Day Four

Today was such an amazing day! This morning we had a lecture about the Mekong Delta and different issues such as damns or climate change that may be affecting it. I thought this was especially interesting as we're going to see them on Saturday, and I really had no idea what to expect until now.

There was a break between the end of the lecture and the beginning of our culture class, and somehow we ended up taking a ton of pictures with the Vietnamese students. I thought it was exciting because up until now everyone had still been shy around each other, and I was really happy to see them all comfortable enough with us to even tell us which boys from our group they thought were cute!

Afterwards, we had a Vietnamese culture lesson. I wish we had this one earlier in the week! After understanding the historical context of why the Vietnamese culture is the way it is, I found it a lot easier to understand their actions. I think that over the past few days we've misinterpreted some things people have done, such as the random "hellos!" we hear as we walk down the street, which really are supposed to be friendly! I also learned that in Vietnam, it's usual to be asked questions about your age, whether or not you have a boyfriend, or whether or not you have children. Sometimes I wondered why the students were asking such personal questions, but in their culture they are polite questions to ask.

We spent the afternoon with representatives from US consulate, discussing economics and US/Vietnamese relations. I thought the topic was interesting, but a lot of it went over my head too. They talked about the benefits of trade between the US and Vietnam, and how a US company would go about using the consulate to establish relations in Vietnam.

After this talk, we planned to walk a few blocks to the market, but our plans got delayed by the monstrous rains that suddenly rolled in. I knew it was getting close to the wet, monsoon season, but I wasn't expecting to actually have to be in the rain this trip, and my umbrella was left safely in my suitcase back at the hotel. We walked through the rain and were the ONLY ones on the street..and once we got there the shopkeepers found it hilarious that we were completely soaked through to the skin.

I got some souvenirs at the shop, but there's so many options I had no idea what to get for people, thankfully I have another week to figure it out. After the market we walked back to the hotel (without the rain this time) and then we all went to dinner together. The food was really good, and they had cut the veggies into beautiful flowers!

I'm loving Vietnam right now, and can hardly believe the first week is almost over :(