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.