Temples, Glass Eggs, and Chris-Kebabs

            Today was an interesting day. I woke up feeling terribly sick, but I made it through the day. In the morning, we went to the Jade Emperor Pagoda, a Taoist temple. Despite being the hottest day so far, the temple itself was a very interesting experience. The detail put into the carvings was incredible. I saw a bunch of native Vietnamese praying and lighting incense.

Front view of the Pagoda

Kitty!

Inside the temple. There was incense galore and

it was super hot, but very interesting.

            After the temple, we had Vietnamese culture class where we learned about the geography and history of Vietnam. That was interesting because it was like a typical history class on Vietnam in America, but I got to see the other side of the story.

            Once class was finished, we went over to the cantina to have lunch. Since I wasn’t feeling well, I didn’t eat a whole lot, so it was rather uneventful. We finished lunch and went back to the hotel to change and then headed off to the Glass Egg company visit.

When you can't help but melt

into Snowball's warm embrace.

            Glass Egg is, by far, my favorite company visit yet. It had a very Google-esque vibe. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take picture of the work floor because of Glass Egg’s NDA with their clients. While we were there, however, we got to see the artists working on many projects including cars and characters. For those of you that play video games, Glass Egg is one of the largest outsourcing companies for video games and they specialize in cars and environments. They have created all of the cars in the Need for Speed series as well as over half of all of the Forza games.

A list of the clients that Glass Egg works for.

Games that Glass Egg has helped create.

            After the Glass Egg visit, we headed back to the hotel where some of the guys got measured for tailored suits. I slept right through that. Oops. In fairness, I felt MUCH better after my 3-hour nap. We then went out to dinner at the Barbecue Garden, which was very different from the other restaurants around. We ordered our food, but it was raw. That seems like a bad deal until I add that there were grills on the tables and we got to cook our shish kebab-ed food.  Now that I think about it though, the restaurant kind of runs along the same lines as a self-checkout in a grocery store. I think I should’ve been paid for doing their job for them. They were like, “Come to our restaurant! We will give you food and make you cook it and then you will pay us!” Seems fishy to me, but hey, that’s Vietnam.

My, initially, uncooked pork kebab.

I think I have a future in shrimp kebab-ing.

            

Childish Language, Extraordinary food, and a Hidden Coffee Gem

     Today was a pretty simple day. We woke up to another breakfast in the hotel where I tried this pineapple jam on bread that was delicious! Our classes at UEF consisted of a lecture on the history and rural development of the Mekong River Delta in southern Vietnam. That was an eye opening lecture because it really made me realize that the one thing that we have in common with our Vietnamese counterparts, regardless of our cultures, is our humanity. What I have come to understand is that farmers are farmers. Across the world, they are hard-working individuals and we have built our societies off of their hard work.

      Later, we had another Vietnamese language class where we got to ask the students specific words or phrases that we wanted to learn. I “didn’t,” ask to learn specific useful phrases to say to Evan. Similarly, he “didn’t” learn any Vietnamese retorts.

      Once language class was over, we headed over to the cantina for lunch and today they had outdone themselves. There were chicken legs, and these shrimp covered in some kind of batter and fried with a sauce on them. There was also this meat that was skewered on stakes, which was also fantastic. I also found out that mango is quite tasty. Who knew?

Snowball.

       From the cantina, we went over to the U.S. Commercial Service. They are a government agency that works with the U.S. Consulate here. We got a briefing on what they do and also took a picture that makes some of our group look like a news team.

Our Plus 3 News Team

(From left: Akhil, Edziu, Dan, and Kohler)

       For dinner, we went out, once again, with our guardian angel, Kate. She took us to this cool restaurant that for some reason had a very small kitten that lived there. Honestly, very little surprises me anymore. Afterwards, we took a taxi to this coffee house. We were dropped off at a very odd location and had to wait for Kate. Initially we thought we were lost, but she finally got there in another taxi with small cakes for us and we went into the coffee house. For clarity’s sake, I probably shouldn’t say house because houses usually have roofs. This place was just a walled in area with streams running through and trees growing up and open to the sky. It was very unexpected and one of the coolest places I’ve been to since coming here. I ordered a ca cao sua da (Pretty sure I spelled that wrong. 100% sure I don’t know the accents on it.) It was pretty much chocolate milk with ice in it. It tasted much better than chocolate milk, but I really don’t know how else to explain it. Anyway, we finally left an headed home for the night. I need to sleep.

My dinner of so many things. None of which 

I know how to pronounce (or identify).

This is the coffee house that we

went to. NOT a "house."

Iced Coffee, Phu My Hung, and Snowball

We woke up to another outstanding breakfast of assorted Vietnamese foods. After we ate our breakfast, we went to UEF where we had a lecture on Ho Chi Minh City’s urban development over the past 10-15 years. This was more of a preparation for our company visit to Phu My Hung later. Once the lecture was over we had a quick break where we went to a local coffee shop and we all ordered iced coffees. (I can’t spell the Vietnamese name for it.) I don’t like coffee, but this stuff tasted like chocolate with a slight amount of coffee flavor and it was very tasty. Once we finished our coffees, we had Vietnamese language class where we once again made a fool out of ourselves while trying to speak Vietnamese.

Here is a picture of the iced coffee we drank

We went to the cantina after class where we had lunch with an exorbitant amount of Vietnamese food. It’s amazing how much they expect us to eat here. I’m not complaining.

This is Pete "Snowball" Eyre enjoying 

his Vietnamese cuisine. We love 

Snowball.

After lunch, we went to Phu My Hung, an urban development company for Ho Chi Minh City. They have created what seems like a utopian city. My group’s project was on Phu My Hung so we later presented the vice president with gifts, as is the custom here.

This is the Phu My Hung briefing room.

It looks like a Tomorrowland Showcase with 3D

models and a curved screen.

This is a picture of the Phu My Hung development

taken from a Phu My Hung building.

After the Phu My Hung visit, we went to a traditional pho restaurant with our Vietnamese classmates. (Pho is a noodle-based dish with various meats and vegetables.)

Ask me if I'm a master with chopsticks. 

I dare you.

We then took motorbikes to the Notre Dame Cathedral and then ate street food. (They’re trying to fatten us up for later no doubt.) That was super interesting and is apparently what the teenagers here do to hang out. 

I am on a motorbike with one 

of the Vietnamese students.

We are eating street food. Wait for it...

On the street.

At that point I was stuffed but I had to try all the new things. We walked the streets of Ho Chi Minh City with our Vietnamese classmates after that and got to see all new parts of the city. A street vendor seeking American tourists eventually found us and we managed to spend probably around 200,000 dong on these toys that you launch up into the air and watch them spin down. Can you say easy targets? I guess we kept that guy in business. He’s welcome.

Aster, Rachel, and I took an inconspicuous selfie.

#TouristMuch?

We finally walked back to the hotel with Kate, our Vietnamese guardian angel. She’s 20 and she’s probably the best thing that has ever happened to us. She is one of the students at UEF and has been our tour guide/babysitter. Thank God for Kate.

That Time I Got Lei-ed in Vietnam

Turns out I’m a millionaire. Who knew? I’ll start from the beginning though:

     We had breakfast in the hotel. It was not American food that’s for sure. I’ll be honest though, I don’t know what I ate, but it was good. After breakfast, we gathered in the lobby and were given shirts that the students at the University of Economics & Finance (UEF) wear. We changed into the shirts and headed over to UEF for the opening ceremony. As we got off the bus, the students at UEF greeted us with leis. (That’s why the title says “lei-ed.” Get it?) At the ceremony, the students performed some traditional dances and there were speeches by those in charge of the Plus 3 Program in Vietnam. Dr. Berman also went Vietnamese on us when he made his speech to the Vietnamese students. It was a great speech…probably.

Traditional dance by Vietnamese students

           

     Once the opening ceremony was complete, we were presented with gifts and then took pictures with all of the students. After the photo-shoot we went to our first Vietnamese language class. We weren’t in Kansas anymore. The amount of Vietnamese that I learned made it possible that I may have been able to converse with a toddler. Hopefully said toddler was patient.

            After the language class, we went over to get lunch at Kent University, which is right by UEF. I could identify that there was rice present at the meal. Don’t ask me what the rest of it was. After lunch, the girls went to get measured for their gowns that were part of their gift from the UEF students. The guys stayed in the lounge and played with straws…. It was more fun than it sounds. Pro tip:  Don’t inhale salt through a 4 foot long straw while you sit across the table. It doesn’t feel, taste, or even sound like a great idea.

This was our lunch table...LUNCH!  

If you look closely, you can see 

Dr. Berman's look of disapproval.

            From the Kent University cantina area, we headed over to Hutech, a sister university to UEF. There we got to talk with an electrical engineer named Dr. Viet who teaches at Hutech. He had an interesting outlook on life and education and was very intriguing to converse with.

            Once we left Hutech, we headed back to the hotel and a few of us went over to get money from the ATM. I took out 200million dong (about $100). Obvious jokes were made about the plethora of dong in our hands and pockets. We’re children, deal with it. With our excessive amount of dong, we headed over to the Co-op Market, which was basically a Vietnamese Wal-Mart. It is incredible how cheap things are here!

            For dinner, we walked over from the hotel to this really large, French building that housed a restaurant. You would not believe the amount of food that was on our table. Each dish was served in a different cup, bowl, plate, coconut, or other container. I would hate to be a busboy there. The food there was interesting. Some of it was good, others were questionable, and still others were just plain weird. I never knew there were that many types of gelatinous foods. I also did not partake in the eating of the prawn eyes that some of the kids did. Not my wheelhouse. Overall today was a good day. I took some pictures and had some new experiences. That’s about all I can ask for really.

Flight Advice

     I think for my first blog post it’ll be more of an advice column. Here are some things that I learned about taking a 16 hour flight.

1.     Don’t take a 16 hour flight. Ever. 

2.     Surprisingly, United has a plethora of media options to entertain you on that flight that you took in spite of my warning.

3.     However, nothing can entertain you for 16 hours. I challenge you to come up with something that remains fun for that amount of time.

4.      This one isn’t really advice, it’s more of a warning: They dim the lights on long flights so people can sleep. 

5.     With that warning in mind, don’t open the window shutter every five minutes to look out. Nothing has changed. We are still in the air. You’d know if we weren’t. I promise. (Yes, I’m talking to you middle-aged woman sitting next to me repeatedly blinding everyone who has the misfortune of sitting near you.)

6.      On a similar topic, it isn’t really necessary to take selfies on the plane ride. With the flash on. Multiple times. In a dark plane. (Yea, still talking to you Betty White. I’m with a group of teenage college girls and you still took first place in number of selfies taken. Bravo.)

7.     Since you’re on this long flight, I suggest trying to get some sleep. There are many ways to achieve this goal. Some people can naturally fall asleep. Others take lots of meds to do it. Your call. I’m just saying, it looked a lot easier with the meds.

8.     United has music videos of Beyoncé. Nuff said.

9.     I swear to God if you open that shutter one more time…