Day 8 and Day 9

Monday started off with class in the morning with first a history and culture class and then the language class. Both teachers were very good and kept us awake and paying attention. After class we had a site visit with CB Richard Ellis. We met with Patti Joslin Ndzana Etoga. She was so funny and very informative. We had a very friendly meeting and she told us many places that we should try out, including both bars and restaurants. She seemed to know so much about the city. She happens to be the Marketing & Design Associate Director for them here in HCMC. The Real Estate market, as she described, is very interesting here. The Market got hit hard  by the world economy, but not to the extent of that in the US. She believes that once the economy starts getting better in the US, the economy will take off in Vietnam. That night we treated our teachers to a drink at the top of the Rex hotel. It was a really fun time. Then tuesday, we had a site visit with the US department of commerce here in Ho Chi Minh City. They are the people who advocate for US companies to the Vietnamese government. Then after that we went to dinner at a place called the Hollywood cafe. It was owned by a Chinese American named France Au. He was really cool, and gave us an idea on what it is like to be an entrepreneur here in Vietnam. He made it clear that it is not very easy, and you need to be prepared for corruption at all levels. The idea of his restaurant was we had couches laid out that people eat on, and then a big screen tv which is showing a movie to watch while you eat. 

Day 7

So we started off Sunday with a cooking class in the morning. In order t start cooking, our group (Steve, Sean, Lauren, and myself) needed to find some ingredients in the market. We were told to search for tofu, pork, and shrimp. The tofu was easy and she gave us a good price. The pork however was so hard to get. We weren't sure how to tell her we wanted .1 kg then finally when she did there was too much fat in it and she tried to overprice it too. So we got the price down and just took whatever fat there was. After that we needed to buy shrimp which was overprice according to his list, but he said we should take it anyway. It was crazy we wanted to her .7 kg... and she measured that out first try. The first handful she grabbed was .7 kg on the dot. It was kind of cool to try to bargain with the local people. Ma Qua means expensive! haha thats about all we knew, or at least remembered. The cooking class itself was so hard. they put so many spices into their food. I was elected "key person" so i needed to watch what the cook did then come back and show everyone at my table to do that same thing, which got extremely difficult after awhile. But after we were finished the food was so so good. We made spring rolls, pineapple rice, a type of mixed vegetable soup, and catfish. I think my favorite was the catfish, the spices made it taste so good. 

Then we took the orphanage to the local water park. It was so much fun! The kids there were so sweet and friendly. They took our hands as soon as they met us and ran us around the park to all the different rides. Definitely tired me out. But the rides there were so much fun, the quality was just as good, if not more fun, then waterpark rides back home. But i definitely thought that water park was a perfect way to close off the weekend, it was a lot more fun than I expected and it made me feel really good to be able to give back to Vietnam a little after everything the people here has done for us.

Day 6

It was so nice to get out of the city for a day, the Mekong delta was so much different. We first went to a war graveyard. There were thousands of gravestones it was really a sight. On the trip over I learned that families bury ancestors right on their land. So you will see a huge rice paddy and see a huge gravestone just right in the middle of it. That was so weird to see. We took a boatride on the mekong river. The river was huge, I never expected it to be that big. There were so many boats on it selling fruits from upstream, it was so busy. It was so hot and humid as we walked around this little house to get a feel for how people live in the delta. We then took the boat to a place where they were making coconut candy. The candy tasted so good, I had to buy some. Just as we were about to leave it started monsoon pouring again. Part of their roof flew off! The locals were laughing at our reaction when that roof flew off. They didnt seem to care too much about it. They didnt have much of a drainage system, the water seems to just go where ever it goes. We then went to a little restaurant. That was so cool! They gave us elephant ear fish? The fish itself was completely there just looking at us. So cool. We also had shrimp, which looked like it was straight out of the ocean. I love eating food like that, its such a culture shock. After our meal we left the mekong delta and went back home. I saw a bike with two baskets just full of ducks attached to it on the trip. I would guess over 20 ducks on that one motorbike. So funny to see

Day 5

Ok so sorry i missed a blog day, but we had to leave by 7 yesterday for the delta so i missed my morning blog time. Friday we took a trip to Ascenx which was cool. His story about leaving vietnam after the war was amazing. As far as the engineering side, i dont think i understood any of it. The employees there were all very nice, and were very interesting to talk to. After Ascenx we went to a house style dinner. Their house was huge and very spacious. I think its so cool how the vietnamese incorporate so much of their history right into their house. I also think its cool how open their house is. There are very few doors that open or close so people, and any other animal can walk in and out of the house very easily. It was very busy there as there was one family, including the grandfather and their cousins all living in the same house. There were so many little kids running around at all times! They also have so many animals, many dogs, cats, and chickens. The food itself was amazing. I love trying all the food here. Mint leaves seem to be very popular here, I'm not sure why that is but i think its very interesting. The family was very nice and very open with us. I'm not sure i could live in such a busy house all the time like they do, it seems like theirs never peace and quiet, but it was fun to see for the time i was there. I will write about the mekong delta later today because I need to hurry and eat before the cooking class today at 8.. So busy! 

Day 4

We didnt have class today! So nice. So we started off the day going to a local high school for gifted students. The high school presentation was hard to understand. I'm not sure if it was because of the translator or just the vice principle. But the students there were very interesting. I talked to a girl named Boa?? I probably spelled that completely wrong haha. She had so many questions ready, I was very impressed. She asked me what my score was on the SAT and SAT 2. She said she was looking at schools like stanford and minnesota, and researching some schools in boston. She wanted to study chemistry and become a doctor, but she always wanted to be an actor. I was very impressed by not only her goals but how good her english was. For living in vietnam her whole life, she was very good at speaking our language, and even said phrases like "O my god" and "whatever" haha. She explained that the critical reading portion of the SAT was very difficult for her and made her nervous. After the high school we went in search of food. I found a street side vendor who sold me chicken and rice and this other green vegetable for 20K (about 1 dollar). Im still amazed by how cheap food is here. As we were walking back it began the downpour on us. I dont think I have ever been in a rain worse than that, I was completely drenched from head to toe in seconds. I guess we got a little taste of monsoon season which is supposed to begin in a few weeks. Then we had a site visit with Dewayne Morris. The speaker was very impressive. He was a great speaker and came across as extremely intelligent. He views on the Vietnam's economy were very interesting. We then took a motor bike to the market. That was crazy. The driver was weaving in and out of traffic and driving on the wrong side of the road, but that wasnt because he was a bad driver, that's just how it is here. The ride itself was about a buck, completely worth it. I bought cobra wine at the market it looks so so cool. Theres an actual cobra in it. I'm intimidated to try it, but its something that I need to do. Later that night we went to the market again with Coa and Chee (again spelling) who were nice enough to take us. They were much better bargainers than we were haha. After that we went out to Majestic which was closed, but still was a sweet view of the river. As we were looking for some place else to go we accidently went into a brothel. There were about 20 girls smiling at us and one white guy at the bar. We realized as soon as we walked in what it was and turned around, the guards were laughing at us haha. Then we did some work! We sat on little kiddie chairs around a little kiddie table and drank beer. Amazing. No wonder its so popular here, it was so fun. Well thats it for now. 

So Day 3 was great. We had a history class in the morning, the teacher was very interesting haha. The language class is still killing me, Im so bad at pronouncing these vietnamese words. The site visit to phu my hung corp. was so cool. They had a huge master plan laid out for us to look at, it was so detailed. I never saw a design like that before but i never expected it to look like that. It will be so interesting to see how  their plans will work out, and see how the city will change in the upcoming years. After the site visit Lauren, Steve, Kelly and I went to look for somewhere to eat. We ended up going to a little street side restaurant called Pinky? possibly. It was about 6 blocks away. I got some dish I couldnt pronounce, which ended up being amazing. It was some kind of meat with carrots and cucumbers which was put on a sandwich. It was like less than 2 bucks, I love the prices here, I don't think I spent more than 20 dollars in the last three days. As we were leaving lauren ordered banana ice cream, and ended up getting a banana split. She let Steve and I try the vanilla, which doesn't taste at all like the vanilla back home. It was out of this world, we had to go back and get some ourself. A full ice cream cone for under a dollar. It was so so good. Last night we went to a hotel top bar called Caravel. It was really expensive so we just left and ended up going to the Rex. Always a good place to go. Well Im still loving the trip so far. Just people watching is amazing. I couldn't tell you how many people sit on little kiddy seat and just drink at a little kiddy table all day. I refer to this as "doin work." Its so funny to watch. Must be the life.  

Day 2

So we started out the day with a Vietnamese business class. I thought the differences between our system and theirs was very interesting. I was amazed when he said people who make over 3 mil dong are taxed more. That number seemed so low to me.

I really enjoyed the trip to Glass Egg. Glass Egg is a company that outsources digital artwork to companies that are creating computer and video games. I never realized the amazing amount of detail that goes into one single car. The CEOs we met, Steve and Phil, were very intelligent guys.  It was very interesting to hear how they started this business from scratch, and basically created a whole new industry. I thought it was amazing that they train their own employees, basically from scratch, right there at their office.

For dinner last night I got a sandwich known as a "Vietnam" from a street vendor. It was amazing! It was ham, cucumbers, mayo, and a spicy sauce all on a sandwich. So good. It was less than one american dollar too, only 15K dong. Amazing.

Later that night we went to a nightclub called Lush, recommended by Steve and Phil from Glass Egg. It was a lot of fun, however drinks were very expensive compared to the Co-op market across the street from our hotel. I think its funny that American music is so popular here. Well I'm about to go eat breakfast. The liver? that they have down there is so good on bread. So far it has been a lot of fun here. The food has been amazing. I'm interested to see what the Vietnamese culture class will be like today.