Day 62: October 21, 2014

Today started with sociology class, in which we had a quiz that none of us had really prepared for. Let's just say that we're all glad it's only worth 5% of our grade. It's funny, because this quiz is the only thing we have here that is similar to how classes would be in the United States, yet none of us really did much preparing for it.

After class, I was headed to the post office and partner student Alex came with me. When we got back to Open, I hopped on the bus to come back to the dormitory. My plan was to eat lunch at one of the many street vendors near the bus stop. I decided yesterday that I'm relying too much on rice and need to be more adventurous with the foods I get from street vendors. When I got off the bus, though, I realized how daunting it is to order something and have no idea what you are ordering. The reason I order rice so often is because I know the word for it, so I know what to expect and can point to what I want on it. You can't do that with all of the foods here.

I ended up eating at the bot chien place, and when I walked to the stand the woman who works there asked "bot chien bo trung?" I decided that I wanted to try something else from them today, so I shook my head no and instead ordered "nui xao trung", or fried noodles with egg. I think I threw her for a surprise, and when she asked if I wanted beef (bo) I said no. Instead, she ended up giving me two eggs. The noodles were macaroni style, aka just about the only kind I will eat, and they were fried with some oil on her skillet. She cracked two eggs with them before adding some green vegetables, and served them to me with soy and chili sauce as well as some ground up chili powders. It was very good, and I'm glad to know that I can go to the same stand but get different things.

Because I've decided that I need to me more adventurous in my street food eating, however, I came back to the dormitory and Googled different types of foods I could get from street vendors. I ended up making a list of things that I would either be willing to try or things that sounded good, and I play on carrying it with me. That way, if I see a vendor selling something that I don't recognize, I can see if it's on my list and then order it.

Something I had noticed around Vietnam but didn't fully understand until our trip to Dalat: men will walk around the streets with their shirts up, showing their stomachs. While we were on our tour with Mr. Rot, his cousin explained to us that Vietnamese men want to gain weight but that it is very hard for them to do so. Therefore, those with more weight and bigger stomachs lift up their shirts to show that they are able to gain weight. I thought these men were just hot and trying to cool off, but it makes much more sense now considering the fact that it is only men with bigger stomachs that typically have their shirts up.

After relaxing and not getting a lot of homework done (story of my life in Vietnam) it was time for DRD. The activity tonight was rather hard, but afterwards all of the guys sang a song to everyone in the room. Yesterday was Women's Day here in Vietnam, and so they gave us a gift of them singing. They also made paper flowers for everyone as well as photo frames. In Vietnam, men are not allowed to help around the house except on Women's Day. We decided that it is kind of like a Mother's Day but it happens twice a year, once in October and once in March.

When I came back to the dormitory, I decided that I should try and find something to eat. I know that I should break my habit of eating corn a little bit, so I wandered from street vendor to street vendor. I came across one that had little snacks packaged up and decided that I would try some. I ended up getting these things that look like a Ritz cracker but do not taste like one and they have sugar on top. I also decided to get a sandwich from the vendor and basically ordered a mystery meat banh mi, although I think it might have been pork. It was meat on a stick, and when I pointed to it they pulled out a loaf of bread, cut it off the stick, and put it on the sandwich along with pickled vegetables, soy sauce, and chili sauce. It wasn't bad but reminded me of school lunches when you wonder what exactly you're eating. I also decided to get a strawberry smoothie tonight, and it's the first one I've had in awhile. I realized then that I was basically just procrastinating writing a paper, so I headed back to my room to get some homework actually accomplished.