all together. Thao taught me to put the papaya in the soy sauce and then put it on my omelet before eating it. It was also only 25,000d, so cheap and good!

My delicious and cheap meal!

Thao was going to take me on a motorbike ride but it was raining so we went down the street to another street vendor to get something to drink. She ordered us both something like a vegetable smoothie. The only vegetables she knew in English that were in it were green beans and avocado. Mysterious, but also good. She then went across the alley and got us each one spring roll to snack on. As we waited out the rain, we talked about our lives and compared the culture here to the culture in the states. The old woman in charge of the drink stand also asked Thao questions about me, such as my age and why I was here. Thao is very insistent that I learn some Vietnamese, which is great. We went over the numbers again and again but I still forget a few. She also tells me Vietnamese words for all of the dishes and silverware we use wherever we eat but those are harder to remember.

When the rain finally went away we hopped on her motorbike and she gave me a tour of HCMC. We went through a lot of districts and passed the Saigon River. It's interesting to see how diverse the city is. We passed people literally picking through garbage and suddenly there was a car dealer selling Porsches. We would go into the more touristy district where there a lot more tourists and then turn down a street where I would get stared at as the motorbike passed. And if you think texting and driving is bad, how about texting and driving a motorbike! The streets here are so busy but many drivers are on their phones. There is a law in Vietnam that people on motorbikes have to have a helmet on, but I'm not sure what good it does when it's buckled loosely beneath their chin. I also saw my first "accident" today. This woman on a pedal bike in front of us was suddenly on the ground and we almost hit her! Very scary, but Thao kept everything under control.

I met up with Yen for supper and she invited Kaley, Sophie, Brian, and Wilson along also so she could show them a vegetarian place. I had a type of soup with thin noodles and some vegetables in it but I didn't really like it. We came back in a downpour and played a round of cards with some of the partners.

Speaking of rain, it basically rains everyday here, but usually only for an hour or so. It has rained most of the day (it is monsoon season), so the streets are starting to fill up with water. It's actually a little disturbing, because as you are walking through three to four inches of water it is littered with garbage swept away from the street. Unsanitary but not much you can do about it. As for other weather, it is light for 12 hours from approximately 6am to 6pm. It gets dark here early, but it's not as bad as it will be when winter comes in the states!