GOOD MORNING VIETNAM. Another steamy day here in Nam! This morning we were at school by 9:00 AM for a lecture about urban development planning in Ho Chi Minh City. The professor was really knowledgeable of the past, current state and future predictions of the economy. Ho Chi Minh City went through a globalization process where the city shifted from a centrally plan based economy to a market based economy. I didn't realize that HCMC plays such a vital role in the well being of the entire country. It accounts for 58% of the regional GDP and 21.3% of the national GDP. They also accounted for 72% of value added goods. This is mind boggling to me because HCMC has only 8% of the population and 7% of the labor force. Some other interesting statistics the lecturer said was that there are only 11.7 doctors per 1,000 people and 675 motorbikes on the road per 1,000 people.
After the lecture we had a little break before language class where Tin took us on a tour of UEF. (But before I get to that I must talk about Vietnamese coffee: It is the greatest thing that you have ever tasted. Mom you need to come here and try it. Sorry WaWa). Anyway, the school was only built 3 years ago so it's practically brand new. I was surprised about the amount and topics of the books in English at the library. (I briefly skimmed through a Organizational Behavior text book. It's pretty much the same of what I learned last semester).
Next we had Vietnamese class which was really fun! 'D' and Chau (UEF students) helped me out a lot. D told me that I basically suck at Vietnamese and need to 'train' my tongue and jaw in order to actually do well. (Thanks for the encouragement D, I will be sure to get on that). We learned how to say 'how are you?' to different people (i.e. elders, female/male teachers, friends, informal formal). After class we went to lunch at the same place as yesterday. The food was soooooooooo much better today. The chicken and pork were AWESOME.
Once we were done eating, we loaded the bus and went to Phu My Hung along with 6 or 7 UEF students. That building is incredible! (Pictures soon to follow). We went to a conference room on the top floor of this building that looked out over the entire city. It was beautiful and definitely a sight to see! We took a bunch of pictures out on the balcony. Phu My Hung designed this really high end area called the crescent (all of the buildings are on the curve around the water). It has a mall, residence areas, plazas and the Starlight bridge which lights up at night. PMH also does something really interesting with their buildings. They have something called B.O.T.: build, operate and transfer. So what they do is they build these amazing buildings (B), lease it out to stores or people that want to use it (O), and then after 15 years they tear the building down and put up another one that meets the current needs of the people (T). The presenter was really easy to talk to and actually went to college in Indiana (and a marketing major too which was pretty cool). Over the past 18 years they took this area of HCMC that was originally all marshland and made it into this beautiful city that looks like the really expensive villas in Florida!
We were back to the hotel by 4:00 and then we all hit the pool, which is on the roof and looks over the city. Around 5:30 Clarissa and I decided to go on a little shopping trip around the block. Let's just say that it took us over an hour to get back. We asked 5 different people and vendors how to get back to the hotel and luckily a nice couple was able to direct us in the right direction. Everyone on the streets were very friendly, waived and said 'Hi'. Thank God Clarissa kept it calm, cool and collected because I was freaking out on the inside!
Around 6:45, 6 UEF students came to take us out to eat. (I road on a motorbike for the first time. IT WAS THE SCARIEST AND MOST AWESOME THING THAT I HAVE EVER DONE IN THE HISTORY OF MY LIFE. Don't worry Dad I had a helmet and they gave me one of those masks that doctors wear to protect me from the fumes. Not gonna lie, I may have shut my eyes once or twice and held onto the handles for dear life). We went to this really awesome restaurant where there are burners in the table and they give you the meat to cook for yourself. I had goat....and it was actually really tasty! (When in Nam right?) Next they brought out beef and then shrimp on a skewer. Fun fact about the shrimp: IT WAS STILL ALIVE. (This is going to sound really stupid but when I think of shrimp, I think of the shrimp rings that you buy in the frozen food section with the cocktail sauce in the middle. I didn't even realize that they had actual heads with black beady eyes and long whiskers). I felt bad putting it on the burner because it was still moving when I picked it up, but honestly it was the best shrimp that I ever had. Oh! And they have the best watermelon here too! At this restaurant it is like family style seating and there were a lot of other large parties. There were 2 birthday dinners so they turned off the lights and gave everyone at those tables sparklers and played happy birthday, and then the macarena followed by gangnam style (which was interesting). Oh and another cool thing that the customers do is that they all raise their glasses and shout "1, 2, 3, Cheers!" in Vietnamese. Our UEF friends taught us how say it and we did that a few times which was fun! The only down side was that it was outside so it was EXTREMELY hot and humid.
After a long discussion of where to go, 18 of us walked down to the mall. So, everyone thinks that King Of Prussia is the nicest mall? Well they need to come to Vietnam. This place is beautiful! (they told me it just opened 2 or 3 months ago). It was very high end, with all kinds of brand name stores. (However, my Vietnamese friends told me not to even buy anything there because it is too expensive and they will teach me how to barter at the market). The coolest part of the mall was the way it is designed. The stores are separated by what kind of items they sell, so each floor has a theme. For example, the bottom was a food court with all kinds of restaurants and dessert shops, there was a floor for furniture, one for clothes, one for electronics etc. (America needs to get on this, or at least Philadelphia). We were all back to the hotel by 10:15 ready to hit the hay!
Over all, this was the best day yet and it's only day two! Well tomorrow is another jam packed day and I cannot wait to see what is store for me.
P.S. I am sorry that these blogs are so long! I'm trying to be as descriptive as I can because later on I want to make sure that I remembered everything that happened!
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