Day 12

Today I woke up a little upset knowing it was the last day here in Vietnam. I have made so many friends and done so many amazing things like have coffee with a CEO of a company. I really don’t want to think about leaving all of these amazing experiences behind. Our day started off with another Vietnamese history class which was again really interesting. Today we learned more about yin and yang as well as the 5 elements way of culture. I think it would be really cool to learn more about the Vietnamese culture and Asian culture in general. Hopefully I will be able to take a class on Asian culture or history sometime in the future. I think it will help me in my career especially since I plan on coming back to school for an International Affairs/Business degree.

After our history class we had our final Vietnamese language class. We actually had a test today and I got 100%! I swear it had nothing to do with the two Vietnamese girls sitting on either side of me either. I really do feel like I have learned some things from the class though and that’s important. I really like our teacher, she is really nice and I’m really glad Dr. Berman talked her into coming to dinner with us tonight.

After our language class we headed back to the hotel and had a free afternoon to go shopping. I headed to the tax center to get some more gifts for my family and friends. I got my friend a lighter like mine. I also got my dad a mahjong set that was really nice looking and I got my mom a kimono type sleep thing that I figured she’d like. I got some other things for my family but I’ll let them find out once they open them.

After shopping we headed back to the hotel again to get changed before we went out for our fare well dinner. The place where we went was really awesome and it was outdoors. The scenery was so beautiful and there was a party behind us with all sorts of entertainment so we got to see and listen to that too. Dinner was really good, we had some really good soup and Matt and Kyle once again had a pepper eating contest and they both died from the heat. It was a very cool dinner and we walked around and explored with Mr. Tin and Ms. Tu before eating. We took a lot of pictures and had a great time.

When we finished dinner we ran back to the hotel quickly with the intention of going to meet up with our friends for our karaoke party but we had to settle all of our room expenses before hand so that took us more time than we thought because the hotel wasn’t ready for us. When we finally did leave Matt, Kyle, Mike and I left first and got there really late. The kids were a little upset but they were glad we could make it. We sang lots of songs and had a great time. It was also Nhoc’s birthday so we sang happy birthday to her and we gave them all t-shirts. The rest of our group never arrived until we had to leave because the girls from UEF had to be home. The kids from UEF also gave us some gifts which was so nice. Tu had written us all cards and they all had bought us key chains. It was really unfortunate that the rest of our group couldn’t make it to sing with all of us but they ran into a little bit of trouble on their way there. Elizabeth got her purse stolen by one of the motorcycle mafia people. She lost her camera and her wallet but thankfully her passport was in her room and she could still make it home. They did come just in time to take pictures with all of us and to say goodbye to our UEF friends.

I really had a great time while in Vietnam and it was so hard to leave them and I really do not want to think about leaving tomorrow morning. I can honestly say this has been one of the best experiences of my life. I really have enjoyed my time in Vietnam and I really love everyone we have met. I hope to come back and see them all again sometime soon. Hen Gap Lai Vietnam!

Day 11

I woke up today very excited because today was the day for our soccer match against the students of UEF. After a good breakfast Dr. Berman reminded me that I was to be player-coach because he doesn’t really know to much about soccer and he deemed me worthy of coaching our team to victory (ha). After getting on the bus to UEF everyone was joking with me about how I have to give a pre game pump up speech and I really am not so great at those.

After getting to UEF we were met at the top of the staircase by the students from UEF and were each given numbers to correspond us to a group. My group obviously was the best. At first Tony got up on the microphone and welcomed all of us. Then he sang a duet with another girl to us which was really awesome. They both sounded great. After the singing we got into our groups and talked about things like how we got involved with the Plus 3 program through Pitt and how they could maybe come to visit us sometime in the future. After a while we were told we needed to come up with group names and a slogan. Our team was team “95!” and our slogan was “Mot Hai Ba Y0!!” because we are all “old goats” with lots of experience. Mr. Tin really liked our group as well as group “75!”.

After we got our names and slogans we moved on to more fun activities. They asked for two volunteers, a boy and a girl, and I immediately got up there with a girl from UEF to represent our team. When they blindfolded me and put a thing of yogurt in my hand things got a little crazy haha. Apparently I was to feed the girl with me yogurt blindfolded before the rest of the teams finished. I thought I was doing pretty well because I didn’t spill any of it on her but apparently it was all about speed and not accuracy. After the yogurt races we all joined together and took lots of pictures and watched a short video about what we need to do to make the world a better place. The video was really touching and I think it really hit the mark for all of us. After the video we all sang another Michael Jackson song and just enjoyed being with each other. We went around and gave everyone hugs which is so fun especially because I could totally just scoop up 3 Vietnamese girls and just walk out with them because they are so little haha. Everyone is so nice and I really hope to be able to come back and see them again. At the end of our hug session Tony grabbed the microphone again and announced it was time for the Soccer game and we all got in the vans and headed to the stadium.

We played on a small turf field that was pretty nice, and the teams were 5 on 5 (including keepers). The kids from UEF and ICP were all really good but they were all much smaller than us and were easily moved off the ball. When we first started playing Matt, Kyle, Andrew, and I were all on the field and Mike was between the posts. We were doing really well and having so much fun. I think it was 3-0 us before we subbed ourselves out. When the girls got in it was really funny to watch. It was so unorganized but everyone looked like they were still having a blast. I felt really bad because Rayna was still feeling a little sick and just sat on the sidelines the whole time. After we dominated the kids from ICP we played another match with the kids from UEF. This game was a little closer but that’s because we mixed up the boys and girls ratio a little. It was so much fun and I got to meg my friend on the UEF team who also happened to be the keeper. The game was so fun and everyone was having a great time. It was however extremely hot and we were all sweating bullets. I would have loved for a cloud to come eclipse the burning sun just for a little. After the games we got together and took a group picture and then more social pictures with all the kids. Some of the kids from the ICP team (The better team) came up to me and told me I was the best player on the team when they took pictures with me. I think it’s kind of funny because I’m really not that great I am actually a defender at home and they thought I was a star striker or middy haha.

After all the photos were taken we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up before we headed out to the War Remnants Museum. We had invited Tony and his friends to come with us and they said they’d us there. The museum was really a great thing to see. After being in Vietnam and hearing about the war from our new friends and listening to Dr. Berman talk about what he went through and his opinions I had really been excited to see the museum. We got there and looked at all the weapons they had from the Americans as well as the French from when they occupied Vietnam. I saw graphic pictures of terrible things done to civilians and people blow to pieces by the bombs we dropped or frag grenades. I read accounts of terrible massacres that happened at My Lai that were obviously false in their exact account but still held some truth to them. Just seeing the Vietnam war from the opposite perspective was really a great experience and I am very glad that Dr. Berman made this a part of our trip. Tony and some of his friends arrived and they brought us some drinks because they are just the greatest people. It was a really great thing to have Tony with us to tell us about how he felt about the war. He told me that his family is originally from North Vietnam and that he had a grandfather who was a great pilot in the North Vietnamese Army. I asked him if he was upset about the war but he said that he was really to young to remember it and he was lucky enough that his family wasn’t that affected by the war (the were not from the South). He said he was very glad we were here and that we had become like brothers now. A little later on at the museum we went to see the tiger cages where the American soldiers kept Vietnamese prisoners. These cages were so small and dark, I don’t think anyone could have survived living in them. The way the prisons worked is that there were cages all around with the bars at the top and American soldiers would walk on top of them on a walkway and throw everything down to them. It looked like an awful place to live and a terrible experience to endure.

On a happier note we were supposed to go to dinner with some kids from ICP so we all went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and to go shopping a little before dinner. Kyle, Mike and I all went to go find new soccer jerseys to give away as gifts for people from home. We also ended up at the market to get Mike a new suitcase to bring home his souvenirs. We had already gotten the address of the place for dinner from Julie earlier so we headed over there to meet everyone.

We met up with ICP kids at this really cool restaurant that had all the food on a conveyer belt and you just picked your type of soup to cook everything in. I got Thai which was spicy but really good. I had been trying really weird things the whole trip but tonight I had the most disgusting thing ever. I ate a half developed duck egg. I mean you could literally see little feet already there while you were putting the whole thing in your mouth. I almost threw up multiple times in my mouth but I did manage to keep it down. After that we immediately bought a bottle of sake to get the taste out of our mouths. The kids from ICP were all really cool and nice and they all wanted to stay in touch with us. It was really nice to see them because we only really saw them the first day because they have a different school schedule than the kids from UEF.

After dinner we met back up with everyone and Mr. Tin in the lobby. He had been talking all week about how he was going to take us out dancing and he kept his word. Tony even came with us. We headed to a club called Gossip which was pretty upscale by my standards and even had a 100,000 dong cover charge but it did include a free beer. The club had a really cool little dance floor but it was really crowded and I don’t really like it was the guards touch you every time you walk by. So I headed to the third floor to just look out over everything and just enjoy the atmosphere. The club was pretty fun but Tony had to leave a little early and I was starving at the end of the night so I went back up to my third floor and ordered some pasta that Mr. Tin was nice enough to buy me. I had been talking to one guard up on the third floor all night and he seemed to be a really cool guy. After I got some food the rest of us decided to leave (Kyle had left a little earlier because he was tired). Today was another great day and I am getting really sad thinking about how tomorrow is our last day. I am excited to have our little party with our friends from UEF at a karaoke bar tomorrow night though!

Day 10

Today we went to UEF for our Vietnamese history class again and today was another interesting lesson about more information on the Yin and Yang Philosophy that the Vietnamese base their culture upon. I really have been enjoying learning about this nation’s history. I have always been interested in Asian history but never really thought much about Vietnam. I am really glad to be here and having the opportunity to learn more about this amazing place. It really is an intoxicating place with amazing people living here.

After our history class we had another Vietnamese Language class, and as usual it proved to be as light hearted and fun as ever. I really get a kick out of watching everyone struggle, morbid I know but it really is funny. The Vietnamese students really seem to enjoy watching us try to learn and when we do get something right they get very excited and always offer praise and acknowledgement. They really are a great group of students who have been with us from UEF. It’s a shame we’re going to have to dominate them tomorrow in our soccer match (haha).

When our language class finished we had another lunch at the Canteen which has gotten increasingly better now that the people who serve us have noticed what we eat and what we leave untouched. Its really funny because now they bring us lots of French bread and French fries and much less Vietnamese dishes. They still do bring us some though and I’m glad because I’m dying for some protein.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a little before we headed out for out next site visit to speak with a Duane Morris representative here in Vietnam. We actually headed to the UEF office not that far from our hotel to meet with the rep from Duane Morris. First off, Duane Morris is a law firm that helps to represent businesses trying to enter the market here in Vietnam and around the world. We spoke to Mark Oakley and listened to his presentation about what his office does for businesses here in Vietnam. It was really interesting but again the heat was getting to all of us and many of us fell asleep which is regrettable because he did have some very interesting points to bring up. He joked about how it is to work in a foreign country like Vietnam especially a communist country. He laughed about how they do hold elections but you can only vote for candidates in the communist party. Overall the presentation was pretty good.

After the presentation we headed back to the hotel and talked about dinner plans. We decided to go to the Black Cat again and this time we brought Tony with us. Tony has really become a great friend to many of us and I hope to see him again someday. We got Tony a big burger and it was really funny watching him eat it or try to as fast as we did.

After dinner we invited Tony to come out with us to the Rex to just hangout and enjoy some music but he said he must go home and study. He said goodbye and we all headed to the Rex. The Rex is really cool because it has a rooftop bar with live music every night. I was especially happy because I really wanted to hear some Frank Sinatra and lo and behold they played some of his songs.

A couple hours later I left the Rex with Kyle and Matt to go back to the room and get some sleep. Today was another great day and I can’t wait for tomorrow to play some soccer against the kids at UEF.

Day 9

Today I woke up to find out from Mike that we would not be going to UEF today but that we would being going on two site visits instead. So after getting breakfast and cleaned up I got on the bus with the rest of the group and some UEF students and headed to our first visit which was the Viet Capital Securities Company.

When we arrived and I first saw this place it reminded me of a miniature NYSE. There were people sitting in chairs like they were watching a movie but on the screen was just a huge spreadsheet with changing numbers in black, red, and yellow. Needless to say this site visit was more for the business majors than for us engineers. When they took us behind the desk to talk about what was going on I kind of made my way to the back of the circle because I had no idea what was going on and was basically a lost cause. I ended up standing next to Dr. Berman and we both kind of looked at each other with confused but interested smiles.

After being there for no longer than maybe half an hour our visit was done and a lot sooner than anticipated. That being said all of us were very pleased when Dr. Berman said that we had a few hours to kill before we got on the bus for our next visit to Ascenx Technologies. So with all the down time we decided to go shopping at the Tax Center, which is basically a mall. The place was pretty cool and it was actually cheaper than the market. I guess that makes sense because the market is a tourist area. At the tax center you still get to barter which is awesome. I got a zippo for myself and I think I’m going to go back and get one for my friend too. They look pretty cool and I think it’d be a cool gift. They also had these really awesome “Mot Hai Ba Yo!” shirts. The saying is what they say before they drink in Vietnam kind of like “Cheers” or “Salute!”.

After shopping we headed back to the hotel to catch the bus to Ascenx technologies. This company is really cool and my favorite of the visits so far. The CEO and his assistant or right hand man are both native Vietnamese who escaped during the unification on a boat and made their way to the US and got their education in the states as well. After some time they came back to Vietnam to seize an opportunity for their company. What Ascenx Technologies does is to reengineer outdated processes and machinery. Which I find pretty cool. They were cool enough to let us walk around their facility and talk to their workers about their projects and their job in general. They all seem to love working for them and there is just a very pleasant atmosphere surrounding this company. I would really love to see them be successful in their work and perhaps one day I will be able to do business with or for them. Tung Bach, the CEO, was a great guy and invited us all for coffee after the presentation. We all went down to the coffee shop and just talked like we were old friends. It was a great experience. [While we were having coffee Dr. Berman and Bach’s friend were talking about the war and Dr. Berman pulled out a picture of himself while he was in Vietnam fighting for the US. I thought this was a really cool moment and over the past days I have really had my outlook on the war changed just by being around Dr. Berman and being in Vietnam and listening to everyone’s stories.] The coffee experience was a great one that I will never forget and they even gave us a suggestion for another burger/American restaurant called the Black Cat.

Needless to say we were very grateful for the coffee and the time with the people from Ascenx. We headed for the black cat just as soon as we got changed into some more comfortable clothes. The place was really kind of cool. A little small but really really good. We walked upstairs and were seated and immediately we flipped to the burger page of the menu. I got a double cheese burger with bacon and barbeque sauce with some onions on top. It was phenomenal and make me just as giddy as the O’Briens burger did. I think I demolished this monster burger in under 4 minutes.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to rendezvous before we left for ladies night at Lush. Lush was exceptionally crowded that night but it was full of a lot of beautiful ladies. I actually ended up hanging out with the one Vietnamese girl for a while . After finding the group again and seeing the state of everyone, especially Matt and Kyle fist pumping like nuts, I decided to just hang out for a while. Soon after we left and headed back to the hotel for some shut eye. Today was a great day and the site visit to Ascenx has proven to be my favorite part of this trip.