Our first day!

Ok, so Ho Chi Minh City at night is MUCH different from Ho Chi Minh City during the day. I think this picture pretty much sums up the place. First of all, the traffic is insane. Most people drive motorbikes around because it's real easy to weave in and out of places, including around busses, through intersections, and on sidewalks to avoid traffic. If you take a close look at the picture, you'll notice that people are going every which way on those things. Another thing to notice is all the shops that line the streets. I'm not quite sure how many blocks comprise HCMC, but I'm fairly certain there are thousands of shops within the city. The last thing in this picture I find interesting are the power cords at the top. It's incredible how many there are, and we probably saw crews working on them in at least five different places in our travels today. At corners, especially, you can just see tons and tons of cords wrapped around each other.

We started today off by getting the breakfast buffet, where I had some noodle and beef concoction which although I wouldn't typically call it breakfast, it was still delicious. We then took a bus ride to The University of Economics and Finance, where there was a welcome reception for us. We each had to introduce ourselves and we talked a little bit about Pitt, and then they told us about UEF and we mingled with the students. Then, we had a Vietnamese language class. Ling, the student who I sat with, had incredibly good English skills. I was very impressed by her, even after she told me that English is much easier to learn than Vietnamese. Then it was lunchtime, where we were served all sorts of different Vietnamese meals, all of which were delicious.

After leaving UEF, we had a break and then had a quick tour of HCMC. We went to Reunification Hall, which was the presidential palace before the fall of Saigon. It was breathtaking. There was a movie theatre, a game room, a heli pad, and many conference rooms. We also went down to the bunker to see what it was like. At this point of the day it was very hot and humid outside, so it was hard to enjoy being in a building with no AC. This was also the point during the day when I really started to feel tired.

We then went to see Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office. At Notre Dame we were bombarded by street vendors who wanted to sell us post cards and flowers and fans. They would not leave us alone after we refused to buy from them. So much so I thought they were going to end up in our group picture. After the Cathedral, we got a pretty awesome chance to tour and speak with people at the US Consulate. Although I was really tired, I was interested to hear all about working for the government in the foreign service and all the opportunities they get through that.

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Song Ha. We were served a four or five course meal that was...interesting. Vietnamese food doesn't really look all that tasty, so when you bite in you get a real shock of flavor. I tried everything they put on the table, including something that looked a little like squid or calamari. I'm quickly learning that I will need to get much better at using chopsticks. I had pineapple juice to drink, and I am almost certain it was freshly squeezed. It was kind of pulpy like orange juice, and very delicious.

It's only 9:10 here, but I am exhausted and will probably go to sleep soon so I can fully recover from the jet lag. Tomorrow we will have our daily Vietnamese language class, a culture class, and then a site visit to Glass Egg Digital Media in the afternoon.

"Baby, you rocked me!"