Wednesday - week 2

Woke up this morning and started off the day like all the others - two eggs and toast and a banana. I'm going to miss the bananas, they're so much more fresh here. I miss getting to eat other fruit though, and any vegetable for that matter, but I don't want to risk eating fiber because my stomach only seems to be getting worse, not better. Anyway, we got in the van and drove to UEF where we had a history class followed by a language class. I'm actually beginning to look forward to the language classes - until she announced that we'll be having an exam on Friday on everything we've learned! I'm definitely not ready for that. Ms. Too bought us brand new books though that teach Vietnamese for beginners which was so sweet of her. Our history class was interesting today, we learned about the westernization of Vietnam and the war which was cool because its a different perspective than we are taught in America. Some other interesting facts about Vietnam:
1. HCM was planned for 1 million but there are now 8 million official residents + the 2 million guests and workers who stay here...this is why houses just keep being built upwards and there is so much congestion on the streets. The city was not planned well
2. Vietnam is the 2nd catholic country in Asia (over 5 million catholics)
3. the grandmother is still more important than Jesus - this relates to why they worship a female Buddha here
4. Everyone is optimistic about the future - have the mindset that tomorrow will be better than today. The country is continuing to develop
5. Yin and Yang again
mother = earth, father = sky
even numbers = yin (bad!!) ; odd numbers = yang (good!!)
even numbers go to dead people - never give someone 2 flowers
also, one of the reasons that people don't really want to get ahead in the work force is because of yin yang philosophy - with a higher position comes more serious dangers and more risks

At the end, no one really had questions as usual. I feel bad because he always looks disappointed but he covers so much material, I don't know what information could possibly be left to ask about. He has tons of slides and then adds on tons of information that isnt in the slides.
Anyway, after that class we had our language class - I was given the mic more than usual. Phoung was really surprised to see that I knew how to say everything the teacher asked because I normally don't speak in class (only because the mic doesn't reach me though!)We then had lunch at the canteen - they have definitely learned what we like and don't eat by now. They stuck with the fried potatoes, white rice, salad and a few other meet dishes. Nothing too crazy though.

We got back to the hotel for a short trip to change into business casual and then walked over to the UEF administrative office. We passed a really cool looking restaurant with swings instead of chairs. The presentation was actually really interesting but between the heat, sickness and just lack of sleep, I had a really difficult time keeping my eyes open which i felt really bad about. The only negative thing i have to say on the presentation is that by this point, most of the presentations we have seen have summarized Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh, so we've learned so much of it before - the size, the customs, what Vietnamese are like in the work force, etc. So, a lot of the presentations are getting redundant. Mark Oakley, a lawyer from Duane Morris, went through the presentation pretty quickly and discussed what it was like being a lawyer in a different country and the issues that may arise, especially when you're in a Communist country like Vietnam.

After that, I got a taxi back to the hotel and went to sleep. I was woken up for dinner, and even though all I wanted to do was continue sleeping, I got up - I couldn't miss the second dinner at Black Cat. We took taxis over climbed up a skinny staircase to the second floor. There were so many options! I wanted a salad so badly but knew it was a bad idea so I got a chicken quesidalla which was a little dry, but i still really enjoyed it. The guys' burgers were huge. I see why they wanted to go back. Everything that everyone got looked really good despite my stomach hurting. Tony came to dinner and the guys ordered him a burger to try; he really liked it as far as i could tell!

Once back at the hotel we got ready to go out to The Rex. All of us wanted to see it since we've driven by it a few times and the rooftop bar seemed really cool. We took a taxi over and the hotel was amazing (5 stars). There was a live singer on the roof who sang Sweet Caroline - what are the chances? We all joined in with the Pitt lyrics. The girls all went around and took some pictures and by the time we got back to the table, most of the boys (except Andrew and Mike) were leaving so I decided to go with them. I was exhausted. Back at the hotel, it was only 10 30 so I knew I should blog but I couldn't keep my head up or my eyes open so I went right to sleep. After all, I wanted to be rested for the big soccer match tomorrow!