Day 41: September 30, 2014

With no sociology class today, I used this morning as a chance to sleep in and actually wake up without feeling tired. I had my first taste of lotus flower yogurt, and it's not bad but the other flavor is much better. I did some homework, watched a documentary, and explored the streets of the city in search for lunch. I came upon a little street vendor that was serving rice, so I pointed to the pork and motioned that I did not want it to go. As soon as I sat down, they brought me over some broken rice with a slice of pork and some cucumber. I sat facing the street and observed daily life while enjoying my meal.

After doing some more homework, it was time for service learning at DRD. It went a little slower today than it usually does but was still kind of fun. When we got back to the dormitory, I went on the search of food. Although the corn lady was there I am beginning to think I should not eat that every night for supper. I wasn't feeling rice because I had it for lunch and wasn't really in the mood for banh mi either. So instead of exploring, I headed to the food court in Co-Op. I ate at Jollibee, which is a Philippines based restaurant. For 19,000d I got two chicken strips, a very small amount of fries, and a small pop. I could have gotten more food for the same price had I ate on the street but the meal I had was still okay. It came with ketchup and sweet chili sauce to dip my fries and chicken in which provided an interesting flavor. Fast food here is expensive, so I am better off getting street food for most of my meals.

Day 40: September 29, 2014

As with every Monday morning, I was greeted to the sound of music blaring from the courtyard below as students lined up to sing the National Anthem. Thankfully I have to be up anyway for class, and if anything it makes me more awake than tired. Today I discovered reason #157 why learning Vietnamese is difficult. There are 6 different ways to pronounce each word, depending on the tone that is associated with it. So the letters d-u-a have six different meanings, three of which are fruit. Dưa is melon, dừa is coconut, and dứa is pineapple. Just proves how easy it is to say the wrong thing here!

After Vietnamese class, Alex and I went to a key copy place because we each needed a new key. This was just a stand on the side of the road that had all of the equipment necessary to make us each a new key for 20,000d. They hooked their machines up to a motorbike engine so they would have electricity and set out making us our keys. It was very interesting to actually watch someone make the key rather than a machine and it took no time at all.

Our next stop was the post office because we each had some things we wanted to send out. Along the way, this man selling coconuts started to follow us and motioned that he wanted us to try carrying his coconuts. We refused, and he continued to follow us until Summer bought a coconut. After our adventures (all of this happened before 11!) we found the bus stop and made our way back to the dormitory.

This afternoon wasn't very productive and I actually ended up taking a nap because of how tired I have been lately. Between the fact that there is so much going on here and that Loyola keeps us plenty busy, I decided a nap would be beneficial. At 4:30 I got back on the bus to head to environmental science class. On the bus, a Vietnamese student began to talk to me. Her English wasn't impressive and I don't think we understood everything we were saying to each other, but I enjoy talking to the Vietnamese and letting them practice their English. Not only that, but I could tell that she wanted to talk to me because she kept glancing backwards at me. Once we were off the bus and walking towards Open, I also had a little girl (elementary school aged) run towards me. I stopped, and she said that she was supposed to speak to people in English. I simply had to write down my name and give my signature to help her with her homework. On the way back from class, I had another incident, except this one wasn't in English. I stood up to get off the bus and I could tell that the man I had been sitting next to began to talk about my height with the bus attendant. It's slowly starting to bother me less and I'm beginning to pick out when people I pass on the street use the word for "tall" (cao).

After returning to the dormitory, I grabbed some corn, which is easily becoming a nightly ritual for me.

Day 39: September 28, 2014

This morning we had a group activity at the zoo. I had breakfast in my room before going, and for the past couple days I've been having a yogurt which I believe is kiwi, peach, and passion fruit flavored. It's very good, but the dairy products are quite different here. I have to shake my yogurt up before I eat it because of how liquid-y it is. I also bought more yogurt today, lotus flower flavored, so it will be interesting to see how that tastes.

When we got to the zoo, we were divided into teams with Vietnamese partners. Summer, Brian, and Wendy were on my team. The game we played was kind of like Amazing Race and there were two activities we had to do. The first one was our Vietnamese partners (Wendy for us) had to act out five pre-chosen animals and we had to guess what it was, in Vietnamese. Thankfully we had a sheet with Vietnamese animals on it so we could know their names.

After that game, the next one was like a scavenger hunt around the zoo. We had to take a video of us feeding the elephants, petting a giraffe, acting like a tiger, take a photo with a deer, and other things like that. Our group was the first one done (whoo!) so we headed back to the meeting location. The last activity was to pick up peanuts with chopsticks. Only one person from the team could go at a time, and we had to get 20 whole peanuts on to our plate. We started out in the lead, but soon the second team to come in caught up to us and ended up winning. While they won 500,000d, our team was able to win 300,000d.

After the games were over, I went to lunch with some of the partners, Vien, Wilson, and Dan. We went to a noodle place, but I was able to get fried spring rolls. After a rather lengthy lunch and talking to the partners, Poem gave me a ride back to the dormitory on her motorbike. Once back, I finally did some homework for the weekend and finished my first scholarship video.

Some funny things that happened while at the zoo: While we were trying to get a video of us feeding the elephant, a group of Vietnamese students descended on Brian and asked him for his picture. Some other people saw he was taking pictures with Vietnamese, so soon there were three groups that wanted a picture of him. While I was waiting for Poem to get her motorbike, I could tell that there were two guys behind me who were trying to nonchalantly take a picture with me in the background. Also, a guy came up to, stood super close to me, and asked his friend to take a picture. Just another day in the life of Vietnam.

Tonight for supper I went with Cate, Alex, Tori, and Summer to Ganesh, an Indian restaurant, where we met partner student Alex. We had butter chicken and some cheese stuff along with rice and naan. It was more expensive than the Mexican food but we also got more food so I guess it balances out. When we were done, we walked to backpacker street to get some ice cream and then hopped in a taxi to come back to the dorm.

Check out some pictures from Monkey Island below.

A long tailed macaque eating a piece of candy.

A shrimp farm.

A crab we saw at the shrimp farm.

A long tailed macaque hanging out in the tree.

The hideout of the Viet Cong.

Day 38: September 27, 2014

Today we had a field trip for environmental science. We left the dormitory at 8:15 and headed to the Can Gio Island, otherwise known as Monkey Island. It was quite a bus trip and included a ferry ride across the Saigon River. Our first stop was a landfill, owned by Vietnam Waste Solutions, which is the first private landfill in the country. They receive half of the city's garbage (or 3000 tons) each day. The operator is from the States and has toured landfills on all of the continents except Africa.

Tours at the landfill are not a normal thing, and we are the first Loyola group to go. Pictures were not allowed. We sat in a board room with the operator while he explained things to us before we got on a bus to tour the grounds. We only saw three facilities, which was the water treatment, the composting, and the place where they burn off the methane. At the water treatment center, they took out a sample of leachate to show us what the water looks like before it gets treated and then showed us another sample after it has been treated. As for the compost, they have machines that sort the garbage from the food waste. The compost used cannot be used for growing food, however, because of all the plastic that remains it. The operator discussed how Vietnam's use of plastic bags is a huge problem and how much of the garbage received is plastic. People don't throw out valuable things and keep most things that can be reused.

The whole time we were touring the grounds, we had a video camera and photographer following us. After we got back on the bus, Vien told us that some people have been complaining that water since the landfill moved in has decreased in quality, although the company says they are doing everything correctly. Our professor may think that they are going to use footage of us being there as publicity since no journalists are allowed on the sites. Alex even got interviewed by them about her experience there!

After our tour, we got back on the bus and headed for lunch at a little restaurant on the side of the road, where I had fried shrimp with rice. We also all got to try clams and blue crab. When lunch was finished, it was back on the bus to head to Monkey Island!

We had been warned about the monkeys and told that they would try to steal our stuff, but I was still unprepared for how they acted. They would come right up to you and if you had food in your hand they would snatch it. While Christina was taking pictures of one, one came up to her and took her glasses right off her face, running into the forest with them. The park ranger had to chase it down but luckily she got them back. We saw people feeding the monkeys wrapped food and monkeys eating popsicles. When a monkey stole someone's baseball cap, I saw the park ranger shoot at it with a slingshot so it would drop it from the trees.

We got to see some other wildlife, such as fiddler crabs and mudskippers, which is kind of like a fish that uses its fins to walk across the water. The best part of the trip, though, was when we got on a speedboat and swerved through the narrow passage ways of the mangrove forest. We arrived at a camp where the Viet Kong had their hideout and got to walk through it. It was so surreal, being deep in the mangrove forest and knowing that during the Vietnam War there were Vietnamese who stayed there, planning attacks on American troops but also having to deal with things like crocodiles. All of the buildings were above water about 6 feet and wooden pathways led to the different buildings.

The trip was longer than expected, but we made it back to the dormitory around 6:30. Cate, Alex, Tori, and I went out to a Mexican restaurant for supper, where I ordered a chicken burrito. I also ate part of Tori's chicken and chorizo quesadilla and Cate's avocado salad. We ordered some churros with chocolate sauce. We came back to the dorm afterwards and spent the night doing nothing, what was well needed.

Day 37: September 26, 2014

After getting a restless sleep, I woke up at 7:30 with plans to meet Thao at 8:30. She picked me up on her motorbike, and the first thing I asked her to do was take me to get a new phone. She drove us to a very large electronics store where I bought the cheapest phone I could find. It's cheaper than the previous one I bought, but it is so much better. The screen is in color and it has a camera on it. I bought the phone at the store and then we headed across the street to get a SIM card.

When we were finished, we headed out to meet her sister at a park in District 1. The whole time on her motorbike, I was very paranoid about the bag I had on my back. I kept it as close to me as possible but was still worried that someone might try to take it. It's just so weird to finally be feeling comfortable and safe in a city only to all of a sudden feel like everything you have with you could be gone at any moment. We made it to the park fine, and I really just need to remind myself that I am more likely to be robbed in the backpacker area than anywhere else.

Her sister, whom I had met at English club last week, greeted us each with a banh mi she bought. We sat on a bench in the park, had coffee (which I am oh so slowly developing a taste for over here), and talked about Vietnam, the US, and our lives. It was a great time and very fun to get to know her sister better. The three of us hung out for about 2.5 hours before Thao had to leave, so her sister gave me a ride to Open University so I could get on the bus. We followed the bus the whole way there, and when we finally arrived I had to jump off of her motorbike and hop onto a moving bus in order to make it.

The rest of the day was spent doing a whole lot of nothing. Very little homework was accomplished and I watched a documentary online. At one point, the power went out so we all just sat around for 10 minutes before it came back. An uneventful day, but it was nice to have a day where there wasn't anything planned.

I went with Alex, Summer, and Dan while they grabbed supper. They went to a noodle place, so I sat with them and waited for the corn lady to make her nightly appearance. While we were sitting there, I found myself flinch when a Vietnamese accidentally touched me. Later, in Co-Op, I also found myself aware of people in the crowds. Hopefully this passes soon! Anyway, once the corn lady came out I grabbed some corn and ate it while they ate their noodles. Ending the night with corn is always great!

Day 36: September 25, 2014

Vietnamese was at 8am this morning, where we had another student led lesson. We basically asked him different phrases we wanted/needed to know and then practiced with the assistants. After class, I was hungry so I went to a nearby bakery to get a filled donut. The donut was good, nice and sugary, but the filling was not as sweet as I would have liked it. Cate, Alex, Summer, and I met up with some of the partners because they were going to take us to Saigon Square. While we were waiting, I talked with a Vietnamese student who works around Open University. His major is tourism (didn't realize that was an actual major) so he had a lot of questions about what I thought of Vietnam.

When the partners arrived, we started our walk towards Saigon Square. I didn't buy anything, but just looked around. I decided that I need to go back sometime by myself when I can take as long as I need to look, decide to buy, and barter with the shop owners. After we decided we were done shopping, we got on a bus and headed to lunch. While we were waiting for the bus it started to downpour, and everybody ended up wet. Thankfully, I always keep my rain coat in my book bag so I put it on to protect myself and my belongings.

After getting off the bus we had to walk a little ways to the restaurant, which was located in District 1. It featured food from central Vietnam so the flavoring was slightly different than what I have gotten used to. I ordered com hue, which was a rice dish. I received a large bowl of fresh herbs, topped with a lot of rice, which was all topped with these little sea animals. I asked the partners what they were and they described them as "little shell creatures that live on rocks in the ocean." They weren't bad, but the flavoring of the herbs was very strong. It was kind of citrusy but also a little spicy. Finished with lunch, I got back on the bus to head to the dormitory. As usual, walking back to the dormitory got me a lot of stares and a lot of questions on if I needed a motorbike.

We had service learning tonight which was pretty fun and then Alex, Cate, Brian, and I went to a café for supper afterwards. When we went to the café, the water was past my ankles. I had macaroni and cheese with sliced beef. The café was very nice and the prices were much cheaper than I thought they would be. When we left the café, though, there was no water to be seen! Turns out it all drains pretty quickly into the sewer system.

Here is a fact about the part that sucks living in Ho Chi Minh City. After supper, we went out to the backpacker district, which is where most of the foreigners hang out. As we were leaving a place, I was standing near the street with my purse across my shoulder, just like you are supposed to do. I took my hands off of it for a second, and all of a sudden I hear a ripping noise and realize that my purse is being taken away by two guys on a motorbike. Yes, I was mugged/robbed tonight. Yes, it sucks. Yes, I was upset. But it only took a few minutes for me to realize that it could have been so much worse. I was carrying more money than I usually do, but I did not have my debit card on me. I took my camera out before we left. So I lost some money, all of the addresses I had, business cards, a copy of my insurance, my wallet, my Loyola ID, my Bach Khoa ID, my room key, and a copy of my passport. But I am safe. I am not injured. Shocked, yes, but no physical damage done. Everything I lost is replaceable and while it absolutely sucks that I lost what I did I will now have to put stuff in my pockets. That means that the chances of it happening to me again are slim. It means that I will be more aware of my surroundings. It means that I will be smarter about what I am carrying with me. I was not robbed with a weapon but was rather robbed by two guys on a motorbike. The experience absolutely sucks, and it is very upsetting, but I will now be smarter about how and what I carry.

Day 35: September 24, 2014

This morning started off with history class at 10am followed by a quick lunch of chicken and rice in the canteen. Although history is not my favorite subject, getting to know the professor better yesterday made class a little more tolerable. Theology class was at 1pm, and per usual Julio taught us about so much more than just the religion. He has a lot of insight into things going on in Vietnam and is always sharing updates with us.

After coming back to the dorm and doing some homework, a group of us headed to an event called UT Gala. This is an English singing competition held by Bach Koa University for all students, whether or not they go to Bach Koa. This was also our first time on Bach Koa's campus, and it so different than Open! Open's campus is literally just a building where classes are held, but Bach Koa's campus is much more like those found in the states. It is situated off of a busy road and there are numerous buildings, paths, and green spaces. We found our way to the auditorium and the talent was amazing. There were dancers, singers, and even hip-hop battles. We got there at 5pm and we ended up leaving early at 8:30 because we had no idea how much longer it would go and we were getting hungry. I was all ready to order corn again tonight, but when we got back to the dormitory it started to downpour and the corn lady was covering everything up. Julio said the wet season comes and goes with a bang, so we should be expecting it to rain more often now.

I also received a package today! So yes Mom, the bag of chocolates finally got to me. I had to pay 60,000d (or the equivalent of $3) in order to receive the package. I think that whenever you get something sent into the country you have to pay for it. But everything was intact! I could tell that they had opened the package to inspect it because there was orange tape that said "Ho Chi Minh City Post Office" all over it.

This is a really short post, but not a whole happened today between class and the Gala. As our weekend schedules become more packed, I'm trying to do as much homework during the week so I can enjoy the weekends. I feel like the week just started, but tomorrow is already the last day of classes. What makes it even better is that on Thursdays I only have one class, hoorah!

Day 34: First Day of Fall?

September 23 brings with it the first day of fall in the United States. I looked up the weather in Maquoketa and it was around 50 degrees F. It's just hard to believe that leaves are starting to change in the states when it is still pleasantly warm here. Today, for example, it was 90 degrees F. Not that I'm bragging or anything.

There was no sociology today since we had class last Friday. My history class did meet, however, to go to some local museums. It was a great chance to get to know our professor a little better as well as to learn about the history of Vietnam in somewhere other than the classroom.

Our class met at Open University and then we took a cab to the first museum, which was the Women's Museum of Southern Vietnam. This museum showcased the traditional clothing of women as well as handicrafts, such as weaving fabric and making mats. There were also a few exhibits dedicated to revolutionaries who played major roles during the Vietnam War and quest for independence from France. At first, our group thought it was wonderful that there was a museum dedicated to these women. But as we thought about it, we realized that all of the museums in the city are owned by the government. Basically, the government was showcasing women who made contributions during revolutions but weren't showing any other women. The government is basically picking and choosing what parts of their history you get to see. As I told someone in my class, you have to be critically thinking the entire time you're in this country because nothing is as it appears to be. We didn't go to a museum about the women of Vietnam, we went to a museum about revolutionaries.

The second museum we went to was the Ho Chi Minh City History Museum. This museum showcased different aspects about the history of the city. We saw all of the old currency, learned more about the natural environment, saw some old architecture, and learned about what the city used to be like. It was very interesting, and similar to all of the museum here there was a part about the Vietnam War. As we left this museum, somebody asked the professor if she liked the museum. Her answer kind of surprised me; she said she didn't like it because the government only shows you what they want you to know instead of all sides of the story.

After our museum tour we went to lunch at a restaurant we went to earlier in the semester with our OU partners. Let's just say we were all excited to go here because we like it so much, plus it was a free meal so that made it even better. Our professor ordered fried spring rolls for us and then we each ordered food and  a drink. I ordered a water and ban xeo, which is a Vietnamese egg pancake that has pork and shrimp. Our history professor ordered a fruit juice, and when it came out I asked her what it was. She responded by letting me try it, and when I told her it was good she gave it to me and ordered another one for herself. She also bought us sweet soup to eat for dessert, which is coconut milk with Jell-O, tapioca, and some other stuff in it. It was all good and I think all of us were full afterwards.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some homework, and then I had a one-on-one meeting with Wilson. It's something all of us have to do basically so he can gauge how we are adjusting to Vietnam and if there are any problems that need to be resolved. He just asks us questions like how often we're contacting our family and friends, if we're homesick, what we hate, what we want to see changed, how service learning is, etc. We went to this coffee shop where I ordered a blueberry with mint ice cream shake. Sounds like a strange combination but it was so good! The coffee shop was also really cool and a few of the seats were porch swings.

Service learning was tonight and we spent the time discussing stress with the students. After our return to the dormitory, I grabbed some corn and ate with Cate while she had pho. Then I walked to the alleyway to see if I could figure out where the place is that serves bot chien, and I found it! Very excited to eat there the next time I decide I don't want rice.

Day 33: September 22, 2014

Vietnamese was at 8am this morning, and our usual routine is that we all meet outside the front gates around 7:15 to take the bus together. I arrived at 7:15 to be greeted by Cate and Cate only. We waited a few minutes for the others before calling them. Since they were just getting ready, they were going to take a taxi. Cate and I headed for the bus stop and happened to reach it just as the #6 bus was pulling away. We barely missed it! At least the transportation is reliable here, so we just had to wait 10 more minutes for another bus to show up.

After Vietnamese I decided to come back to the dorm before class at 5:30. I went to the bus stop, saw the bus was coming, and put my hand out so it knew I wanted to get on. Instead of stopping, though, it just went right past me! I guess it's not my luck for busses toady. I did get back to the dormitory eventually and got some homework done, such as writing a paper and working on my scholarship video. I also tried a cold coconut today, and it was so much better than when they are warm! They sell them in the canteen, and when you go to the checkout counter they take a machete and cut off the top so you can put your straw in. I also went to a bread lady and bought a French roll for 5,000d. Very cheap, but it would have been better if it had come with butter.

I headed back to Open University for environmental science class at 5:30. After class, we came back to the dormitory by bus. That ride, though, was the most stressful bus ride I have been on yet. I'm pretty sure the driver never let off the horn and I was certain that we were going to hit a motorbike or another bus at least three times. No worries, though, because we were able to safely arrive to our destination. I decided to grab corn and a strawberry smoothie for supper. I tried a new smoothie place than the one I usually go to. It's a little cheaper but not as good as the other one.

I realized while I was ordering food that although I've been here for a month I really don't know anything. As in, I can't tell the lady that makes corn that I want corn because I don't know the word. I can't tell the smoothie lady what kind of smoothie I want because I get the words for the different fruits mixed up. Not only that, but the only words I recognize on street vendor carts are the words for smoothie, rice, chicken, ban xeo, and banh mi. Other than that, I rely on what I see. I have no idea where to get anything other than a rice or noodle dish around the dormitory an am still likely to get lost if I wander to far on my own. Most of the time pointing at food and nodding is sufficient, but it would be great to be able to speak Vietnamese to these people instead of a type of sign language. For example, the corn lady asked me if I wanted chili sauce by holding up the bottle, and I responded by making the sign for a little bit. The smoothie lady held up a container of sugar, which I assumed meant do I want sugar, so I nodded my head. It's enough to get by, but not enough to feel like I actually know what I'm doing.

I met up with Yen later tonight because she had some questions about what exactly my research project is. I feel like I should be paying her for all of the help she is giving me--translating questions, coming with me to interview, and having to translate the answers. After we got what exactly I was doing straightened out (but let's face it, I actually have no idea what I'm dong), I told her how I wandered around one night looking for the sweet soup place. She ended up drawing me a map of not only the sweet soup place, but also a place that had really good rice and pork, AND showed me where I can bot chien, which is an egg dish that I had earlier in my arrival. So nice of her, and now I can't wait to go back to these places!

Day 32: September 21, 2014

This morning was dedicated to homework since I was meeting with Thao for the afternoon. She picked me up at 11:30 on her motorbike, and we went to District 1. There was this building that was having a sale, so we decided to check out. Each floor was like a different boutique, so you had the chance to look at all of these stores and their sales. Thao told me that none of the clothes would fit me, so I just spent the time looking instead of purchasing. The top floor was a canteen, and we each got our Zodiac sign in henna for 20,000d. We also decided to get a snack up there. I told Thao the only thing I recognized was the sign that said "hot dogs" so we got one of those, some pork balls, and what turned out to be cream puffs. The pork balls and hot dog came with a mixture of chili and tomato sauce to dip in. The hot dog was not the same consistency as those of the states but it was nice to show Thao something we eat versus her continuously showing me something they eat.

After we were done with lunch we went to a place that was famous for its banh mi and some other food. Thao ordered each of us a ham (or as it's called here pork) banh mi and the food that the place is famous for. The banh mi was good but the ham had a lot of fat on it that I picked off. The other food was not so good. It was rice flour with meat in the middle. The whole thing was then wrapped in banana leaves and it was cooked (you don't eat the banana leaves). I did not like the rice flour but the meat was good, so I tried to pick that out.

When we were finished with lunch, we headed to Bitexco Tower to look in some of the stores there. We found our way to the level with food where I discovered an Auntie Anne's Pretzel Shoppe. We ended up getting ice cream at KFC before heading back down.

The next adventure on our list was to head to an English club that her sister works with. We had to pay 10,000d for the lesson, but when I walked in all heads turned. They don't get many native speakers to come, so a lot of people wanted to talk to me. I got a lot of questions about why I was in Vietnam, why I chose to come to Vietnam rather than some other country, as well as my impressions about the country. I also got a lot of comments about my height, which by now I'm kind of getting used to. For example, today I was standing on the sidewalk when this guy just come up, stood by me, and gestured at where his head was on my body. But everybody at the English club was super nice, their English was actually pretty good, and they invited me to come back. Hopefully I will be able to go back a few times this semester, but since they only meet on Sundays it might be a little tough to do.

There were also some Loyola activities to do tonight so Thao and I met up with the group at an outdoor restaurant in District 1 for supper. Each group of four got this little charcoal grill to cook their food on. We ordered beef, pork ribs, octopus, frog legs, ostrich, okra, eggplant, rice, and some other vegetables. All of the food comes out raw and you have to cook it yourself. I only had the beef, ribs, and ostrich, along with the vegetables, but it was all very good.

After supper we headed out to do karaoke. This was very different than how karaoke is seen in the United States. Here, you rent a room out with a group of friends and you all face the same direction as you sing versus somebody getting on a stage. We sang a lot of American hits and tried to do a few Vietnamese but could not pronounce any of the words. It was hilarious watching the partners rap along to Eminem and it was overall pretty fun. It was a good way to end the weekend!

Day 31: One Month In

Crazy to believe that I've been on this journey for a month already! This morning was basically a chance to do some homework. Yen came to my room and (thankfully) she's going to translate some questions I need to ask people for my research project. Turns out she is also doing a research project on wastewater, so it might come in handy that our projects are similar.

I ate lunch across the street and I believe it is the cheapest meal I have bought so far--14,000d. I got rice and egg with soup and got it to go so I could eat in my room. I also found the English speaking channel on TV, so it's good to know that those channels are always there.

Six of us met with Wilson at 2pm to head to an orphanage called Mai Tam. This is another place that we can get community service hours besides DRD. Mai Tam is an orphanage/HIV clinic. We walked in and the kids instantly swarmed us. The next hour and a half consisted of playing with the kids and sweating more than I have sweated on my trip yet. The area where it is located is very different from the rest of the city. It's actually hard to believe that it is even located in HCMC because of how much quieter it is.

For supper our group met with Chris at one of his favorite places to eat in the city, a seafood place. We had noodles with seafood, some fantastic fried spring rolls, and soft-shell crab. Soft-shell crab, not to be confused with hard-shell crab, is eaten differently. You just eat everything. It was in a very sweet sauce but after eating the top shell and some of the legs I tried to pick out just the meat. I think it got to my head more than anything, but overall it was very good.

The rest of the night was just spent in the dormitory. I originally wanted to go see a band that was playing in District 1, but after getting back to the dormitory I realized I didn't really want to go out. We played some card games and walked the streets for a little bit looking for good street food. We ended up at Co-Op right before it closed, and I bought a sticky rice dessert and some off brand Oreos called Cream-Os. (Fun fact: A lot of the brands here are produced by a company called Jack n Jill, just like the old grocery store chain!) The sticky rice dessert was not good, and I actually ended up eating the smoothie Cate ordered because she somehow ordered it unblended. Meaning that she had a cup with fruit and milk on the bottom and a whole lot of ice on top. Even though it wasn't technically a smoothie, it was still better than my rice dessert.

Day 30: September 19, 2014

Fridays are supposed to be weekend days with no classes, but instead this morning was greeted with me having to wake at 8:30 to head to a makeup sociology class. We took the bus to class, and thankfully class went by rather quickly. We spent a lot of time discussing different cultural aspects, such as the meaning of home and child rearing. For example, people in Southeast Asia associate the word "home" with their family, while almost everyone in our class associates it with the physical place of their house. There are so many cultural comparisons to make that at times it crosses my mind to just upload the weekly papers I write because I feel that would be the best way to get some of the cultural differences across.

After class, Alex, Cate, Summer, and I met with two of the partners for lunch. We ate in the canteen and I had rice and chicken. Bonus: it also came with a banana. We also ate some green tea chocolate from Japan that our sociology professor brought for us. After lunch we hopped on the bus to head back to the dormitory. The rest of the afternoon was basically spent doing homework since this weekend might be rather full.

I began to work on my research project and let's just say that it is very hard to do research when the internet connection is not the greatest. I'll hopefully be meeting with my Bach Koa partner tomorrow so she can help translate the questions that I need to ask people. It's also very hard to find background information on a topic that isn't widely studied in this country.

My computer has been a source of frustration lately. The VPN I downloaded does not want to work, so a lot of websites that I usually go to are blocked. Everybody seems to be having problems lately though with the internet being slow, and I'm hoping that by the end of the weekend it will have magically fixed itself. Also along with my computer is the fact that the electricity here is killing my battery. I have my charger plugged into my convertor/adaptor, which is plugged into the wall. However, my computer is charging faster than it would at home as well as dying much faster. At this point, my computer can only be unplugged for about 2 hours before it completely dies and needs a recharge. I guess when I get back to the states I'll have to buy a new battery.

Cate and I decided to get supper around 6pm, but since it was raining we headed to the coffee shop next door for banh mi. I got banh mi ga, or chicken banh mi. We went to the supermarket because Cate wanted some snacks, and then I decided I really wanted some sweet soup. We walked the streets for about 45 minutes but we couldn't find the place I was thinking of nor any other place that was selling sweet soup. Not that we know what it is in Vietnamese anyway. To compensate, I headed to the smoothie stand by the dormitory and got a mango smoothie.

As I was sitting in my room finishing my smoothie, I heard a move begin playing outside. I looked out my window and it turns out that the dormitory plays movies here for students. Tonight's showing is Spiderman 2. The only thing that sucks for them (but great for us if we decide to watch) is that the movies are in English. Imagine if every time you wanted to watch a movie you actually had to read subtitles. That would be so annoying! It is, however, nice of the dormitory to provide something for the students to do since there is an 11pm curfew.

Check out some more of the videos I uploaded:

The view from our boat in the Mekong Delta.

 

One of the places we visited where they showed us how they make popped rice. The black stuff that it starts out as is sand from the Mekong River. They add coconut oil and the rice, and as the sand heats it pops the rice. They then separate the rice from the sand, and the addition of the coconut oil helps keep them separate.

 

The next two videos are from an open air market that we went to. Pay special attention to all of the animals that are still alive.. chickens, frogs, snakes, fish, eels, etc.

 





 

This last video is not for those with a weak stomach. Our guide bought a snake at the market for us to eat and showed us the proper way of killing a snake, which is what this video is of.

 



Day 29: September 18, 2014

This morning's breakfast consisted of leftover pizza from last night. With class starting at 8am, we met at 7:15 to walk to the bus stop.

 My only class on Thursday is Vietnamese, and today was a "student-led" lesson. Basically, he taught us whatever we wanted to know. We worked with the Vietnamese assistants to practice what we had learned at Survival Vietnamese last night, mainly how to give directions to a taxi driver and the proper way to ask how much something is. We also began a lesson on how to barter, and it was actually pretty fun because we set up different "booths" in the classroom with items. The Vietnamese assistants were the shopkeepers, and we had to go from booth to booth and barter with them in order to get the best price possible.

Something I've noticed about the teachers here is that they are much more hands on. I don't mean that there lessons are more hands on, but that they touch the students a lot more. Our professor refers to us and all of the Vietnamese assistants as his "lovely students". Today, he even used a napkin to wipe off Tori's face! I guess I'm not sure if this is true of all professors since I have only seen these behaviors in our Vietnamese professor.

After class I headed back to the dormitory by myself. I took the bus and wasn't necessarily nervous but did pay extra attention to where I was at. Compared to the bus system in Chicago, the bus system here is very undeveloped. For example, they don't announce what the next stop is so you basically have to pay attention to your surroundings to know where to get off. I also mentioned this yesterday, but it still seems weird to me that you sit down and then pay instead of paying as soon as you get on. Also, the bus drivers don't make full stops. They slow down just enough for you to either hop on or off the bus and then they're off again. As I was walking back to the dormitory, I also had three xe oms come up and ask me if I needed a ride. It's uncommon to see a Caucasian person walking alone around here, so I think they all thought I was lost!

The afternoon was spent doing homework and eating some more pizza. Seriously, though, I'll probably have pizza for the next few meals. Free food is rather hard to come by in this country, and in Chicago I probably have free food at least every other week. I did go to the supermarket to buy some fruit. I noticed today that they had a selection of grapes from the United States and a woman was sampling them. They were so good! Or maybe it was nice to not have to worry about the seeds in the middle, I'm not sure. I decided to buy some, and of course they were the most expensive grapes in the store. I also ended up buying some of the cheap apples.

I also noticed that they sell Driscoll's strawberries here. They did not look nearly ripe enough, but it's interesting to me that the United States sends strawberries here. Maybe they can't actually grow them in Vietnam. I also had some really good mangoes, and I'm afraid that when I go back to the states none of the tropical fruit will be good enough. The fruit tastes so much better here, probably because it's so much fresher!

After doing a few hours of homework and getting a little bit accomplished, we headed to service learning at DRD. Tonight was based on family, so we played a few games where they could practice their English and incorporate words like cousin, niece, nephew, etc. It was a lot of fun and the hour and a half went by really quickly.

Something I noticed while walking around the other day: there was a group of people sitting on the street corner with a pile of cell phones beneath them. They were taking the cell phones apart and (I believe) separating out the different pieces. I knew that a lot of our electronic waste got sent to countries in Asia, but it was very weird to actually see it happening. Stay tuned for some videos of our trip to the Mekong Delta.. hopefully tomorrow!

Day 28: September 17, 2014

Today's breakfast was half of my coconut moon cake, and I was correct in guessing it would be the better one. While there were also two egg yolks in the middle, I took those out. The inside reminded me of a coconut candy and it was probably one of the sweetest things I have had since being here.

History class was at 10am, so we hopped on the bus to head to Open University. I can't explain how excited I am that we are taking a bus everyday now instead of a taxi. It is just so much cheaper! During history I took 4 pages of notes in an hour and fifteen minutes, and my hand hurt bad enough that I decided not to take notes the rest of class. Kudos to me for being such a good student.

We had an hour break in between classes so I headed to lunch with Dan, Alex, and Cristina. We ate a bar/restaurant, but since I wasn't hungry I didn't order anything. There food did look pretty good, though, so it's definitely a spot to keep in mind. After lunch Dan, Alex, and I hopped in a cab to head to the Vietnam Center for theology. After theology, where we spent a lot of time discussing mediums, it was back to the dormitory. Since we're not sure if there is a bus in that area to take, Cate, Alex, and I took a cab back. I decided that I should get a snack, so I went to the canteen in search of something to eat. I found some caramel/kettle corn popcorn mixture, so I grabbed that for 7,000d.

After a few hours of homework and catching up on America's Got Talent, we had our first Survival Vietnamese class. This is a class that Vien, who is kind of like a program coordinator, decided to put on for us. It took place from 6:30 to 8:00 and our Bach Koa partners were also there. Vien taught us how to order food, how to ask how much something is, and how to give directions in Vietnamese. This is more of a supplement to the Vietnamese we're already taking and is to help us with more immediate stuff. The best part is that there was free food, provided by Loyola. Since we had Pizza Hut last time we got together, they decided to order Domino's. It was a lot better, which is not something I think I would be saying in the states! There is more sauce on Domino's pizza here, which means you don't need to use as much ketchup. Oh yes, the Vietnamese like to put ketchup on their pizza. They just squeeze it on top. We're kind of thinking that they do this because there doesn't seem to be much sauce on the pizza, although we're not sure. Anyway, we're hoping to have Survival Vietnamese every week with food and the Bach Koa partners.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is already the last day of the week for me before the weekend begins. It seems like we just got back from Nha Trang and we're already starting another weekend!

Day 27: September 16, 2014

Today started out as they all do. I woke up and had breakfast in my room, which today was the other half of the lotus moon cake. Class started at 10am, so we met at 9:15 to head to Open University. Today, however, was the first day that I was able to successfully take the bus to classes. We walked a few blocks to the bus stop, waited for the bus to come, and when it did we just got on. The bus we will now take to classes is a double decker public city bus, and when you get on you sit down and wait for the attendant to come collect money from you. With our student IDs, the bus only costs us 2,000d each way.

Today's class was sociology, and afterwards I met up with Thao for lunch and to practice my Vietnamese. She brought lunch from a stand near where she lives because she says the food is cheaper there. So for 15,000d I was able to have what has easily become a staple meal for me--pork and rice. We practiced my Vietnamese until she decided that I could pronounce everything like a true Vietnamese. She also showed me her textbook for her class on American and British culture. She has a textbook that splits the United States into its regions, and I flipped through the pages describing the Midwest. The first picture of the chapter was a picture of corn fields, but there was also a section on Chicago, Mt. Rushmore, and the Iowa State Fair. Yes, the Iowa State Fair. I tried to explain what a fair is, but it basically ended with me saying that it was similar to a festival. She gave me a ride back to the dormitory on her motorbike, and we made plans for this weekend to go to her sister's English club as well as maybe check out a flea market.

Today is Ulysses' birthday, and he invited all of the Loyola students and partners out to eat supper at a Mexican restaurant he found. (Turns out that a few of the partners thought Ulysses was going to pay for everyone. Apparently if you're "invited" somewhere it means the host is paying for you.) I had a few hours to spare when I got back, so I managed to get some homework done. At 5:30 I got in a cab with some Loyola students and we headed to the Mexican restaurant. There were about 25 of us total that showed up, so it took a while to order everything. Not only did it take a while because there were so many of us, but none of the partner students had eaten Mexican food before so we had to explain the difference between tacos, enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, and fajitas. I ended up getting a passion fruit, coconut, and honey smoothie and chicken enchiladas. The smoothie was sweet but not too sweet while the chicken enchiladas were topped with cilantro and guacamole. I spent way more on this meal than I have this entire trip, an astounding 205,000d, but I have also not felt this full since I've been here. Hopefully there aren't too many more meals in my future that are that expensive.

Day 26: Back from Nha Trang

Our bus came in this morning at 7:00am, and I slept much better on the return bus then I did on the one to Nha Trang. Here are some highlights from the trip:

• Going on a 4 island tour and getting to see different islands surrounding the town.
• Jumping off the top of the boat into South China Sea/East Vietnam Sea (name depends on who you are talking to).
• Having a Russian family ask me for directions.
• Eating the BEST banana ice cream I have ever had, as well as having some pretty great kiwi ice cream.
• Going snorkeling for the first time.
• Having Indian food for the first time.

The only thing I didn't do that I thought would have been fun was to do a fishing tour where you pay to either go day or night fishing with them. Not only was there not enough time but it was more expensive than the island tour and not nearly as long.

After spending the weekend at a place that is so much more relaxed than HCMC, getting off the bus this morning was a rude awakening at just how busy everything is here. Thankfully we only had to get in a taxi and head to the dormitory.

The sleeper bus we took to and from Nha Trang.

View from the top of our hotel.

View from the boat during our island tour.

One of the beaches we stopped at during the tour.

After doing some homework I decided I was hungry so I opened one of the moon cake I bought last week. I'm thinking the coconut one will be my favorite, so I went ahead and tried the lotus seed one. I split the moon cake in half and there were these two yellow balls in it that look like egg yolks. I thought maybe there were the louts seeds, so I bit into one. Nope, definitely egg yolks. I picked them out and ate the rest of the moon cake, which was pretty good. I decided to look online to see what lotus seed moon cake is supposed to look like, and apparently there are supposed to be two egg yolks inside of it. I'll pass on those.

I was so exhausted that I decided instead of trying to do homework I should take a nap. When I woke up, I had time to pick up my laundry before heading to environmental science class. I also found a letter from my grandparents on my desk, so thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

We headed to environmental science class and thankfully the professors there always bring snacks for us. After class, it was back to the dormitory for some homework. I grabbed a Vietnamese quesadilla (as mentioned in an earlier post) for supper for a shockingly low 5,000d.

I talked to my parents last week and they said that they aren't able to view any of the videos I posted from the Mekong. I decided to try and upload some videos to YouTube every now and then so that whoever is reading this can get a better feel of what I am experiencing. Here's the first video I uploaded, which was taken during the first few weeks here.

Day 22: September 11, 2014

I can already tell that Mondays and Thursdays are going to become the "how long can I sleep until I actually have to get up" days. I just have to remind myself that it will be worth it to go to Vietnamese class! That class is easily turning into my favorite one. Today, we went over our homework and then learned how to ask how the other is feeling and how to ask for their name. There are five students in our class, four Vietnamese student assistants, and our teacher. The small numbers are really helpful, because we each get to practice one on one with a native speaker. While I was practicing with the professor today, he told me that the some of the students are impressed by how quickly I am picking up the language and also how I am able to correct myself when I realize I said something wrong. Not sure if he says this to all of the students but I'll take it!

Another thing I've noticed is that I think the Vietnamese associate height with beauty. In the market yesterday, for example, these two girls were staring at me and after they said "so tall" they also said "beautiful". My professor today also said that the female student assistant is impressed by my beauty. The reason I think this is associated with height is because the women who wear the traditional dress of Vietnam are taller than the average Vietnamese women. Also, I learned that many Vietnamese are short because their diets are lacking different nutrients. So perhaps that also associate height with wealth and in turn beauty.

The rest of the day was spent doing homework and packing for this weekend before heading to service learning at 5:30. I grabbed a waffle from a street vendor to have as a snack for 10,000d. The waffles from the street vendors are thinner, like a pancake, and not as crispy as a waffle from the states either.

Service learning was a lot better tonight than Tuesday. We were split into groups of two Loyola students and two members of DRD, which is the place where we are volunteering. We were given a deck of cards and a sheet of paper that had a different question associated with each card. The point of the game was to just go around the circle answering the question you drew as a way to interact with native English speakers. It was super easy and a lot of fun!

When we got back to the dormitory, I had a fast supper of banh mi. Now it's time to finish packing for our awesome weekend in Nha Trang. Our bus leaves tonight at 11pm and is supposed to get to our destination sometime between 6 and 8am. Can't wait to relax for the next few days and see another part of Vietnam!

Since I will be having a blast in Nha Trang this weekend, don't expect any more posts until Monday. Hard to believe that fall is starting in the states when it is continues to be 80 degrees over here.

Day 21: September 10, 2014

It's been three weeks since this journey started.. ahhh! It seriously feels like I was making comments about how it's already been two weeks just yesterday. Crazy to think that I'm already finished with 25% of this adventure.

This morning started by having my moon cake from last night for breakfast. I opened it up and inside was dragon fruit! Such a good way to start the day. I also decided that today was the day I was going to learn to take the bus because it is only 2000d and an easy way to save a little bit of money everyday. As soon as we got on the bus, however, we got messages from Vien that our class was cancelled. We quickly hopped off the bus and walked back to campus.

I used the cancelled class time to get a little homework done since I probably won't have time to do so this weekend. My next class was at 1:30 at the Loyola Center, so after a quick lunch of pork and rice seven of us grabbed a taxi and headed there. The class was theology, and all classes are discussion based. After class I headed back to the dorm to get some more homework done before our group meeting. I also used some of the time to look up cool things to do in Nha Trang this weekend.

The entire Loyola program at a group meeting at 6pm to see how we are doing and to address any concerns we have at this time. It seems like everything is going great and nobody had anything to really complain about. Better yet, supper was provided and it was Pizza Hut. After the meeting, I talked with Vien and Wilson about some of our upcoming trips and fun, outdoor things to do on some of the free weekends. Vien recommended hitting up Cat Tien National Park, doing a backpacking tour through the jungle in Laos for either 5 days or 2 weeks (that one might have to wait until the semester is over), and also hiking Mt. Fansipan in northern Vietnam. Wilson was also up for that one, so I'm hoping that with the extended stay during our trip to northern Vietnam we will be able to do that. It sounds like for $75-$100 you are able to do a 2-day trek to the top of the mountain, which includes all of your food and sleeping arrangements. So up for it!

Tomorrow is the last day of class before we head to Nha Trang for the weekend. This week just flew by and it's crazy to believe how fast everything is going here. I've been here for three weeks and still haven't really gotten into a routine, but I feel like that's expected because every week is so different. Let's just hope my homework doesn't always fall by the wayside!

Day 20: September 9, 2014

This morning started off with me not wanting to wake up and head to sociology at 10am. With my only class for the day over, I met with Thao for lunch. We hopped on her motorbike and headed to a market in a nearby district. This market is meant for the locals, so there were no tourists around and no pushy sales people. There, were, however, plenty of locals to stare at me and make comments about my height. Thao told me that many of them were saying the Vietnamese equivalent of "so tall!" I told Thao that I didn't need her translation in order to figure that out and she just laughed.

We ate lunch at the market at one of the food stands. Thao ordered food for us and I'm still not quite sure what it was we ate. One dish, as she explained, was a mixture of pork and squid formed into balls. It was then covered in this gelatinous substance. Very weird texture and not my favorite thing to eat. The other dish was much better. It was rice flour flattened into half dollar size pancakes topped with some yellow mush. I realize that it doesn't sound appetizing, but it reminded me of potato salad. We had dessert at another stand, which also consisted of two dishes. The first one was flan, yes, flan, as in the Mexican dessert. It was served in a bowl and coffee and ice were poured on top. I'm not a coffee fan, but I couldn't believe how good this tasted! Our second dessert was sticky rice and a kind of potato. In the United States, it definitely wouldn't be considered a dessert because it is not sweet. I did ask Thao if she thought it was sweet, and she said yes. Taste buds are just that much different!

The potato salad tasting dish.

Basically mystery food.

As mentioned many times before, the Mid-Autumn Festival was this past weekend. I really wanted to try moon cake, so Thao took me to a stand. The big moon cooks, 250 grams, were 125,000 a piece. I was told, though, that it was buy one get two for free. So I enlisted Thao to explain all of the different flavors to me (about 8) and then tell me which one was her favorite. Flavors included coconut, lotus flower, several varieties of bean moon cakes, and some with meat in them. Turns out, however, that it is not buy one get two free. That's all a ruse. If you only want one moon cake, then they just divide 125,000 by 3. I ended up getting two moon cakes, a coconut and a lotus flower. I haven't tasted them yet but am excited too!

After filling up on food, Thao took me to a KFC so we could practice some Vietnamese. we each got an ice cream cone and sat in the store for quite a while she drilled me on what I am supposed to memorize. She is such a tough teacher, but I wouldn't ask for anything else! Without her help, I wouldn't know half of the stuff I do and my pronunciation would be much worse. After she decided I had learned enough, she took me back to the dorm.

Service learning was also tonight at 6pm. They were also celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival so the activity tonight was to make bamboo and paper lanterns. We spent two hours making these things! I made a bamboo lantern in the shape of a triangle. When it was time to light it, it caught on fire and I had to step on it to put it out. My poor lantern! We all thought service learning was only supposed to be an hour and a half, but after we made the lanterns we had to play games with the people there. I don't want to say that these games were pointless, but there was no interaction between us and no "service" was really happening. When we were finally told we could go at 9pm, we were all hungry and a little frustrated.

The service learning wasn't a complete bust, though, because we each got a moon cake in the shape of a pig. There were four different flavors, and mine had seeds and fruit in the middle. I grabbed another one on the way out and I'm hoping it's something different so I can try another flavor!

Pig shaped moon cake with a little top hat!

We got back to the dormitory late and the Corn Lady was out, so I got corn again. Good to know that she usually has her cart out in case I miss another meal!

 

Day 19: September 8, 2014

This morning was not a pleasant one. The day started off at 6:30 when I had to wake up and get ready for class. Not only did I know that I had to get up early, but I also knew that my last class ended at 7:30. It was going to be a long day.

I headed outside with the other girls in our Vietnamese class and while we were waiting to get a taxi this loud music came blaring from the Bach Koa courtyard. We're not exactly sure what was going on, but there were students lined up by gender. Suddenly, they all started to sing and the Vietnam flag began to rise. Not sure if this is a tradition after Mid-Autumn Festival or not but it was definitely a sight.

To continue with our musical themed morning, the taxi driver put in a club mix. This is at 7:30 in the morning when all I want to be doing is sleeping. I'm not sure any of us enjoyed his music.

In Vietnamese class we went over our homework and then learned all of the pronouns used in the language. For example, there are different forms of "you" used when talking to a grandpa, grandma, parent's older brother, parent's older sister, parent's younger brother, parent's younger sister, your older brother, your older sister, friends, and your younger brother/sister. Talk about a lot of things to memorize!

So the thing that is actually really going to stink about Mondays is that Vietnamese ends at 9:30 but my environmental science class doesn't start until 5:30. That means I have a lot of time to sit around and do homework, or, in the case of today, take a nap in the library. The library is kind of strange compared to university libraries in the states. You have to check in, where you give them your ID, and they give you a key in return. This key is to a locker where you are then supposed to store you book bag. When you're done in the library, turn in the key and get your ID back.

Lunch was at a street vendor with Tori, Cristina, Brian, and Ulysses. They all had rice with tofu and I had rice with chicken. I also used the tremendous amount of time in between classes to talk to one of the partner students and get to know her better.

Thankfully, the environmental science class flew by and I was back at the dormitory by 8pm to finish up some homework for tomorrow. When I was done with homework, I decided that I should probably find something to eat. I knew that it can be hard to find things at weird hours here, but I decided to give it a shot. Walked through some alleyways and around a few blocks with no luck. Decided to check out the grocery store and decided the food court was too expensive. Went to the coffee shop to get a banh mi but they were closed. Went to the next coffee shop, where the people outside told me they had banh mi, but was told by the owner they do not serve banh mi. Walked across the street to some food vendors but didn't recognize what they were selling. Went back into the grocery store only to realize that it was closing soon and that all of the prepared meals were already gone. Then I remembered that we don't have a microwave so it really doesn't matter. Walked around the grocery store looking for prepackaged food only to decide it was too expensive. Realized that they only sell instant noodles and not instant rice or pasta or any simple meals. Was pointed at and stared at by many people. Walked back outside and, BOOM, there were street vendors back on the street. Came across a lady selling corn and decided it was a good thing I waited that long. So for supper I had roasted corn with herbs and chili sauce. Worth the wait.

This journey basically showed me that it can be nearly impossible to find cheap food in this city between the hours of 7:30 and 9:00, although that varies day to day. Around 9:00, however, the (what I call) "late night vendors" come out. They don't serve meals but serve snacks to the people who are headed out for the night. Better store that knowledge away for next time.

Day 18: September 7, 2014

I decided this morning that I should go to the grocery store and buy some fruit for breakfasts. Going to the grocery store is always an adventure, but today was ridiculous! The only time that it isn't packed seems to be at 9am when it opens, but I headed out the door at about a quarter to ten. I took one step inside the store and could see that it was absolutely chaotic. All 18 checkouts were going and the lines were crazy long. I headed to the produce section where people were standing two or three deep to pick out what they wanted. I also noticed, however, that the store sells older, cut-up fruit for half the price of fresher fruit. I decided to go this route both because it's cheaper and because I don't need to buy the freshest of the fresh. I picked up half an orange and about two apples for around 30,000d.

I made my way to the check-out counter where I had to choose which of the 18 stalls I wanted to use. Not only were all of the lines long, but everybody had a full shopping cart. To make matters worse, the people who check you out go very slowly here. There is no rush like there is in the United States. Plus, I'm pretty sure I chose the stall where it was the cashier's first day since she had a notebook she kept looking at before pressing buttons. All of these things added together made for a very long process of buying two items, and I was in the store for about 40 minutes, the majority of which was spent in line.

When I say the cashiers are slow, I'm not exaggerating either. They check things out in groups of related items. If you're buying drinks, they want all of the drinks to be checked out at the same time where they then go in the same bag. When you are talking about people with FULL grocery carts that include candy, drinks, noodles, fruit, meat, etc., this takes a long time! I also witnessed the clerk bag some items only to take them all out and put in a bigger bag because more of the same items were found buried at the bottom of cart. It's such a process!

At 1:00 Cate, Tori, Alex, Summer, and I headed over to the zoo. Very interesting experience. I had read that the zoo was not the best and to be prepared for small and dirty exhibits but it still surprised me. Dirt or cement exhibits, no grass, trash in the exhibits, and people throwing food at the animals. The elephant exhibit was smaller than the one at Niabi Zoo and had four elephants. At the zoo here, the elephants just lined up by the fence, trying to get sugar canes from the people who were buying it. People were throwing it at the elephants since there was some distance between them and the cage, but often the sugar cane would hit the elephants. Two of the elephants also had a chain around of their feet. The hippo cages were similar. One hippo per cage with an area smaller than a swimming pool to swim. Another interesting thing about the zoo was that often times they had multiple cages of the same animal. They had a lot of different animals, but it just wasn't maintained well based on what I'm used to.

I saw a lot of colorful butterflies at the botanical garden area in the zoo.

Common iguana

One of the elephants who waited for humans to give it sugar cane.

Cate, Alex, Summer, and I all decided to get supper together. They really wanted pho, so we roamed the streets for a little while before deciding on a place that didn't actually have pho. Instead, they had some really good looking spring rolls, noodles, and rice. We split a few fried and normal spring rolls. They each had noodles in vegetarian broth while I got rice mixed with beans and vegetarian supplements and more fried spring rolls. I was very hungry, so it tasted very delicious! Or maybe that's because it was nice to have rice mixed other items.

As mentioned before, this weekend was the Mid-Autumn Festival. To celebrate, our OU partners took us to District 7 where we got to see lots of lanterns lit up and the biggest moon cake. I rode with one of the partners on his motorbike, and let me tell you, that is my favorite way to get around. It's less touristy than riding in a taxi, I feel like you see more when you're on the back of one, and it's thrilling going through traffic and weaving around cars and other motorbikes. Plus, it's about half the price!

The lanterns and moon cake were at the biggest mall in HCMC in District 7. The mall has all kinds of Western brands and is where the more wealthy Vietnamese shop. Outside the mall lanterns hung above the street in rows of red, green, blue, purple, yellow, and white. It was a very neat experience. The largest moon cake was inside the mall and hopefully tomorrow I will finally get to try one! Since the festival is over, they are supposed to be on super sale, as in buy one get six. When we got back to the dorm around 10:00, I headed to get an avocado smoothie. Not as good as the strawberry smoothie I had the other day but still good.


 

Day 17: September 6, 2014

After waking up rather late at 10:00, I headed out to the ATM and to grab breakfast with Ulysses and Dan. Traveling to the ATM is always an excursion for a few reasons. First, I remind myself that when I withdrawal 2,000,000d at a time I am withdrawing just a little less than a college-educated Vietnamese makes in a month. Second, I find myself a little nervous to be carrying around so much cash. Third, it's always a shock to see whether the ATM will give me 500,000 bills or 50,000 bills. It sucks when you get 500,000 bills because there are very few places that will break them. Street vendors won't accept them and taxi drivers don't really want them. Thankfully we live next to the grocery store, so when I need to buy something I make them give change for 500,000d.

Breakfast this morning was a more traditional Vietnamese banh mi. This is a breakfast sandwich that is French bread served with either a fried egg or meat, soy sauce, cucumbers, herbs, and chili sauce.

I did a little homework today but since this weekend is the Mid-Autumn Festival there was supposed to be activities all weekend. Today's activity was a soccer tournament and I was going to cheer on the 6 Loyola students who decided to form a team. Just as the first game started, however, it started to downpour. The game is now rescheduled for tomorrow at 8am, so we'll see if I actually end up going. Especially considering the fact that during the little bit I watched the soccer ball hit me in the face. Guess I was too close to the sidelines.

Since it was raining, we all basically hung out in the lounge today, playing cards and telling stories. Not a whole lot to tell there. We went out for supper at a Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant. Since it was all Loyola students, and we can't speak either of those languages, Wilson asked them what the three best dishes were. Out came a bowl of noodles with shrimp, a bowl of noodles with pork, and a bowl of noodles and part of a duck. The duck was my favorite so I just stuck to that. The noodles weren't that bad, however, as they were more like ramen noodles. I had a very small amount of those and gave the rest to Cate, who in return let me have her share of duck.

Wilson has organized a trip to Nha Trang next weekend, which is a beach town, so we all paid 750,000d for our bus ticket. While I'm not a big fan of beaches, I am excited to see a different part of Vietnam as well as try my hand at snorkeling and maybe do a little hiking through the jungle. Time will tell what activities we partake in, but only 4 days of classes stand between us and a warm weekend.

Day 16: September 5, 2014

Even though it is Friday, we had a make-up sociology class at 10am. All of our classes here are two and a half hours long, so they are very hard sit through. We learned a little about the history of Vietnam. Our professor also told us there are three ways to tell if a country is under Chinese influence:

1. Do they use chopsticks?
2. Is Confucianism prevalent in society?
3. Is their language similar to China's?

After class I headed out with Thao, Tho (another partner student), Alex, Cate, Tori, and Summer. It was a restaurant, so a little more expensive than street food. I got seafood rice, which cost 45,000d. When we were done, Thao said I needed to practice my Vietnamese so we headed to the canteen. She helped me with my pronunciation as well as helping me memorize it. When she decided that I had done pretty well, we hopped on her motorbike and headed to "Lantern Street". This weekend is Mid-Autumn Festival, so everybody is buying lanterns to decorate with. She gave me one as a gift, too! The lanterns are very colorful and range in intricacy.

Lanterns, as seen on "Lantern Street".

Some of the more simple lanterns.

On the way back to the dormitory, we stopped at a food stand where I had an ear of steamed corn for 7,000d. It was completely yellow but still nice to have something that reminded me of home. We also passed a Dairy Queen, and Thao said she has never been there so I plan on treating her sometime. When we made it back to the dormitory, we headed for the Co-Op and each got an ice cream cone for 3,000d.

Vien took most of us out and showed us a good place for hotpot, which is when you cook meat and vegetables in a giant bowl and share from it. We had salmon, okra, and some other vegetables. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the fact that we were able to get salmon from a street restaurant, but it's probably better not to think about it. It was 50,000d per person, and I'm slowly starting to figure out that the less I spend the more I like it.

On the way back to the dormitory we stopped in front of a building where there was some stuff going on for Mid-Autumn Festival. It seems that this holiday is celebrated because of the Chinese influence, and the act we saw reminded me of the parade I saw in Chicago for Chinese New Year. When we got back to the dormitory, there was a lady making Vietnamese quesadillas (or so Wilson calls them) on the street. Rice paper, pork, some spam and herbs, and a little sauce. We also got smoothies from a street vendor. The strawberry smoothie I got is probably one of the best ones I have ever had.

Day 15: Tôi Tên Là Ashley (My Name is Ashley)

I woke up this morning with a sore throat and runny nose and absolutely NO idea where it came from. Tori, another Loyola student, also has both of these but the last meal we had that was similar was in the Mekong. Hopefully everything will go away on its own! I usually don't get worried if I get a little sick, but I feel like I need to be extra cautious while I'm here.

Vietnamese class was at 8am this morning and we finally learned some Vietnamese! I can now say "My name is Ashley. I am 20 years old. I am an American. I am a junior at university." Not much, but enough to impress the Vietnamese here. (Bonus: The professor says my pronunciation is pretty good.) Before this, I only knew my numbers thanks to Thao. Surprisingly, that did help quite a bit in talking with the street vendors about prices.

After class, we headed to the post office so some people could send out letters. Cate's host student was there, and she and some of her classmates were told to head to the post office and talk to foreigners to practice their English. While this may seem strange, it's actually common and many Vietnamese head there to practice speaking. I got videotaped by some of her classmates, and they asked questions like what I thought of the traffic and food. It seems a common question to ask here is if you have a boyfriend, which is not necessarily something you would ask in the states. By talking with them, it became more obvious that a lot of the females here are told to prepare themselves for marriage, aka learn to cook and how to be a good wife/mother. Very different from our culture where you do something because you enjoy it rather than how it makes others perceive you.

Since Alex and I were done for the day, we decided to take xe oms back to the dormitory. In searching for some, we came across this guy who lives in Mississippi. Although his English was pretty good, he didn't really help us find xe oms. A guy finally spotted us, held up two fingers, and asked "Motorbike?" When we said yes, he called for someone else to come over. After a bit of bargaining, we agreed that each ride would cost 60,000d. Although Alex and I were on two separate motorbikes, the guys stayed together basically the whole time, talking to each other and to us at a few stoplights. Everything was going great until they pulled up to building and said we were there. I had never seen it before and Alex's xe om was nowhere in sight! Thankfully, her motorbike pulled up a little while later so we could be stranded together. We ultimately decided to hail a taxi to take us back to the dormitory. So although our trip back cost twice as much as it should have, at least we made it.

Alex and I also decided to get lunch together across the street where we had beef pho. I feel like I'm describing all of the meals as cheap and delicious, but that's exactly what they are! Also, we've been noticing that instead of napkins, most of the street vendors have those crepe streamers.

I finally got some homework done today and was rewarded with a letter from Mom and Dad! It was great to receive something from home. So great, in fact, that the student who delivered it to me said there should be chocolate with it next time ;) Just kidding.. I don't think I would ever get it!

I headed out with Cate to get supper tonight. She prefers noodles and I prefer rice, so we're not necessarily the best people to be eating together. We wandered through an alley and found a place that served both rice AND noodles. Score!.. or so we thought. Cate ordered first, asking for an egg roll and noodles. I tried to order, but the lady pointed to a table and said "sit inside". The language barrier was a little too difficult to overcome. I tried telling her I hadn't ordered, but she just kept pointing at a table, so I sat down. Turns out they thought Cate was ordering for both of us, so we each got a huge bowl of noodles with egg rolls and a few pieces of pork. Cate felt bad, and although I tried to make the best of the situation by eating the noodles, I just couldn't do it. They were just plain noodles. So I basically ate Cate's meat, she ate her noodles, and I left a giant bowl of noodles on the table. Like I said before, I don't consider myself a picky person (I had rat's testicle, snake, and snail for goodness sake), but I just can't handle noodles. Thankfully, it was very cheap at 17,000d.

After supper, I had to meet with my environmental science professors about my research topic. I finally have a research question (What is the most effective way to get drinking water to HCMC people?) and a plan of action. Since I don't speak Vietnamese, I'll have to have one of my partner students with me whenever I work on this, which could pose a big problem. But right now the plan is to survey local residents, make street observations, try to find some local experts at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and go to the water treatment plant. My professor basically told me that I should be able to walk right in and look around, so we'll see how that goes.