Day 9

Today was like most days usually. We went to culture class in the morning. I remembered seeing some odd photos of decorations or architecture that represented fertility (meaning there were many phallic symbols involved). He went through some random facts such as the Vietnamese value female dominance which is why after marriage, the man moves in with his wife’s family. There were a bunch of interesting topics he brought up, but I honestly can’t remember most of it. Nine in the morning is too early for my brain to function correctly.

Next, we had language class. Today’s lesson was how to state your nationality and where you live. “Toi la nguoi my” means I am American and “toi song o my” means I am living in America. We had to all pair up and go to the front to have a short conversation in Vietnamese. I always know what I’m doing when I’m sitting down, but when I’m in the front of the class, my mind blanks. It’s like high school all over again.

Afterwards, we went to visit Glass Egg. Phil Tran, the CEO of the company, was going to be our tour guide, so I was very excited to meet him. He showed us around some of the offices where programming and design occurs. I was surprised to see how small and personal the offices were. For a company that designs for large corporations such as EA and Microsoft, I was expecting it to be a larger and fancier office. But they seem to be able to get their job done either way. Afterwards, we had a small presentation about the company’s background and their clients. The person that was giving us the presentation had a very heavy French accent, but he was clearly Asian. Not what I was expecting, but he made my entire trip. At the end of the visit, Phil and his partner invited us to Lush which was the night club we were at on Saturday. It’s ladies night, so it should be very interesting. The students last year got a VIP booth, so hopefully they make that happen again.

We were able to see the UEF students today for dinner. Our “appetizer” was at a small street vendor. Everyone got sticky rice with chicken while I got these beans that were covered in sugar beads and onions. It was a very interesting combination. It wasn’t too bad surprisingly. For the main course, we went to a coffee shop that also serves food. Being the culturally diverse individual that I am, I got potato wedges with ketchup. It was very delicious though. Once we were done with dinner, the UEF students invited us to go walk to the mall nearby. It’s the biggest shopping mall in Vietnam. There were so many luxury brands like Chanel and Gucci. Even in Vietnam I can’t afford these things. There were a lot of brand names that I never heard of like Naf Naf. I wish we had a mall like that back in Lancaster. I can’t afford anything, but it’d be nice to look at.

We went back to the hotel around 9 to get ready for Lush. It was so much more crowded than Saturday night. We got a VIP couch which we barely even used. Everyone was pushing and shoving on the dance floor. It was so crowded and crazy. I got trampled on so much that I have a huge bruise on the side of my leg. Even though it was completely insane, it was a lot of fun. Hopefully we can come back again before we leave.