May 19's activites started with a trip to Cu Chi. We got there and watched a video about the of the Cu Chi Tunnels and the American Killer Heros. I worked at spending my leftover money here and bought some snacks, scarves, and a hat. We squat walked though an enlarged tunnel. I felt the burn in my legs. There were a lot of interesting buildings aroud replicating life from the perspective of the Viet Cong. There were kitchens with chimmneys that had plant debris filters. We saw some workshops where life size plastic Viet Cong moved mechanically building booby traps and mines. The helicopter mines were ineffective because the Americans sprayed down landing zones with machine gun fire before landing. We saw all kinds of spikey booby traps that would have been smeared with feces with the intent of wounding American soldiers. We saw a tank destroyed by mines. There was a shooting range there where people could fire automatic weapons. I did not feel like I got the experience I wanted. It was a little touristy. There are rubber plantations surrounding Cu Chi. I was told that it is dangerous to travel on the roads going through these plantations at night because of robbers. I also heard that there is still a lot of unexploaded ordinace around Cu Chi and that people die every year trying to get it.
In the afternoon we went to the War Remnants Museum. It was a disturbing experience. I wish I could have seen more but, it closed at five and I decied it would be prudent to leave when the alarms started going off.
The last day of the Plus Three Vietnam trip started with the final Vietnamese culture class. We leaned about fertility worship, polytheism, and musical styles by region of Vietnam. They really seem to like worshiping in and around genital symbols. The musical styles of Southern Vietnam sounded better to me than the Northern musical styles. In the North the music is a lot more correographed and patriotic. In the South some music sounds almost Western. There was also a lot of more ethnic variety in Southern music.
In the final Vietnamese Language Class we had a quiz where we had to introduce ourselves. I passed. As much as I liked to stare at my watch, waiting for the pain of learning a language to stop, I will say that in the end I enjoyed taking the language class. I learned a lot about Vietnamese culture by having to learn how to greet different types of people, order food, and trade in the market.
We said farewell to the UEF students after something like an asain game show. There was a balloon hopping game, a blindfolded fruit tasteing game, and a blindfolded pudding eating contest. I learned that most of my UEF counterparts have never had a job other than learning. I don't think that there is anything wrong with that. They start class at 7:00am end late in the afternoon 6 days a week. We played a soccor game against the UEF students. They took it easy on us and still beat us 6-4. The match was 5 vs. 5 on a small field in a part of town where corrugated steel was a primary building material. It was alright though.
My final meal in Vietnam was wonderful. The sauce on the beef was great, everything except the chicken heads were. Although, maybe I should not judge because I did not try them. For the first time, sticky white rice was not served.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday May 18
Today's activites started with the third installment of our Vietnamese cultural education. We learned about dualism, yin-yang philosophy, and traditional community organization. Dualism involves a way of thinking in terms of extremes. Traditional Vietnamese will identify a person as either tall or short or, fat or thin. There is not much of a middle ground and modifiers such as thinner or fatter are not used. I am not sure how this way of thinking came into existance but it seems possible that it is a facet of the non-rational mode of existance that we learned of in previous lectures. Afterall, it seems rational to try to modify adjectives to to better describe nouns. Yin-yang philosophy seems to share similar roots in non-rational thinking. I am usure about a lot relating to yin-yang philosophy so I will save my judgments on it for my more detailed journal.
We continued to learn about traditional farming villages. Historically, the Vietnamese lived iin closed villaages with independent governments. The village centers were a couple of acres large and were surrounded by walls of densely planted bamboo. Sometimes women would live their entire lives and never leave the village walls. Eventually the villages realized the benefits of cooperating with each other to assit each other during natural disasters and invasions. This realization led to the formation of a central government to oversee the villages.
In the language class we learned how to say where we were from and what we are studying at the University of Pittsburgh. We now have the skills to do a decent introduction of ourselves in Vietnamese.
In the afternoon we went to a coffee shop to listen to a lady from Wisconsin talk about her experiences and percepions of Vietnam. She is a straight talker. She informed us of the high cost of living in HCM City. As I recall she was paying over 10,000 USD a year for her six year old's schooling. She also spoke of the her children's friends and their talents. The students generally have at least one Western parent and have western names. They can speak 3 or 4 languages fluently. She was frightening me a bit.
We continued to learn about traditional farming villages. Historically, the Vietnamese lived iin closed villaages with independent governments. The village centers were a couple of acres large and were surrounded by walls of densely planted bamboo. Sometimes women would live their entire lives and never leave the village walls. Eventually the villages realized the benefits of cooperating with each other to assit each other during natural disasters and invasions. This realization led to the formation of a central government to oversee the villages.
In the language class we learned how to say where we were from and what we are studying at the University of Pittsburgh. We now have the skills to do a decent introduction of ourselves in Vietnamese.
In the afternoon we went to a coffee shop to listen to a lady from Wisconsin talk about her experiences and percepions of Vietnam. She is a straight talker. She informed us of the high cost of living in HCM City. As I recall she was paying over 10,000 USD a year for her six year old's schooling. She also spoke of the her children's friends and their talents. The students generally have at least one Western parent and have western names. They can speak 3 or 4 languages fluently. She was frightening me a bit.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday May 17
Today's activities started with a Vietnamese cultural history class. South East Asains came into existance as a distinct race through a mixing of the Mongoloids who entered S.E.A. from the North and the Australoids who entered S.E.A. from the South. The tall, bright-skinned Mongoloids and the short, dark-skinned Australoids mixed to create a race of medium sized, brown-skinned people. We learned about the historical enemies of Vietnam. The lecturer listed about 8 different nations that the Vietnamese have had to fend off several times each. The Vietnamese relationship with China has historically been one of a big bully neighbor to a small neighbor. This interestingly resulted in a concentration of ethnic Chinese in the South of Vietnam because of discrimination in the North. We were also told a story that was reminisent of the story of Excalibur. Instead of a nymph in a lake it was a turtle in a lake that gave the hero the magical sword that was used to establish a kingdom. It is kind of interesting how similar cultural lore arises independently in different cultures.
The language class was a pretty big downer for me today. I completly dropped the ball in the verbal quiz. The teacher criticized my incompetence, but in a subtle, very Vietnamese, kind of way. We also learned key phrases to use in restaurants.
In the afternoon we vistied Glass Egg Digital Media. The senior executives we met with were very Westernized. This affected the general tone of the meeting in some interesting ways. They were a lot more open about thier alternate motives for inviting us there. I kind of liked that they were more open about their using of us. They were truly good business men who taught us a lesson by using their money making skills on us. They made a pitch for their club, Lush. Learning about how videogames are made was cool too. I learned a lot about how graphics and 3-D art are incorporated into the business models of game developers.
The language class was a pretty big downer for me today. I completly dropped the ball in the verbal quiz. The teacher criticized my incompetence, but in a subtle, very Vietnamese, kind of way. We also learned key phrases to use in restaurants.
In the afternoon we vistied Glass Egg Digital Media. The senior executives we met with were very Westernized. This affected the general tone of the meeting in some interesting ways. They were a lot more open about thier alternate motives for inviting us there. I kind of liked that they were more open about their using of us. They were truly good business men who taught us a lesson by using their money making skills on us. They made a pitch for their club, Lush. Learning about how videogames are made was cool too. I learned a lot about how graphics and 3-D art are incorporated into the business models of game developers.
Monday May 16
Today began with a presentation by one of the founders of Highlands Coffee in the HCM City Hard Rock Cafe. The presenter has a very interesting life story. He left Vietnam as a small child at the end of the war, spent some time in Fiji, and finally made it to the United States. He described how the discrimination his family faced as an immigants broke his fathers will and how he returned to Vietnam with only a few hundred dollars to start Highland's Coffee.
He has established himself as a brand builder for foreign companies seeking to do business in Vietnam. He assits in managing the operations of such companies as Hard Rock Cafe, ALDO, and Nike, as well as several others. He provided a lot of useful advice on doing business in developing countries though his personal experiences in Vietnam. He cautioned us of the many dangers that small obstacles present in undeveloped countries and informed us of the interesting opportunities available that make the dangers worthwhile.
We met the general manager of the Hard Rock Cafe. He said that the Vietnamese really like to rock out to Western cover bands because they recognize the songs and like to sing along.
Later in the evening we went to sing karaoke. Baker and I recieved the high score of the evening for a very sloppy rendition of "Ghost Busters." We were competing against Vietnamese who were far more experienced karaokeers than any of us. I think it might be the national pastime or something. Regardless of whether or not Baker and I deserved the high score, we all got to laugh and have a good time.
He has established himself as a brand builder for foreign companies seeking to do business in Vietnam. He assits in managing the operations of such companies as Hard Rock Cafe, ALDO, and Nike, as well as several others. He provided a lot of useful advice on doing business in developing countries though his personal experiences in Vietnam. He cautioned us of the many dangers that small obstacles present in undeveloped countries and informed us of the interesting opportunities available that make the dangers worthwhile.
We met the general manager of the Hard Rock Cafe. He said that the Vietnamese really like to rock out to Western cover bands because they recognize the songs and like to sing along.
Later in the evening we went to sing karaoke. Baker and I recieved the high score of the evening for a very sloppy rendition of "Ghost Busters." We were competing against Vietnamese who were far more experienced karaokeers than any of us. I think it might be the national pastime or something. Regardless of whether or not Baker and I deserved the high score, we all got to laugh and have a good time.
Sunday May 15
Today was a free day for us to relax in the sun. The day started with a ride on a hydrofoil on the Saigon River. We went through the Mangrove Forest which is an area of dense forest known as the lung of Saigon. The Mangrove trees, with their spindley trunks, sit atop a mass of entangled roots that seem to have strangled the life out of most other plant life. They are so dense that the forest looks as dark as night under the canopy of the forest. The Mangrove trees are clearly the masters of parts of the brakish swamps that surround parts of the Saigon River.
We arrived in Vung Tau and visited religious shrines in the area. We went to a Buddhist temple where we had to take our shoes, hats, and sunglasses off before entering. I rubbed Buddah's belly and ran my fingers over my head for good luck. We climbed to what the Vietnamese claim is the highest statue of Jesus in the world. I am unsure of the truth of the claim but it was a nice hike up the the hill with the unevenly carved stone staircase. There were religious scenes etched into the stone walls and marble statues of Christian figures along the path to the top.
We finished the day on the beach in Vung Tau. The water was warm and shallow extending far out into the South China Sea. The waves were gentle as we threw a frisbee and splashed about. After a while Mr. Tin called us over to play a game where we held small banannas between our legs, hopped around, and then passed the banannas to our teammates using only our legs and ingenuity. Mr. Tin told us that it was easier if we held the banannas between in our crotches as we played, a kind of perverted concept by American standards. Whatever, I held them between my knees. He cautioned us not to damage the banannas during the game. I am not sure why he said that. Maybe he expected us to eat them at the end. In the natural American way the banannas that were left over at the end were destroyed in a fit of mob-like madness.
We arrived in Vung Tau and visited religious shrines in the area. We went to a Buddhist temple where we had to take our shoes, hats, and sunglasses off before entering. I rubbed Buddah's belly and ran my fingers over my head for good luck. We climbed to what the Vietnamese claim is the highest statue of Jesus in the world. I am unsure of the truth of the claim but it was a nice hike up the the hill with the unevenly carved stone staircase. There were religious scenes etched into the stone walls and marble statues of Christian figures along the path to the top.
We finished the day on the beach in Vung Tau. The water was warm and shallow extending far out into the South China Sea. The waves were gentle as we threw a frisbee and splashed about. After a while Mr. Tin called us over to play a game where we held small banannas between our legs, hopped around, and then passed the banannas to our teammates using only our legs and ingenuity. Mr. Tin told us that it was easier if we held the banannas between in our crotches as we played, a kind of perverted concept by American standards. Whatever, I held them between my knees. He cautioned us not to damage the banannas during the game. I am not sure why he said that. Maybe he expected us to eat them at the end. In the natural American way the banannas that were left over at the end were destroyed in a fit of mob-like madness.
Saturday May 14
We had to wake up extra early this morning for a bus ride to the Mekong Delta. On the way there I could see nearly endless rice paddies and other agricultural production factors. I specifically recall how proud a lone bovine looked as it stood on a hill, head raised to the morning sun. There were people working in the fields cluttered with the white stone alters of their ancestors' graves. It is very beautiful country.
We arrived at a cocoa and coconut farm and toured the operation. The villager had the equipment to ferment and dry the beans, basically just some wooden boxes and plastic tarps. We took pictures. It was raining. We sat down to interview the villager and he offered us tea in small glasses stained with use. His wife spectated the exchange. It seem probable that she had dressed up for the arrival of the Americans because she was wearing blue eye makeup and a pearl necklace. I love these people because they welcomed us a warmly as anyone can a stranger.
We went to another, much wealthier, villager's farm and took a more thourgh tour of the plants growing on the farm by walking though some of his fields. There were all kinds of fruits growing: papaya, pineapple, banannas, and cocoa, to name a few. He too was producing primarily chocolate products. Unlike the first villager's operation, this operation involved the use of mechanical devices. He offered us some of his chocolate products and we enjoyed to fruits of his labor.
We took a boat ride in the Mekong Delta. I am pretty sure the Delta is bigger than I can see across. We visited a couple of islands and browsed the wares of the local merchants of the islands and took pictures of the parks that were built there.
May 14 is my birthday so I was taken out for a birthday feast at a place called Kiche Kiche. It is a build your own hot pot place where you get ingredients off a conveyer belt and put them in your pot of boiling broth. I thought that I might get sick because I did not know what I was doing with the raw ingredients. I had an amazing cake with fruit baked into it and one of the UEF students gave me a groovy gift that I will be able to enjoy for years to come. It is a model of a bicycle powered taxi that I see driving around sometimes.
We arrived at a cocoa and coconut farm and toured the operation. The villager had the equipment to ferment and dry the beans, basically just some wooden boxes and plastic tarps. We took pictures. It was raining. We sat down to interview the villager and he offered us tea in small glasses stained with use. His wife spectated the exchange. It seem probable that she had dressed up for the arrival of the Americans because she was wearing blue eye makeup and a pearl necklace. I love these people because they welcomed us a warmly as anyone can a stranger.
We went to another, much wealthier, villager's farm and took a more thourgh tour of the plants growing on the farm by walking though some of his fields. There were all kinds of fruits growing: papaya, pineapple, banannas, and cocoa, to name a few. He too was producing primarily chocolate products. Unlike the first villager's operation, this operation involved the use of mechanical devices. He offered us some of his chocolate products and we enjoyed to fruits of his labor.
We took a boat ride in the Mekong Delta. I am pretty sure the Delta is bigger than I can see across. We visited a couple of islands and browsed the wares of the local merchants of the islands and took pictures of the parks that were built there.
May 14 is my birthday so I was taken out for a birthday feast at a place called Kiche Kiche. It is a build your own hot pot place where you get ingredients off a conveyer belt and put them in your pot of boiling broth. I thought that I might get sick because I did not know what I was doing with the raw ingredients. I had an amazing cake with fruit baked into it and one of the UEF students gave me a groovy gift that I will be able to enjoy for years to come. It is a model of a bicycle powered taxi that I see driving around sometimes.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Friday May 13
Today's planned activities started with a lecture on rural planning and development in the Mekong Delta. The Mekong Delta is a of significant economic importance to Vietnam. It is responsible for over half of Vietnam's rice, fruit, and seafood production. Its products account for 18% of Vietnam's total GDP. Continuing to develop factors of production and value adding industries to complement the agricultural wealth of the Delta is a goal of the Vietnamese government. The sustainability of the economic value of the Mekong Delta is threatened by global warming. A one meter rise in ocean sea levels would put much of the Delta underwater for part of the year, destroying investments and reducing productivity.
The language class today focused on review. The teacher said our pronunciation of the tonal inflections is getting better. She said some people are even intelligible some of the time. I am fairly sure that I am still pretty idiotic sounding. I found out why the Vietnamese students laugh when we use the phrase "too expensive." It also means I am having an emergency with my bowels and need to get the the restroom. We also learned how to say the months and days of the week. They are easy in comparison to English. All you have to do is learn the words for "weekday" and "month" and then modify them with a number.
In the afternoon we went to an ACDI/VOCA, SUCCESS Alliance office. It is an organization that helps farmers in developing countries increase their income by educating them on how to cultivate cocoa in a sustainable manner. The organization is a non-profit, non-government organization that receives funding from the U.S. government. I like this organization because I like to think that it functions to improve the international reputation of the U.S.. It is a form of foreign aid that does not entail merely giving money away but indirectly helps the American business Cargill, who buys most of the cocoa beans. Additionally, it helps to reduce the price of chocolate on the global market by increasing long term supply of a key raw material. With an annual budget of only 8 million U.S. dollars, I think that whatever small amount in additional taxes we pay as Americans is money well spent.
The language class today focused on review. The teacher said our pronunciation of the tonal inflections is getting better. She said some people are even intelligible some of the time. I am fairly sure that I am still pretty idiotic sounding. I found out why the Vietnamese students laugh when we use the phrase "too expensive." It also means I am having an emergency with my bowels and need to get the the restroom. We also learned how to say the months and days of the week. They are easy in comparison to English. All you have to do is learn the words for "weekday" and "month" and then modify them with a number.
In the afternoon we went to an ACDI/VOCA, SUCCESS Alliance office. It is an organization that helps farmers in developing countries increase their income by educating them on how to cultivate cocoa in a sustainable manner. The organization is a non-profit, non-government organization that receives funding from the U.S. government. I like this organization because I like to think that it functions to improve the international reputation of the U.S.. It is a form of foreign aid that does not entail merely giving money away but indirectly helps the American business Cargill, who buys most of the cocoa beans. Additionally, it helps to reduce the price of chocolate on the global market by increasing long term supply of a key raw material. With an annual budget of only 8 million U.S. dollars, I think that whatever small amount in additional taxes we pay as Americans is money well spent.
Thursday May 12
The day's activities began with a Vietnamese culture class. We learned about some differences between South East Asian (S.E.A.) and Western cultures and how the differences impact relations between members of the two cultures. SEA cultures traditionally value tranquility while Western cultures value upward mobility. This basic difference between SEA and Western cultures implies that S.E. Asians view social change and disturbance unfavorably while Westerners actively seek to improve their lives. The desire by S.E. Asians to maintain tranquility and avoid change along with the development of effective rice agriculture led to the creation of intimate farming communities that evolve little over time. Many cultural differences between the West and S.E.A. exist that have the potential to cause tense or awkward situations. Many of these center around the tendency of Westerners to be more direct in effecting the their desired changes while S.E. Asians tend to take a more roundabout course when getting what they want. As is probably true when attempting to avoid negative cultural interactions in any society, it is probably best to be as polite, appreciative, patient, and level-headed as possible.
In language class today we learned how the basics of trading in the market. First, we learned how to count. Vietnamese counting makes more sense than English counting. In Vietnamese all you do is string together the numbers 1-10 with the words for 100 or 1000. Then we learned how to say "too expensive." This is an important phrase because prices on many goods are not set. If you want to pay a more reasonable price than their stated price all you have to do is use this phrase.
In the afternoon we went to the consulate for the U.S. Commercial Service. What this organization does is help U.S. companies export to Vietnam. This agency does market research for U.S. firms, sets up meetings between U.S. and Vietnamese firms, and uses its good relationship with the Vietnamese government to broker deals that the U.S. companies might not be able to get otherwise.
In language class today we learned how the basics of trading in the market. First, we learned how to count. Vietnamese counting makes more sense than English counting. In Vietnamese all you do is string together the numbers 1-10 with the words for 100 or 1000. Then we learned how to say "too expensive." This is an important phrase because prices on many goods are not set. If you want to pay a more reasonable price than their stated price all you have to do is use this phrase.
In the afternoon we went to the consulate for the U.S. Commercial Service. What this organization does is help U.S. companies export to Vietnam. This agency does market research for U.S. firms, sets up meetings between U.S. and Vietnamese firms, and uses its good relationship with the Vietnamese government to broker deals that the U.S. companies might not be able to get otherwise.
Wednesday May 11
At breakfast, a cook prepared me an omelette in about 1 minute by cooking the eggs on high heat. I always cook my eggs on low heat. A lot of stuff is done differently here.
The day's planned activities started with a bus ride to the north of HCM City to the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP). It is a similar operation to Phu My Hung except that instead of converting rural land into a commercial zone, VSIP converted rural land into an industrial park. The need for companies to prepare economic zones to attract foreign investment is a direct result of Vietnam's weak infrastructure. By supplying reliable electricity, water, and land rights, developers can attract investors to Vietnam.
While at VSIP we visited a subsidiary of II-IV corporation. The company makes lenses for lasik eye surgery and laser hair removal, cooling components, and semi conductor wafers. One of the directors canceled at the last minute and we were not allowed to take pictures of the inner workings of the company. The tour of the company was an enlightening experience. Throughout the tour the odor of noxious chemicals was ubiquitous. Production at the facility was remarkably labor intensive. Women wearing face masks were responsible for examining every lens for imperfections in the polishing process and for assembling the other two products with small hand tools. The finished products are shipped to other subsidiaries of II-VI in Germany and the U.S. for assembly.
Lunch at the hotel was a culinary adventure. I ate small fish like popcorn, a slightly bigger fish excluding the spine and head, some tentacles of some sort, and some mixed meat stuffed inside a mollusk shell. I tried not to look at the stuff too much and just put it in my mouth.
Our final scheduled activity of the day was a visit to the third largest bank in Vietnam. They were incredibly happy to see us. They gave us sweets, took our pictures a whole bunch of times, spared time to answer questions from us, and told us to go around and talk to the employees. I tried to communicate to some of the bank's tellers verbally, and then by writing. Neither method worked very well but writing was marginally more effective. If I understood them correctly, they had the equivalent of 300 million U.S. dollars in investment capital available. This seemed like a very small amount to me.
The day's planned activities started with a bus ride to the north of HCM City to the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP). It is a similar operation to Phu My Hung except that instead of converting rural land into a commercial zone, VSIP converted rural land into an industrial park. The need for companies to prepare economic zones to attract foreign investment is a direct result of Vietnam's weak infrastructure. By supplying reliable electricity, water, and land rights, developers can attract investors to Vietnam.
While at VSIP we visited a subsidiary of II-IV corporation. The company makes lenses for lasik eye surgery and laser hair removal, cooling components, and semi conductor wafers. One of the directors canceled at the last minute and we were not allowed to take pictures of the inner workings of the company. The tour of the company was an enlightening experience. Throughout the tour the odor of noxious chemicals was ubiquitous. Production at the facility was remarkably labor intensive. Women wearing face masks were responsible for examining every lens for imperfections in the polishing process and for assembling the other two products with small hand tools. The finished products are shipped to other subsidiaries of II-VI in Germany and the U.S. for assembly.
Lunch at the hotel was a culinary adventure. I ate small fish like popcorn, a slightly bigger fish excluding the spine and head, some tentacles of some sort, and some mixed meat stuffed inside a mollusk shell. I tried not to look at the stuff too much and just put it in my mouth.
Our final scheduled activity of the day was a visit to the third largest bank in Vietnam. They were incredibly happy to see us. They gave us sweets, took our pictures a whole bunch of times, spared time to answer questions from us, and told us to go around and talk to the employees. I tried to communicate to some of the bank's tellers verbally, and then by writing. Neither method worked very well but writing was marginally more effective. If I understood them correctly, they had the equivalent of 300 million U.S. dollars in investment capital available. This seemed like a very small amount to me.
Tuesday May 10
I have come to the realization that gourging myself at the hotel breakfast is not a good idea. It is good food but I am not hungry later in the day if I eat such a big breakfast.
The day's activities started with a lecture on urban planning and development in Ho Chi Minh City (HCM). The main thing I learned from the dozens of facts that were read to us was how social and economic development are patriotic goals in the Vietnamese culture. The language class was a lot more enjoyable today. The teacher did not call on me as much. We reviewed the different forms of greetings that correspond to the hierarchal structure of Vietnamese society. We continued our study of the tonal nature of the Vietnamese language. I now understand why Vietnamese is so hard for Westerners to learn and why Vietnamese speakers have a singsong-ish sound that is sometimes angry sounding. One of the tones involves this sharp down-ward thrusting noise that must rise quickly from deep withing the throat. Try as we did, I don't think anyone was able to pronounce this tone correctly.
We visited Phu My Hung in the the afternoon. It was incredible. Phu My Hung Corp. transformed a swamp into what is essentially a new city complete with tall commercial buildings, residential units, and shopping centers.
The day's activities started with a lecture on urban planning and development in Ho Chi Minh City (HCM). The main thing I learned from the dozens of facts that were read to us was how social and economic development are patriotic goals in the Vietnamese culture. The language class was a lot more enjoyable today. The teacher did not call on me as much. We reviewed the different forms of greetings that correspond to the hierarchal structure of Vietnamese society. We continued our study of the tonal nature of the Vietnamese language. I now understand why Vietnamese is so hard for Westerners to learn and why Vietnamese speakers have a singsong-ish sound that is sometimes angry sounding. One of the tones involves this sharp down-ward thrusting noise that must rise quickly from deep withing the throat. Try as we did, I don't think anyone was able to pronounce this tone correctly.
We visited Phu My Hung in the the afternoon. It was incredible. Phu My Hung Corp. transformed a swamp into what is essentially a new city complete with tall commercial buildings, residential units, and shopping centers.
The day's scheduled activities ended with a visit to the future building site of a UEF campus in South Saigon. Currently it is a swampy area with a billboard showing what it will look like after development. There was a lady selling fresh vegetables picked from the swampy area. In a few years she will surely be gone, replaced by students and tall buildings.
A mixed group of Vietnamese and Pitt students went out to a dinner of pancakes stuffed with vegetables and shrimp. We cut up the food, wrapped it in lettuce, and dipped it it in fish-sauce. We had dessert at a frozen yogurt place. Everything was good although I did not expect the bill to be so large. It cost about 8 dollars for each for the entire meal.
Monday May 9
I woke up and realized that I forgot to set my alarm. My clock says 8:30. I ran outside shoes in hand hoping to catch the bus that was supposed to take the group to the University of Economics and Finance at 8:15. It is not there. I asked a police officer if it is 8:30. He did not understand my question. I ask again, this time he agreed with me that it was 8:30. In a roundabout way I found out that the time was actually 6:30. I was relieved and made my way down to the hotel breakfast. The only thing I did not enjoy was the salted hardboiled egg with the shell still on. It likely would have been better if I had scooped the egg from the shell before putting it in my mouth. It was very salty and crunchy, I got it down though.
We toured to UEF campus. It is a gated compound with about 1000 students. We met about 30 students who were very excited to see meet us, as we were them. We were greeted rather strangely. One of the professors introduced the school in heavily accented english that was difficult for me to understand. He turned the introduction ceremony over to some singers who were pretty good. Next came a girl whose did a dance with a hat. For the finale, puppets danced above a blue curtain spastically, but with rhythm. Eventually the puppeteers pulled the puppets behind the blue curtain in a dramatic, choreographed kind of way. I guess they drowned. I think the blue curtain was supposed to symbolize water. There was a Vietnamese language class that was a little too much like work for me. I don't want to have to study on this trip but if I don't I'll end up embarrassing myself in later classes. We'll see how it goes.
After a delicious lunch at the UEF campus we took a short tour of the city, eventually stopping at the U.S. consolate for a tour and Q and A with the Chief of Consular Section. The discussion on the history of U.S.-Vietnamese relations and the operations of the the Foreign Service was fascinating. I particularly enjoyed to story of the Viet Cong attack on the U.S. embasy and could feel patriotic aura of the U.S. embasy by comparing the memorials built by the Vietnamese and Americans commemorating the heroes of both sides that died in the attack.
The welcome dinner was great. The chicken feet were very chewy. The fried shrimp head contained a gooey suprise. These two items pushed the limit of what I will eat if I am not starving.
We toured to UEF campus. It is a gated compound with about 1000 students. We met about 30 students who were very excited to see meet us, as we were them. We were greeted rather strangely. One of the professors introduced the school in heavily accented english that was difficult for me to understand. He turned the introduction ceremony over to some singers who were pretty good. Next came a girl whose did a dance with a hat. For the finale, puppets danced above a blue curtain spastically, but with rhythm. Eventually the puppeteers pulled the puppets behind the blue curtain in a dramatic, choreographed kind of way. I guess they drowned. I think the blue curtain was supposed to symbolize water. There was a Vietnamese language class that was a little too much like work for me. I don't want to have to study on this trip but if I don't I'll end up embarrassing myself in later classes. We'll see how it goes.
After a delicious lunch at the UEF campus we took a short tour of the city, eventually stopping at the U.S. consolate for a tour and Q and A with the Chief of Consular Section. The discussion on the history of U.S.-Vietnamese relations and the operations of the the Foreign Service was fascinating. I particularly enjoyed to story of the Viet Cong attack on the U.S. embasy and could feel patriotic aura of the U.S. embasy by comparing the memorials built by the Vietnamese and Americans commemorating the heroes of both sides that died in the attack.
The welcome dinner was great. The chicken feet were very chewy. The fried shrimp head contained a gooey suprise. These two items pushed the limit of what I will eat if I am not starving.
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