After many hours of flying and sitting in airports, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh city airport where we stepped outside into the hot, humid air. Our van picked up the whole group and we made our way back to the hotel where the group hung out for a little before going to sleep for the night.
At 7 am, Julie and I woke up from our alarm (even though the sounds from the street had already been waking us up for a few hours) and got ready for the day. We started off the morning with breakfast in the hotel lobby and then loaded up in the van and headed to the University of Economics and Finance. This was our first real look at what driving in Ho Chi Minh is like, with motorbikes everywhere that don't stop for anything. It was crazy to see how many people are on the road and how many children and adults people manage to pile onto the bikes. We even saw one woman who had just gotten knocked off her bike in the middle of a busy intersection. Overall though, the drive to UEF showed how different Ho Chi Minh is to any city I have ever been in. There were store fronts everywhere selling everything from safes to stuffed animals to furniture to souvenirs. Men and women lounged outside of the stores with no sign of customers.
Once we made it to UEF, we were greeted by an excited group of students all of whom seemed enthused to be getting to spend the next two weeks getting to know us. After a few welcome speeches and a presentation introducing us to the UEF we all sang a Michael Jackson song together - Heel the World. Then, it was time for our first Vietnamese language class with the students. Today's lesson focused on learning the alphabet, which has 29 letters, the 5 different tones and how to say a few basic sentences like "my name is" and "i am American" and "it is very nice to meet you". The pronunciations are not easy so I definitely think it will take some more practice. Hopefully i will have some grasp on all of it by the end of next week.
Our first lunch was served at the UEF and then we made our way back to the Victory Hotel where we changed into business casual clothes for our trip to the U.S. Consulate. We also went on a short city tour where we stopped for a few pictures and a little bit of exploring. Overall it was really hot and humid throughout the day and I think all of us were ready for the air conditioned consulate.
Within the Consulate's walls we were introduced to Chuck and Dave who gave us a short presentation on their work as Foreign Servers, the history of the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Vietnam (specifically Saigon during the war), and their own personal backgrounds as well as career fields. The whole tour of the facility was really interesting, especially the memorial on the lawn for the 5 American men who died defending the Embassy when it was attacked in 1968. After leaving Vietnam in 1975 the American land was taken over by the Vietnamese and a memorial was set up on the wall of the Embassy for the 17 Viet Cong who died attacking the Embassy. Today, after making the Vietnamese take down the sign when the land was returned to America in 1995, a large memorial has been built by the Vietnamese government right outside of the Consulate's walls so that no one will ever forget the brave act of these 17 Viet Cong men. Other than that, I found it interesting to learn about the work of a foreign server and how many different places it can take you as each tour lasts only 2 to 4 years. The job takes a lot of work because you have to spend considerable months or years learning a language yet in the end, it seems worth it. Dave was on his first tour and now has the power to choose who to give a Visa or greencard to and must solve little mysteries every day to make sure that people are not trying to go around the law. It sounds like it would be an interesting job to have if you could commit yourself to moving every few years.
Back at the hotel the group hung out before heading off to a traditional Vietnamese dinner complete with plenty of seafood, some meat dishes and various types of egg rolls. I enjoyed most of the food, especially the shrimp, a lot of it was just very spicy. The dinner was a nice way to wrap up a busy first day.
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