Day 71: October 30, 2014

This morning started at 5:30am since I had plans to meet some members of English club at 6am to play da cau. We started playing around 6:15, and none of us were very god this morning. Everybody was mentioning how tired they are and we couldn't seem to keep the shuttlecock going for very long. We quit around 6:45, and then Binh took two of us to the place where he always gets breakfast. As we were walking there, he kept making comments about all of the people that were staring at me. I guess it's been happening so much that I haven't even been noticing anymore! Even at breakfast, where we had broken rice with pork and a fried egg (and I was able to try pork skin), he thought it was so funny that the little boy at the end of the table was eating his breakfast while looking at me. Thankfully, I don't think it made either of the people I was with uncomfortable, as Binh asked me to walk behind him so that when people were staring at me he could pretend they were staring at him because he is so handsome.

When we had finished breakfast, we went to get warm soy milk from a street vendor, which was kind of good. We came back to the dormitory and went our separate ways since they still have class today. I talked to Thao about the details for this weekend, and then I went back to bed.

After taking a much needed nap, I decided to spend the day in the city. I packed my bag and set out to find a xe om to take me to Ben Thanh Market. I ended up buying three t-shirts for 360,000d, and when I met up with Alex Vu later he told me that I had (of course) overpaid. Oh well.

While I was waiting for Alex to meet me at Ben Thanh, this guy next to me started talking to me. He is from the Philippines and was also waiting for his friends. Alex showed up a few minutes later, and we walked to Saigon Square where I looked but didn't buy anything. We were starting to get hungry, so Alex took me to this alleyway that is very popular among the locals. We stopped at the Vincom Center, which is basically an American mall aka too expensive. We finally made it to the alleyway where I had nui xao trung (fried noodles with egg) and a lemon tea. When they first told me the tea was 8,000d, I was shocked. But after tasting it I was totally fine with paying that much!

With lunch finished, Alex wanted to get on a bus that took us through District 1. At the final spot, we got off, then walked back to a street vendor we had passed who was selling fried dough with sesame seeds. He then got this brilliant idea of taking me to a park where university students hang out to practice their English. We were sitting on a bench, and I could tell he was surprised that nobody was coming over to talk to us. I explained to him that it was probably because he was there, so he slowly scooted farther and farther away from me. A few people passed by and smiled, and finally a girl came and asked if she could talk to me. As soon as she sat down, and I'm not kidding, there were ten people around us. They asked the basic questions (name, major, country, place of study) and honestly just wanted to practice with a native speaker. At one point, there was probably close to 20 people standing around me. At 6pm, I finally said I had to go, and just like that they all dispersed, on their way to look for the next person to talk to.

I spent a few hours packing for my trip this weekend as well as doing some homework before going to circle talk at 9pm. This week's topic was best friends, and we spent about an hour discussing our best friends and the things we like to do with them. After we had said enough about our friends, I joined a small group and we talked about different kinds of food here in Vietnam and what I should try versus what I've already tried. When circle talk had ended (around 11pm), I went to the canteen to listen to the guitar club with some members of English club.

Tomorrow my journey to Thao's hometown begins and I will be gone until Monday, so no more posts until then!