Day 4

Today, we spent the entire day at UEF. I was pretty happy that we didn’t have a company visit. They’re informative but it can be a little tiring, so I’m glad we got a break from that today. We had our first culture class this morning. I thought it was very interesting to learn the history of Vietnam and a little more about their culture. Something interesting that he told us was about this huge turtle that lives in a lake up in Hanoi. The Vietnamese believe that this turtle gave the king a golden sword that would kill some Chinese king or ruler to end the oppression. Since it actually happened, the Vietnamese are now in debt to this mystical turtle. But recently, after all the pollution in the water, they believe that the relative of that turtle is injured and they are completely upset about it. I found that pretty interesting (and a little amusing). It’s sort of the Vietnamese version of the Loch Ness monster. No one in America could ever believe in something like that.

We then had our language class which I always enjoy. Today, we learned the different tones and accents on letters. I found that pretty difficult to remember. They have a, e, ê, o, ô, o’, y, u and u’ as their vowels and on top of that, there are five different accent marks you can put on them. Most of the language lessons have been really easy for me so far because I already understand quite a bit Vietnamese, but I never learned how to read or write in Vietnamese. We also learned how to address people. For example, if it is a young man, we say “anh” but if it’s an old man, we say “ong”. You have to refer to them by the correct name to show 

respect. In English, we don’t have to address anyone in a specific way. Hi pretty much suffices for everyone.

Afterwards, we went to the cultural exchange with the UEF students. We basically just play different games with the students and get to know them a little more. We all divided up into teams. There were two Pitt students and bunch of UEF students in each group. Reggie and I were in the same group. Our team name was Team Hercules which was hilarious because all the Vietnamese students thought Reggie was as big as Hercules. We did a bunch of activities with them. In one activity, we had to imitate a dance and perform in front of the group after 10 or 15 minutes of practicing. The dance wasn’t too bad but for something with no rhythm like me, it was nearly impossible.  It honestly took me 10 minutes to get the first two moves down because my body can’t really register what my brain is telling it to do. There’s a reason why I’m not a dancer or will ever be one. But our team pulled it together and we managed to do the steps. We totally should have won because we were the group that had the most accurate steps…but whatever. I’m not bitter. Another activity was the pig chase. I was not too thrilled about that one. I felt really bad that I didn’t participate but that pig was squealing like crazy. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I mean, I’m a vegetarian for a reason.  But one of the Vietnamese students went in my place and he completely tackled that poor pig. He was clearly in it to win. But according to Brice, they offered the pig to us to take back to America. I would’ve snuck him on the plane. He was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Pigs are my favorite animal, so I’ve wanted one as a pet for as long as I can remember. But it’s okay. I will own a pig eventually.

At the end, we all exchanged gifts. The Pitt students all got a cup with really cool designs on it and a Vietnam magnet. Afterwards, we all were told to gather in a circle and sing a song together. And believe it or not, it was ‘As long as you love me’ by Backstreet Boys. It was a very interesting choice. Not exactly what I was expecting. But I love BSB so I loved it. Which reminds me: I’m pretty sure that everywhere we’ve been they have BSB music playing in the background. I’ve been to the co-op a few times and they would play BSB back to back. Same with the canteen. Either they have an obsession for 90’s pop or they think that’s what we Americans want to listen to. Anyways, back to the cultural exchange. At the end, they played the Macarena and chicken dance which was so awesome. Then, they started playing pop and techno so everyone just started dancing. Well, technically, it was mostly the Pitt guys dancing and everyone gathering around them either cheering them on or just confused about their dancing. Clubbing should be very interesting.

Oh and we were given these boxes of snacks, fruit and soda for our groups which was a lifesaver because I really missed having junk food. As an American, there is only a certain amount of time away from unhealthy, processed food I can take. I went to the co-op yesterday and bought $3 pringles knock-offs. I think I’ve reached that point.

I’m so exhausted but we have dinner with the UEF students in about 15 minutes. This trip has been so much fun but very tiring. They really need to build in a nap time somewhere in this schedule. It would be very much appreciated. I’m sure we all need it.

We just got back from dinner and hanging out with the Vietnamese students. They took us to a pho place for dinner tonight. I think this was the first time I actually felt really full this entire trip. I didn’t get to eat pho, but I got other noodles that were vegetarian. The food there was so good. Then afterwards, the students offered to take us on a tour of the city on their bikes. It was such a great experience. It was probably one of the most fun activities I’ve done here. I was riding with this one Vietnamese girl (I feel bad that I can not remember her name for the life of me). She was pointing out some of the prominent buildings in the city, and showing me some of the places she likes to go. I’m glad that I got to know her a lot better because she is incredibly nice. I got us lost (of course) after telling her to go down the wrong path. We fell a little behind, so I saw a group make a right turn so I told her to go down that road. We ended up in a shady alleyway and had to turn around. We eventually got back to the hotel, but it was quite interesting. It was so much fun, but it was probably not the safest thing I’ve ever done. I couldn’t count all the times I thought we were going to crash. It’s definitely a lot different than what I’m used to. Drivers on the road have to yield to people who are merging and everyone is constantly cutting off someone. I was surprised how there’s absolutely no road rage here even with all the insanity going on.

Tomorrow we’re back to the company visits and heading to ASCENX. I really just want a day to sleep and relax. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. Going from my usual 9 hours of sleep to 4 or 5 is not easy. Alright, well this was a painfully long post. Goodnight Vietnam.