Sunday

Sunday we had a Vietnamese cooking class...so much fun! We met in the lobby at the hotel and got a list of food we needed to get at the market. Since it's a part of their culture to bargain, we learned some important bargaining words like mac qua (too expense). Ha this is the best phrase ever. So bargaining at the market was definitely a good time. When we finished we went to the restaurant where we learned how to make fried and fresh spring rolls, fish and pineapple rice. Everything was delicious! Aw and the boys looked so cute in their pink aprons and Kevin, our group leader, did such a amazing job getting everything prepared :)
After cooking we went to Dam Sen Waterpark where we met up with kids from an orphanage. We spent hours going down slides, the lazy river and playing in the wave pool. The kids didn't speak much English and we can't speak Vietnamese so that was definitely a challenge but we all had fun regardless. When it was time to go I wasn't ready but I was glad to see the kids had as much fun as I did. It was a really great and rewarding day!

Saturday

Saturday we got up pretty early to go to the Mekong Delta...it took us about 3 hours but it was definitely worth it, we walked to a boat and we took it down the river and visited some villages. The houses were so small and everything was so simple. I felt so intrusive walking around their villeges taking pictures and pointing. I mean you are literally watching these people in their living rooms while they are sleeping or eating and yet they are still so friendly! For the most part everyone smiled and said hello, especially the little kids (they were soooo cute). We saw tons of fruit trees and beautiful flowers and plants.

We went to this historical place that had lots of authentic furniture and then we had warm tea (when it was about 90 degrees out) and some fruit. Then we went to coconut "factory" where a family made coconut candy and let us try some. It was really good but I ended up getting this peanut brittle stuff instead (so good). So then it starts to get windy and a little piece of the roof above our heads was torn off and stuff flew everywhere and right into some of the melting candy. So we waited for the rain to stop and when it did we proceeded down the river for a ways and watched the boats go by, a lot seemed to have watermelons. Then we went to a place right off the river for lunch...first they come out with these two fried fish, with the head, teeth, tail and all. After we all threw some confusing glances at each other, the lady came over a remove the fish meat and make us spring rolls which were surprising good. The next dish had unpeeled shrimp with the head and all...they were good too once to peeled them, I even tried the brain as they suggested but I was a little mushy for me. The whole meal was interesting but really good. Then we took a little boat tour where they showed us a floating market and then we went back.

On the boat I had the chance to try some coconut milk right from the coconut, and it was definitely not what I was expecting! It kinda of tasted like the corn water here....

Friday Cont.

Ok so we went to eat dinner with a Vietnamese family at their house, which was beautiful! It was very open, it had an amazing garden and it overlooked a branch of the Saigon River. It was interesting to see how they manage to live with mulitiple generations in the same house...anyway on to the food. First of all, it was AWESOME! We made some fresh spring rolls that we dipped in a really good peanut sauce and then we sat down for our meal. There was so much food and it was all delicious, especially the mango salad! I learned a lot from talking with the family, mostly random stuff about how they don't really take week long vacations and how traffic during the holidays is light because everyone leaves to visit family. It was a really fun night.

Friday

Friday we had class in the morning as usual and then we went to our site visit. I'm not going to lie, I was anticipating a really technical (over my head) site visit seeing as it was engineering based but I was glad to be proven wrong. We went to Ascenx Technologies where we met the owner Tung Bach. Instead of starting with the an overview of his company he decided to tell us more about himself and his life as a Viet Q (oversees Vietnamese who fled the South when the government fell to Communism). His story was amazing and really eye opening! He was sent with his Uncle and Aunt who took him on a boat to escape Vietnam. Though over 1 million people died trying to escape, he survived and now he is bringing his talents and success back to Vietnam. Though I am cutting this short, I don't want this to take away from the importance of his story. He was a very interesting person and his story was amazing, I just don't think I would be given justice to try and explain it on the blog.

Later we had the most AMAZING dinner ever!! I'll explain more...

Thursday

Yesterday we visited a highly competitive Vietnamese high school where students are required to take a test in order to attend. First off the school was beautiful...it was this great old building painted with the cutest yellow color. The students were so friendly and excited to see us and they are so excited to learn about American culture. The work they do there though, is just incredible. They have school from 7:30 to about 5 or 5:30 and sometimes they have class after that?! They don't really have time for many after school activities which is really a shame but on the positive side, close to 100% of students go to a university after graduation (10% of which attend a university abroad). On a side note, I've noticed that the Vietnamese love the peace sign which is definately interesting...

Anyway so after the visit with the high school we went to a hotel where a man from Duane Morris met with us. I feel like I didn't gain much insight about the company itself but I did learn a lot about Vietnam's economy as well as some history... Later that night we "did some work" and sat on those little plastic stools which were awesome and just kind of chilled on the sidewalk...good times :)

I almost forgot to mention that Pinky has really good gelato (get vanilla)...

Wednesday

So I just want to note that Gato Paris is the best little eatery I have been to thus far! Monday I had the pizza (ha they seem to always give you ketchup with your pizza here) and Tuesday I had the beef and cheese and both were delicious...tonight we went back and I got the chocolate tart and some pineapple juice and I highly recommend both! And finally we decided to sit there and the owner (nicest guy ever!) gave us some little seats and as Kevin would put it, "we did some work."....

I don't seem to be a very good blogger but I feel like I should quickly mention that both of the site visits were really interesting and despite my initial doubts, I actually really enjoyed both. First of all, Glass Egg was sweet! The work they do is just incredibly impressive and Phuy My Hung was just..wow. South Saigon is a completely different world compared to Ho Chi Minh...