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.