The End

What a great trip it's been. I knew time would fly, but I was amazed at how fast two weeks can pass. Some of us were talking earlier, and we all agreed that (despite how blasted tired we all are), we would no doubt stay 2 more weeks if we had the option (....hint hint Dr Berman and Bryan).

This morning was the very hyped up basketball and soccer games against the UEF students. When we walked into the gym, it turned out we were actually playing UEF's basketball and soccer teams, and not our friends that we've come to know and love. It's okay though, because we had our friends to cheer us on. We lost basketball, but won soccer. That was actually the opposite of what we all expected. I think our problems with basketball came in the paint... we really didn't have a solid big man who wanted to play in the paint. Both games were so much fun, but I think I lost 5 pounds of sweat during them.

We then snagged a quick lunch and dessert at a nearby restaurant, and were done with our scheduled activities for the morning. When we got back to the hotel, we went for a little swim-swam... which was very refreshing. I also went to the Co-op with some others and grabbed some last minute plane food. Pringles, crackers, peanut butter, and gum.... should power me through the 16 hour flight coming up tomorrow.

Evan, Alex and I went to the market one last time to blow off some excess dong. I picked up a few more things, and then we had to come back to the hotel to change for our fancy night tonight. We're taking a formal group picture in our suits and the girls in their new Vietnamese dresses, and then we have a dinner cruise on the Saigon River. Most of our UEF friends will be there (hopefully), so I'm really excited but also pretty sad. We leave the hotel tonight at like 2:30 am, so I still haven't decided if I want to sleep a little or save that all for the plane. We'll have to wait and see.

Leaving Vietnam is very sad but - because of the things I've learned (about the country, as well as myself), experiences I've had, memories I've made, and MOST IMPORTANTLY the incredibly genuine and real people that I've met in this country - I really do believe that I will be back someday. This country has been awesome to us, and I couldn't think of anyone I would want to be with the 20 incredibly awesome people that came from Pitt with me (most of whom I had no idea who they were a month ago). Much thanks goes out to Mike Kijowski for all of his pre-departure work, as well as Bryan Schultz for being such awesome man to spend the trip with. Someday I hope I can rock the soul patch like he does.

The most thanks goes to Dr. David Berman for organizing the experience of a lifetime. I can tell that he truly pours his heart and soul into this trip, which is what gives it such deep meaning. All of his personal experiences with this country offer incredible insight to history and humanity. Although this trip will always be great (because Dr. Berman hand crafted it from scratch), I'm incredibly happy that he was with us on this trip... he really adds an overarching theme that ties together the whole program.

Goodbye Vietnam, Hen Gap Lai!

Saying goodbye to UEF!

Part of lunch today, some jelly type appetizer.

This is what you look like after 2 hours of sports in 95 degree weather with humidity.

Goodbye Ho Chi Minh City!

Today was a Biggie

We did alot of cool stuff today. Everything we do here is so cool and so meaningful, I love it. This morning was our last day at UEF. We had a lecture about culture and a language class. In culture, we learned quirky things such as the meaning behind numbers. It was neat to see how there is so much meaning behind something as simple as numbers here. I think it can be summed up by one of the quotes from our lecturer today about the number 9 (9 relates to love)... "If you want a girl to marry you, you give her 9 flowers, or 999 flowers. Don't try to give her an even 1000... that means you want her to die."

Our language class was "test day." Basically it was a summary day of everything we've learned, our teacher would tell us in English what we had to say and then we would have to speak it in Vietnamese. It was fun, and a little longer than the usual language class. None of us cared though because of how much fun we were having. Our teacher has been great, and she really has set a great atmosphere for learning such a difficult language. If she wasn't as in-your-face and energetic with us, it would get pretty awkward with us butchering every other word. She's been so patient, which has really made the class a worthwhile experience.

We then visited the Xa Loi Pagoda, a place with rich history. In addition to housing the biggest Buddha I've ever seen (about 20 feet tall), this Buddhist Temple was the gathering place for monks who were protesting the Southern Vietnamese Government during the war (the US supported the southern government in the war). The reason for the protest was because of the rise in discrimination against the Buddhists. One monk, Thich Quant Duc, drove his point home when he self immolated himself. There was a memorial on the corner of the street which had beautiful and detailed sculptures. It's inspirational to think about this monk caring for something so much that he went all the way to the extreme that he did... that's true belief and passion.

After this, we went to see the War Remnants Museum... a place that commemorates the "American War." This visit was the one that was mentally draining. I've learned about the Vietnam War at least 5 different times in the course of my life. Visiting this museum makes so much of what I learned irrelevant in my eyes. All they teach you in school are "easy" things... like: military strategy, presidential decisions, turning points in the war, emerging fighting strategies, etc. I've also read a few books on my own time on the Vietnam War, so I have a little more information based off of those sources... but this museum was something else.

The first floor showed things such as executives from involved countries in meetings, protests worldwide - basic things like that. Quick side note, the Kent State shooting even made it in the museum here in Saigon... so being from Ohio and having 2 grandparents who went to Kent I thought that was neat.

The second floor was where things began to get real. The titles of the exhibits were: "Aggression War Crimes," and "Orange Agent." The first had so many pictures of incredibly graphic things that were done to the Vietnamese People by the Americans (don't worry, I didn't post any of these graphic pictures on the blog post). The things that the pictures documented were unbelievable and for the first time in the history of my life I actually questioned my country's integrity and humanity. Seeing this exhibit was incredibly disturbing, eye opening, and uncomfortable. I know that there are two sides to history, but this is a side that I didn't know existed. From our perspective, all that we learn in school is that "Guerrilla Warfare was unconventional and insane." Never have I ever seen such explicit documentation of the inhumane things that were done to the people of Vietnam (not just soldiers).

The Orange Agent exhibit was equally, if not more, disturbing. It documented the effects on the Vietnamese people that happened because of the United States' decision to implement chemical warfare in Vietnam. The pictures were incredibly disturbing, and each one takes your breath away. The effects weren't just post-war... they are still present today. The diseases are passed through generations, and many people TODAY are still affected by the use of chemical warfare. One of the things on the wall was a letter written to President Obama from one of the victims, in reference to Obama's popular speech on what he hopes for in his daughters' lives... and noting that many children here don't have that same opportunity and are still threatened by an act made decades ago. The pictures also documented the effects on the environment, as well as the many many many birth defects that happened (and still happen). These pictures are things that no matter how hard someone tries, the images are things you can't just erase from your head.

I enjoyed the museum, I really did. Despite being incredibly graphic, it was something that I feel like I needed to see as an American. These things are the other side of the story, the side that we don't learn in school. Because of all of my prior knowledge, I thought I had a pretty solid opinion on the war, but now I'm honestly not really sure what my opinion on the war is anymore because of what I saw today. The only thing that I know for sure is that war sucks, alot.

On a less solemn note, some of us went to McDonald's for dinner. I know that it's not "authentic" Vietnamese food, but it was quite the experience. It was a new store, and 2 stories high. There were also about 50 kids running around the play area. Because of the large number of troops, they extended into the main dining area and were running everywhere. Literally... children everywhere. We convinced one of our guys, Akhil - a 6 foot 4 big guy - that it would be "fun" for him to crawl through the playpen real quick. So he did just that, and let's just say the screaming of the kids elevated quite a few decibels. It was also funny because once Akhil left, one of the dads saw and came into the playpen and took his kids out. It was the most entertaining McD's trip I've ever had (and hopefully ever have).

Hard to believe tomorrow's the last day. We have a big day of USA vs Vietnam (aka Pitt vs UEF) soccer match and basketball game. We've been mentally preparing for these games all week with the help of Coach (Bryan's nickname). Hopefully all goes well tomorrow and nobody gets injured in these ultra competitive matches.

Actual picture of monk.

What we saw today at the memorial, complete with the car in the background.

This is the intersection where he was sitting. Just a normal intersection today.

Outside the museum.

Picture on the first floor from Kent State.

Remains of a B52 bomb in the museum. It was hard to look at all of the damage that bombing did in Vietnam during the war.

Before and after pictures of the environment from Orange Agent (chemical warfare).

A US chopper that was outside the museum for display. There were many seized US war machines on display outside (tanks, boats, planes, choppers) on display like trophies.

Akhil with all of his new little friends in the play pen.

5 Star Lunch Came in Clutch

Once again, we had another interesting day on our schedule. Instead of the usual UEF round of classes, we went to a hotel downtown for a cooking class. We got to observe one of the hotel chefs have a cooking demonstration for us, where we learned how to make spring rolls. Despite not being a professional chef, it was incredibly easy to make. The part that we loved was that we were able to eat our own rolls that we made. We also learned how to make fried spring rolls.

We then had lunch at the same 5-star hotel, where it was very good. There was so much variety of food, which was nice because it allowed us to throw a little bit of western food back into our diet. It was a really funny meal to watch, because pretty much everyone just stuffed themselves full of anything and everything they could get their hands on. It was also a buffet, so that added to the mayhem a little bit.

Dr Berman made sure to remind us that this hotel was not representative of Saigon, which was very true. Sure it was a 5 star hotel downtown, where many westerners stay... but it didn't feel like the Vietnam I've come to know over the short time I've been here. While sitting in the hotel lobby at a lunch table, one worker made it a point to say how you could look through the huge glass windows and see the Vietnamese having a great time at a huge city park. The thing that I thought was weird is that she said it pridefully, as if the separation between the two worlds was something to be proud of. That didn't really settle well with me, because it seemed like sort of a fish tank... where westerners stay in the hotel and can observe the Vietnamese all day within the bubble that is their hotel. I don't really know, it just makes you appreciate the way that our trip was set up aimed at getting us a real experience here in Vietnam.

Our last(!) company visit was today. We went to Saigon New Port, which was essentially a dockyard. The interesting thing about this dockyard is that it is ran by the navy, but deals with alot of shipping that relates to the economy of Vietnam... not just the military. It was very interesting to hear about how the company has expanded and opened ports all across the country in order to account for growing demand. Southern Vietnam has the most ports, then Northern, and then Central. This makes sense based off of the cities and provinces that lie in these areas. We got to go up into the control tower of the yard, and get a full arial view of everything that was happening. It was nonstop working; apparently last year the port worked all hours of every day with just a 2 hour break (thats only 2 out of 8760 hours on the year).

After we got back to the hotel, some of us went back to the market. Edziu, Beth, and I left the market for a little bit while others shopped and went to another coffee shop. That's one thing that I love about here... no matter where you are in the city, there's always an interesting place nearby to get some good coffee. I don't think we'll be able to function back in the US with the transition back to non-Vietnamese coffee.

The bread display at lunch. I think this picture lets you know pretty clearly the high end nature of today's lunch.

View from the Control Tower at SNP. It was really cool to be able to look around and see the complex environment that needs to be managed here.

The street we found our coffee shop on tonight. Always fun to people watch.

View of the market from the center of a circle. We had to cross through the traffic to get to this spot... it was really exhilarating. It's kind of like frogger only its real life and you only have one life.

VSIP and II-VI

Today was a big day early. We had 2 company visits in the morning, so we all had to power up big at breakfast. After breakfast but before the bus, I made a quick trip to Coop (the grocery store around the corner) and picked up some peanut butter and crackers. Sometimes you just gotta have some simple carbs that aren't noodles ya know? They have hit the spot all day today.

We went to an industrial park called VSIP - or Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park. It is a large industrial park that houses many big manufacturers. Pepsi has a factory there, but many of the clients are Japanese companies. It is a huge plot of land, and it was really cool to see the layout of the land. The most interesting part to me was to see all of the benefits that companies get when they join this industrial park, versus trying to make it on their own. VSIP has their own power grid, so blackouts aren't things that companies in the park have to worry about. VSIP also offers many logistics services to their clients, which definitely helps business flow smoothly.

The other company we visited was II-IV, a company that dealt alot with optics and cooling technology. II-VI was a company located in VSIP, so that was why we did them back to back. We got to tour their factory and see the lenses being made (the majority of which were done by hand, something that surprised me). Some of their lenses are used in laser eye surgery, which I thought was cool. The company also dealt with cooling technology. What I mean is that the products they design are utilized by many other companies who have technologies that only work at a certain range of temperatures. Their cooling chips are installed by other companies and will regulate the temperature of those devices, so that those devices are able to function properly.


Sorry, no pictures today... technical difficulties with my phone!

Karaoke is....fun??

Today we woke up, at another delicious breakfast and then went to Vietnamese class. This class was an interesting class, because we learned how to barter. We first reviewed our numbers and then learned basic sentences that would help us in a market setting. Our teacher even had us play this one game to work on listening to numbers and identifying which number was being said. I don’t think I ever really understood the rules, but it was still I really fun game.

After class, we got to put our bartering knowledge to the test. We went to the Ben Tanh Market, where we got to shop and barter a little bit. The set up was like a huge indoor flea market in America, only with about 3 times as many vendors squeezed in. I really enjoyed it for a while, but there got to be a few points where it got a little overwhelming if you didn’t take a break. I also made sure that I only brought 500,000 Dong with me (about 23ish dollars), so even if I felt like I got cornered and spent it all, I only had that much to spend.

I would definitely classify these shop owners marketing techniques as “aggressive selling.” As you walk through the cramped and tight corridors, the owners would constantly tap you on the shoulder and ask, “do you want to buy t-shirt?” or something of that nature. There were a few times where I walked past about 15 shops and every owner did that exact thing… it was like hardcore déjà vu hit me at the end on the line and I needed to take a breather.

There was also one time where a lady chased Cohler for a few shops, just because he paused for a millisecond to look at one of her shirts. For the most part, you walk through and only stop if you see something that catches your eye. The market was definitely a very fun experience and I got a few cool things, but it also took a toll on my sanity.

In the afternoon, we went to an NGO (non governmental organization) called Vena Capital. The company was really cool, and although none of us studied it before trip, I’m very glad we made the trip. The basic set up of the company is 2 large divisions. The main division is Vena Capital Group, which is an investment firm – investing in small to midsize businesses. There were 2 guys from this sector, the CIO and another executive, who talked to this end of the company.

The other end of the company was something that was of much more interest to me. It was the Vena Capital Foundation (technically they aren’t a ‘foundation,’ but actually just a charitable agency). The main goals of the foundation are to provide medical aid to those in poverty as well as fund education for girls in poverty. Although Vietnam claims 10% of poverty (Vietnam Standards), the real number is around 20% (according to international standards). The foundation ultimately aims to reduce poverty. One of the ways they see it possible to do this is through funding girl’s high school and college educations.

Their reasoning is very interesting. They note that if they give money for the education of a man, one more man is educated. Educating a woman does more than just that. The woman then takes her knowledge back to her community and spreads it to children and the whole community. They hope that educating many women will help poverty stricken communities, ultimately lowering poverty.

I really enjoyed this company visit, because of the philosophy behind the company. The men running this investment group do not aim to maximize profits for their own benefits, but rather for the people of rural Vietnam. Social responsibility is definitely one of the biggest characteristics of Vena Capital Foundation. The investment group covers all overhead costs of the foundation, so that 100% of all donations go to the intended source, something that has been growingly questioned in American charities recently.

After the visit, Bo took us out to dinner again where we got pancakes. Vietnamese pancakes are different than the ones I’m used to though. The easiest way to describe them is kind of like a rice-omelet with shrimp, squid, and peppers on the inside. Once again, loved it. We then went to karaoke, which was surprisingly a blast. We had our own little private room and - between our Vietnamese friends and us - we filled it up. The style of the room was very fancy, which was a little confusing but also made it more fun.

Some sort of tail thing at one one of the shops.

Shop at the market selling clothes.

Overview of the main hall of the market.

Our strangely fancy karaoke room. You can see the surprise on some people's faces as they walked in the room.

Beach Day

We started early, with the bus leaving at 7am. We had about a 3 hour drive to the beach. We went to the coast of Vietnam - the Eastern Sea (also known as the South China Sea). It was great to have a day set aside for relaxation, and I know many of us were excited for that. I slept on the bus, so the ride flew by.

Before we went to the beach we climbed up a ton of stairs to the top of a cliff near the sea, where a statue of Jesus was with his arms outstretched. The stairs were surprisingly difficult to climb, but my newly purchased Vietnamese rice hat made the journey a little more enjoyable. When we got to the top, the view made the trip very well worth it. We got to climb up into the Jesus statue, and stand on his shoulder area to get the full view.

I know this blog has me saying over and over "best ____ ever, coolest ____ ever, etc"... but this view was so great that when I was stepping up through of Jesus' armpit onto his shoulder (going from inside the statue to outside), I made a weird little squeal or something because of the spectacular beauty that I was seeing. Not my manliest moment of the trip. The pictures are here, but they really do not show how great it really was... that was just something that couldn't be captured on camera.

We then went to the beach, where we spent the rest of the day. We relaxed, swam in the ocean, and had great food. The section of the beach that we were on was very pretty, but I forgot to take alot of pictures because of how hard I was relaxing. We had alot of good food for lunch, pretty much some standard Vietnamese dishes that we've had before, with some clams thrown in the loop today. I did get a little sunburn, but its probably because of sweating off some of the sunscreen I put on.

For dinner, some of us were craving hamburgers, so we asked Bryan (the other faculty member on the trip) where to go... and he told us about this place called Soul Burger. I was so happy because it was the fattest burger I've had in a few months, so it really hit the spot. Before we left, the owner even came out and talked to us for a little bit about our trip and his move to Vietnam.

Soul Burger for dinner.

Walking up the last flight of steps to Jesus.

View of the Eastern Sea from Jesus' left shoulder.

View inland from Jesus' shoulder.

Nice day at the beach.

Cu Chi Tunnels

We spent the whole day at Cu Chi tunnels, about two hours north of Saigon. The tunnels played a huge role in Vietnamese warfare. The tunnels began as backyard bomb shelters, and then expanded through connecting neighbor's shelters to each others. With the attacks from the French, the tunnels expanded to be even larger. In the war against the Americans, the tunnels expanded for the last time. At the peak of their usage, there was about 250 kilometers of tunneling.

So what exactly is one of these "tunnels?" They are basically underground cities. There are many rooms, each connected with a very small tunnel in between. The rooms served many purposes: kitchens, housing, military training, military meeting rooms, cinema rooms, smoking rooms, etc. One interesting thing is that to someone who is unfamiliar with the tunnels (like an American soldier) is in one of these rooms, the tunnel to the next room is hidden, so they are often unable to advance. The engineering behind these tunnels is truly something amazing. They were designed to be confusing and dangerous to American soldiers, with traps and hidden ambush attacks possible around every corner.

Dr. Berman asked me to brief everybody a little bit on the engineering of the tunnels, because I had read one of his books that was about the tunnel system. He introduced the history behind the tunnels and Cu Chi, and then he asked me to speak to the engineering behind the tunnel systems. I'm happy that I was able to share what I had learned on my own with the group. After we talked, there was a short video about the history of the tunnels. Of course the perspective was that of the Vietnamese (Viet Cong), and so the view on the events were completely different than what America portrays. The video keyed in on how "peaceful" the village was and "how many happy children" were residing in the villages at the time of the attacks on the city. Basically, it portrayed Americans in a horrible light... doing so in a way that made me feel pretty uneasy. Well you know what they say, two sides to every story.

When we finally made it into the tunnels, let me tell you... they were tiny. I was legitimately crawling hands and knees through these tunnels. Occasionally there would be rooms that would open up, but then right back to crawling. Apparently, they were also technically 2-way tunnels, where Viet Cong could pass by in different directions. Makes you realize how small these people really are compared to Americans. They would definitely make people who are claustrophobic, and maybe even some who are not, freak out. I couldn't imaging living underground in these things for months at a time. People who lived in these tunnels would definitely have to adopt a different mindset... because let me tell you, there is no way that any regular human being would be able to live underground in these tiny tunnels for that long and not go insane. I think of these people as different breeds of human beings.

This was also the first time we got to see more of the jungle setting of the country. We were in an area that was struck by B52 bombers, so there were huge craters scattered all around where we were walking. The craters that I saw looked about 15-20 feet deep... and they were everywhere.

Later in the day, we went to a memorial where all of the lost soldiers were honored. As I was in the temple-like building, I couldn't help but think of the memorial back in Washington DC. Thinking of this made me realize how devastating the war was for this country. The magnitude of loss for Vietnam almost made the United States' memorial look insignificant (although it most certainly wasn't). Visits like these are ones that really make you think. Many times today I felt a little uncomfortable, but I realized that those times were moments where I really had to step back and think deeper about what was in front of me and how I thought about the history.

Nonetheless, it was an amazing day. Very tiring, very hot, but amazing. We went to the pool to cool down which was very refreshing. Another cool part of the day was that our reservations for one place we were trying to go to tonight got cancelled. The reason why that was cool is because somehow we ended up at a rooftop terrace party on a skyscraper in downtown Saigon. The elevator doors opened and right away we were greeted with an unbelievable view - and we hadn't even left the elevator yet. This was another, "step back, take it in, once in a lifetime" type moments, and boy was it an awesome time. There was great food, people, and dancing.... all with an incredible view from the roof. It was very crowded, and we wanted to stand near the ledge to get a great view of the city.

As Dan Edziu and I were walking around outside, one group of people saw us and waved us over. The woman could probably tell we weren't regulars, and invited us over to their table, which was right on the edge of the rooftop. They also offered a toast to us - and since we now know how to do it in Vietnamese - we love doing it. This was truly a testament to the genuine people who live in Vietnam. They're having a good time with their friends at the best table at a rooftop party, and they see foreigners... invite them over, and then toast to them and have great conversation. I find it hard to imaging the situation would play out the same way if we were in America and the tables were turned. I'm still amazed at how kind everyone is.

Honestly, I'm not sure why this place was our second option... but glad it worked out the way it did for us.

Talking at Cu Chi tunnels about the designs and engineering.

Our guide would demonstrate some of the tunnels by going in one hole and then popping out somewhere else nearby.

One of the tunnels that we got to walk through. They are only about 2.5 feet high, so it can get a bit tight for us big Americans.

Our guide demonstrating the different types of traps that the Viet Cong would set up in and around the tunnels.

Our view from lunch, a nearby fisherman does his thing. We ate on a floating roofed dock next to this river, where this man was the only one on the river - besides the floating plants.

This is at the tomb of all of the soldiers that were killed in the war. The memorial is a huge building, with about 15 to 20 sections of names like this one. It really does illustrate the huge devastation that the war caused.

Rooftop in Saigon with Dan and Edziu.

Perspective Matters

Today was a great day. It started in another culture lecture, which was about religion... so it was not my favorite lecture. We had language class too, where we learned numbers as well as the art of bartering. We had to have a quick lunch, because we had a meeting at the US Consulate promptly at 1 pm.

Getting in was a bit of a process, lots of security. Also, only US citizens could go in... so it was the first time on the trip where no Vietnamese were with us. We met in a meeting room and discussed what the Consulate does in Vietnam with some diplomats. One of the main things is the processing of visa requests to the United States. Additionally, they serve as the body that will aid US citizens who are in trouble in Vietnam.

One of the subdivisions is dedicated to linking Vietnamese people with American people in order to better the relationship between the two countries. This is ironic though, because the Vietnamese people are some of the most enthusiastic people about America that I've ever seen. The people at the Consulate agreed. The linking of the people is important to the relationship of the countries because that is the basis of a strong relationship... a strong relationship between the people.

The next part of the day was the best part of our time here in Vietnam thus far. We met with students at the American Center, a place for Vietnamese students at nearby universities can come and essentially relax, hang out, and study with other students. We walked into a huge room, which was eventually filled with eager Vietnamese students. We split up into groups, so that we were able to talk to them about college (also, just life in general) in America and Vietnam. Because there were so many Vietnamese students there, we had to split up into 1 on 7 scenarios.

At first, it was a little awkward... but when we all got talking, it was so much fun. We talked about everything: what we were studying, where we grew up, what kind of movies we watched, what music we listened to, our favorite Vietnamese foods and restaurants, American culture VS Vietnamese culture, and many more things. We spent over an hour talking, but it really only felt like 10 minutes. I had learned so much in that time, that I will spend days compressing everything that I picked up in the conversations. Another thing we did was they let me practice my Vietnamese with them. Unfortunately, I found themselves giggling constantly at my occasional mispronunciations... but it was all in good fun and I rolled with it. They liked to practice English with me too, because they never really get the chance to speak it with their friends and family.

I came to realize that these students are exactly like me. The things they listen to and watch are the same. The things they think about are the same. The things that they worry about are the same. The things that they want in their futures are things that I want in mine. The conversation was eyeopening to my continuously-expanding amount of appreciation for culture "differences."

Okay enough of all of that "deep" talk. One common thing to ask is how long these students have been speaking English. One of my friends said he has only been speaking for 3 years. I said I was surprised because of how well he spoke it. He then told me that he had taught himself all of it, all by watching videos on YouTube. When I heard this, my jaw dropped to the floor and I was speechless. After he looked at me like I was insane, I told him that his English was honestly 90% as good as mine (which was true), and I had been speaking it all my life. I still can't really believe that, it's just too amazing.

Anyway... Dan, Edziu, and I are going to grab dinner with one of our friends Bo. He said he'll take us to one of his favorite restaurants in Saigon, so we're all excited.

Did my laundry in the tub this morning. Very humbling experience.

Made some iced coffee at breakfast. Not as good as our favorite coffee shop's, but pretty alright nonetheless.

Outside the US Consulate. Dr. Berman is showing us the Vietnamese plaque (Circled), which commemorates the Viet Cong attack on the US Embassy. The United States has a plaque for their perspective inside the fence just opposite the Viet Cong plaque.

Group of Vietnamese students that we talked with.

Me and all of my friends that I was able to talk to personally. Lê is on the far left... he is the one who taught himself English using YouTube.

Glass Egg, too cool

Today was a little bit of a different day. Well, actually we started with the usual breakfast... but after that is when things got a little mixed up. We took a bus to the Jade Emperor Pagoda, which was really interesting. It has been around since about the 11th Century, but the expansion of Saigon had it tucked between houses and shops. Once entering the gates, the land has remained untouched... and people still come to visit regularly. It was very interesting to watch the people come in and out.

We then went to UEF to hear a lecture on the history and culture of Vietnam. This is one of the topics that I find very interesting, so I was enjoying the lecture very much. The professor also focused alot on beyond the city, because most of the citizens do live in the countryside. One of the most interesting points for me is the separation that still exists between north and south Vietnam. I don't want to speak to this point too much, other than that it exists... because I'm posting this on the internet.

We then went on a company visit to Glass Egg, a company that outsources video game art to major companies. Microsoft and Sony are their main customers. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures inside the company, because every project that they work on is completely confidential and copyright infringement is incredibly sensitive in their line of work. We did get to see everything and look over the workers shoulder's as they worked though, which was really cool.

The company began designing cars for games such as Forza (Microsoft). They began with just cars - and not fantasy games - because there was little room for interpretation on their designs. The client sends in a picture of a car, Glass Egg makes the car, and there is no subjectivity involved. As the company has grown, they have dabbled a little bit in fantasy games - but they prefer to remain in the areas where subjectivity and potential disagreement with a client is inexistent. They have made cars and tracks for all of the Forza games, and own exclusive rights to the recent Need for Speed games, meaning that they make all of the cars and tracks in those games.

The company style reminded me of what I've seen Google is set up like. The office is color coordinated, and the employees are all doing their work, but allowed flexibility of workspace... like personalizations, as well as listing to their own music and really being comfortable while they work. All of the work is done on computer animations and with computer designing... something that looked pretty complicated. In talking to the CEO Phil Tran and CFO Steve Green, they told us that when they go to hire employees, they do not care about coding and computer experience. They 100% care about the potential hire's artistic ability... "The computer design part of this can be taught. Anybody can learn that stuff, but the art is something that cannot be taught."

These two guys are very relaxed men, but also incredibly professional at the same time. Very down to earth guys running an incredibly successful company. Phil had an interesting experience when he was younger. His family were Southern Vietnamese and his father saw the risk as the war began to come to a close... which was happening very rapidly. Because of an emotionally charged letter that his father had written to a political friend in San Diego, his family was ensured safety in fleeing from the country. Phil and his family escaped Vietnam just 7 days before the Fall of Saigon. He said that if it weren't for that letter, he thinks he would currently be a waiter at a restaurant in Saigon (HCMC)... and not the incredibly successful and humble CEO that he is. While he was telling his story, our Vietnamese Professor began to tear up a little bit. Her family was also Southern Vietnamese but, unlike Phil, her family did not escape Saigon before the fall. Her father was a soldier for the south, and thus sent to a "re-education camp" after the fall. I found it incredibly interesting to see the two side by side and know that they were both in the same situation before the Fall, but came out with two drastically different results.

Tonight we are going to go to one of the Korean Barbecue places, and then to one of Phil's other investments... a club called "Lush," where he is the owner. It should be a fun night, word on the street is that we may receive some special VIP treatment.

This was a turtle outside the pagoda. It was about 2 feet long and was very stagnant.

Dessert today at lunch were huge plates of mangos. Yesterday it was mangos and pears, but they realized that we only ate the mangos... so they switched it up for us today.

This is in the entrance of Glass Egg... all of the video games that they've worked on. The ones in the frames are all of the Forza games. Other popular titles were Need for Speed and Battlefield 2.

View of Downtown HCMC from the Glass Egg office. If it weren't for all of the economic development, it would still be a full skyline picture, include the larger skyscrapers of District 1.

UEF Theme Song For Days

Today began like any other, with a delicious breakfast with classic Vietnamese food. We left for UEF, and drove through HCMC - like usual. Today was a little more special though because on the way to school, the chicken dance came on the radio. Kinda threw some of us off, but we rolled with it nonetheless.

Our main topic today was development in rural Vietnam, specifically in the Mekong Delta - which encompasses the southernmost part of the country - including Ho Chi Minh City. We learned alot about not only the development in these rural areas with farming, but also with the rich history behind the area as well as the interesting culture. I really enjoyed the lecturer, because he really spoke deeply into the culture. Hearing him speak shows that farming families here in Vietnam are very similar to farming families in the United States - hardworking individuals who can be often handed the short end of the stick. Nonetheless, they persevere and do what they need to do in order to be as successful as they can.

We made a stop at our new favorite coffee shop, where we hope to become regulars. The owner is already beginning to love us (I think), and although she speaks some english, we are beginning to practice our Vietnamese with her.

After our break, we had language class. Today we upped our conversing abilities to the next level, and also began to learn about numbers. I also figured out why those Vietnamese who learn English later in life sometimes have difficulty with verb tense (example: them saying "Yesterday, I go to market and buy milk," instead of "Yesterday, I went to the market and bought milk"). The reason is because in Vietnamese, the verb tense doesn't change... the way to specify that you bought milk yesterday is simply specified by including the word "yesterday." In English, we include the word "yesterday," but also change the verb tense.

After class we had lunch... chicken legs and breaded shrimp. Slowly but surely, the seafood here is beginning to grow on me.

Our company visit today was to the US Commercial Service, an extension of the US Consulate. We spoke to the president, Pat Wells, and he briefed us on what his branch does. Essentially, they provide consulting services to those US companies who wish to perform business in Vietnam. One recent example of success was the expansion of Starbucks to Vietnam (which I still don't get, because Vietnamese coffee is 10 times better, and literally 1/10 the price of Starbucks). Additionally, Nike now officially produces more products in Vietnam than in China... something that I found very interesting. This attests to the growing popularity and advantages of doing business in Vietnam. Mr. Wells noted that in his time here (especially recently), more and more big players are starting to move their businesses to Vietnam because of all of the advantages that the country has to offer. This visit was long and Mr. Wells covered ALOT of material, but I really did enjoy what he was talking about and the insight he had to offer.

We hit up the pool to cool off at the hotel when we got back, and then I went to take a nap. Unfortunately, I slept through dinner and into the night... so that's why I'm writing my blog here at 430 am after about 10 hours of sleep. Oh well, I did need to catch up on sleep... considering I had only 10 hours total since we left Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Note: the title of the post today is because at the welcoming ceremony on Monday, the students did a dance the UEF's theme song. The song became an instant-hit with us, and we kept referring to it whenever we would talk to the Vietnamese Students. Kate, the president of their English Club made us a CD with it, so today on the bus... we listened to it on repeat. She also printed out the lyrics for each of us, so we can study up and sing along.

A picture of Dan and Edzui. Dan is paying the owner of the shop 12,000 Dong for his coffee. That's equivalent to 55 cents.

Our meeting room with Mr. Pat Wells, at the US Commercial Service. He had alot to talk about, and many of us really enjoyed what he spoke about.

Another propaganda poster outside the US Commercial Service window.

Phu My Hung

Today was a very eventful day. We started the morning at UEF, and learned about urban development in HCMC. After a quick morning break (where we got to go to a coffee shop and grab an iced coffee), we had another language class. Once again, the material can be pretty difficult to pronounce, but luckily our Vietnamese friends are able to help us through the class.

The new thing added to today's schedule was a company visit to Phu My Hung, which was the company that my group did our pre-departure report on. It is an Urban Development company, stationed in South Saigon. The visit was very interesting, and it gave us alot more information on the company than what we were able to find in our initial visits online. Dr Berman told me that that's kind of what he designed the process to be... get a good foundation on the company before the trip, and then learn more of the nitty gritty stuff while we have briefing sessions with the executives of the company.

Tonight, we went out with our Vietnamese friends into the city for dinner. We got Pho, which is a very common Vietnamese noodle-soup ish dish. The food was very good, as usual. After dinner we got to walk around downtown, and really got to see the way people in the city interact. The streets are packed with people, even on a Tuesday at 1030 pm. That seems to be the main form of entertainment in the city.... go and hang out outside (pretty much anywhere on the street, sidewalks, common areas, etc) with your friends.

This was the iced coffee that I had on our morning break from class. It pretty much tasted like a dessert.

This is the view from Phu My Hung (south Saigon) looking into the skyline of HCMC. This pond is part of PMH's community.

In the briefing room of PMH. We got to ask the executives of the company questions that we had about anything/everything. 

Our Vietnamese friends picked us up for dinner and we rode on their motobikes to dinner (dont worry mom, we wore helmets). Let me tell you: riding on the back of a motobike through HCMC with all of the people around you, talking to a new friend on the ride (conversing in both English and Vietnamese) was by far the greatest time of my life. Honestly, I've never felt happier than I did on that ride.

I also got to rock the Hello Kitty helmet on the motobike ride. Stylish and safe, just the way I like it.

Props to Kyle for this picture.

Dinner. We ate Pho, which was very good.