Ho Chi Minh City Skyline

Ho Chi Minh City Skyline
Ho Chi Minh City Skyline

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Day 7


Our dynamic and interesting professor from the university of humanities and social sciences finished his lecture about the history of Vietnam today. He talked about the yin and yang and any other symbols in the vietnamese culture. I learned how the Vietnamese feel about the members of other societies including the Chinese, U.S, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. We continued our language class learning basic conversational phrases today. "How are you?”, "How are you doing?”, and “I’m fine” have all been added to my phrase dictionary. I really wish that I would have studied Vietnamese before coming here because all of the UEF kids have been studying english for a long time.

I really enjoy learning about various companies and exploring Saigon but the best part about being here is absolutely the people I am friends with. They are so fun and friendly and they always know where to take us to have a good time. Tonight we went to a bridge in crescent (a new futuristic housing development) that is illuminated with LED’s. Its too tough to get a picture of the bridge because I do not have a camera that can properly take a picture in the dark. I am excited to do the things on the agenda each day but seeing my friends is what I most look forward to each day. Trân told me that the Vetnamese people are welcoming and friendly and I can say that this is completely true. They treat us very well and they want to be a part of our lives. I try my best each day to learn some new words and augment my personal vocabulary list. My friends always help me pronounce the words which is by far the most difficult part. I can picture exactly how to write a word in my head, but saying it is a completely different challenge.

Tonight our friends took us to Dominos pizza because several Pitt students requested some pizza for dinner. By far, this was the worst meal I have had all week. My stomach has not gotten upset with anything we have eaten so far except for the pizza. Hopefully I won’t have to eat it again. I wanted to go to the crescent mall, but it was closed by the time we got back from the colorful bridge, hopefully we will get to go another day. There is nothing quite as new and modern in America as the crescent development. It is almost like a utopia; the grounds are spotless and there are hardly any imperfections to be found.

Today for our company visit we went to Ascenx Technologies. They fill the unique niche roll of reverse engineering parts of products that are no longer in production, in addition to pro diving specialty low volume production services for companies that require unique cables. The CEO took a lot of time to explain his story of how he fled Vietnam when the communists took over and how he came back to found his own company. After this presentation he invited us to coffee and we talked about many things including how to choose who to fire and how to manage relations with shareholders.

Our days are planned so we will miss the Vietnamese rush hour, however due to the extra time we spent getting coffee, we were a little late leaving today. The traffic was notable worse then previous days. Observe!



10 comments:

  1. Keep me out of that traffic! Halfway point -- will be bittersweet, I am sure. What an experience for you. Love, Grammy

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  2. Question: How do the Vietnamese feel about Americans, especially those old enough to remember the Vietnam War? From Cousin Bob B.

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    1. They love us here, they are very accommodating and they always speak to us in English. They get excited when we make an effort to learn Vietnamese. 70% of the population of the country was born after 1975 so most people do not have first hand experiences with the "American War" as they call it here. For those that are enough to remember, I'm not sure how they feel about us. We do not often interact with people of that age. I would happy to discus this further with you in the future if you're interested! It would be easier and more informative in person.

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  3. That traffic looks ridiculous. But leave it up to American pizza to be the worst food you've had...I'm not surprised. Everything sounds awesome! I've been reading your blog posts as a way to take breaks from studying. When do you get back?

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    1. I get back on the 19th, one day before Grammy's party. I hope studying is going well for you. School feels like it was SO long ago for me!

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  4. Hi Alex, my main 'Mahn' - Glad you are having a great time - Did you get to do any off road BMX motorcycle riding? Any wheelies? Jumps? - How is the tailor made suit coming? How's the weather? Dad

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    1. No off road-ing, or wheelies, or jumps. Everything is pretty much just on the sidewalks (yes people drive full road speed on sidewalks occasionally) or on the roads. The suit should be ready soon Trân said. I'll be sure to get a picture. The weather is great, its so nice! When it rains it evaporates in a few hours max. The heat is cool too, I enjoy it.

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  5. I like the traffic picture. Now I get what you said earlier about the thousands of motor bikes! Anna& I want to know if you sang at the Karaoke place! Love-Mom

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    1. There are literally thousands of bikes on the road sometimes. I did sing. We had a fun time!

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