**the conciseness still hasn’t happened. Austin tells me not to worry because it’s just a brain dump and he hasn’t even written any posts anyway so that’s today’s disclaimer**
This time we have in Saigon is just so great for us to get to know each other. Such as: Grant will be the first person everywhere to talk to anyone, Jared is a hella tourist, and we strongly appreciate Kayla because she’s the only one who’s fluent in Vietnamese (of course, we appreciate her for more than that, too…). We also have so much to see in Saigon and get used to being in Vietnam. Again, the similarities to India are surprisingly comforting: the traffic, the little shops that sell office supplies or snacks, the crafts that are sold on the streets, the heat…But I can still sense the unique identity of Vietnam, of Saigon, and I love it. Actually, we all love it, and you can tell because during our whole walking tour this morning, we were soaking it all in, and just smiling so much. There’s so much I want to talk about here so I’m gonna try and break it up so that people will be compelled to read this.
Some general group comments:
Crossing the street is impossible unless we have Vu or Anh with us.
It’s hot!!!
Food is hella cheap and hella good.
We will never master the tonal qualities of Vietnamese, so thank god we have Kayla with us.
Vu is the best. (Not sure if I’ve already mentioned this, but Vu is our program coordinator who used to be a Vietnamese roommate in Quang Tri, partnered with a DukeEngage student to teach ESL and work on the construction projects. He’s the best.)
And so is the coffee.
And the food.
In the last two days, we’ve done a walking tour of Saigon and a scavenger hunt with our Vietnamese buddies. They’re college students in Saigon, but they come from different areas in Vietnam and they’re all studying different things. They are awesome- they help us cross the street, order food at restaurants, and understand the culture. Vu tells us to listen to them and not him because he’s “old” and they’re hip and cool- which they are! I’ve never done a foreign exchange type of program before and it’s honestly so cool how naturally we’re able to talk to our buddies about our lives at Duke, at home, about our families, and how we learn about their lives here in Vietnam.
I mentioned that today we had a scavenger hunt around Saigon- which is kind of misleading. We’re staying in Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, which is just in a corner of the city and there’s so much of Saigon that we don’t even know of! We’re so proud that we’re able to navigate our way around about three streets. Anyway, in our scavenger hunt, we split up by roommate pairs plus a Vietnamese buddy to take pictures around the same areas we toured yesterday. Some of the tasks and anecdotes:
-One of the tasks was to take a picture with a bride and groom. It’s entirely not impossible. You can literally stand outside the Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon and run into at least 10 couples taking wedding photos.
-We had to take a picture with people in uniform, so we first asked a guard in front of the French Consulate, who was not into it. We ended up taking this picture with some kids in school uniforms, who wanted us to play a game with them first. Hated to disappoint but we had to finish this scavenger hunt :( (Kayla, Minh and I were still last though- we got back about 20 minutes late!)
-Super pleased to find coconut water at the market!!! And also so much fresh fruit- our buddy Minh said she would take us there again to try some of the more exotic fruit.
-We now know where the hospital is which is good...still trying to take it easy on food because I know my stomach is weak...fingers crossed I don't have to come back!
**the conciseness still hasn’t happened. Austin tells me not to worry because it’s just a brain dump and he hasn’t even written any posts anyway so that’s today’s disclaimer**
This time we have in Saigon is just so great for us to get to know each other. Such as: Grant will be the first person everywhere to talk to anyone, Jared is a hella tourist, and we strongly appreciate Kayla because she’s the only one who’s fluent in Vietnamese (of course, we appreciate her for more than that, too…). We also have so much to see in Saigon and get used to being in Vietnam. Again, the similarities to India are surprisingly comforting: the traffic, the little shops that sell office supplies or snacks, the crafts that are sold on the streets, the heat…But I can still sense the unique identity of Vietnam, of Saigon, and I love it. Actually, we all love it, and you can tell because during our whole walking tour this morning, we were soaking it all in, and just smiling so much. There’s so much I want to talk about here so I’m gonna try and break it up so that people will be compelled to read this.
Some general group comments:
Crossing the street is impossible unless we have Vu or Anh with us.
It’s hot!!!
Food is hella cheap and hella good.
We will never master the tonal qualities of Vietnamese, so thank god we have Kayla with us.
Vu is the best. (Not sure if I’ve already mentioned this, but Vu is our program coordinator who used to be a Vietnamese roommate in Quang Tri, partnered with a DukeEngage student to teach ESL and work on the construction projects. He’s the best.)
And so is the coffee.
And the food.
In the last two days, we’ve done a walking tour of Saigon and a scavenger hunt with our Vietnamese buddies. They’re college students in Saigon, but they come from different areas in Vietnam and they’re all studying different things. They are awesome- they help us cross the street, order food at restaurants, and understand the culture. Vu tells us to listen to them and not him because he’s “old” and they’re hip and cool- which they are! I’ve never done a foreign exchange type of program before and it’s honestly so cool how naturally we’re able to talk to our buddies about our lives at Duke, at home, about our families, and how we learn about their lives here in Vietnam.
I mentioned that today we had a scavenger hunt around Saigon- which is kind of misleading. We’re staying in Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, which is just in a corner of the city and there’s so much of Saigon that we don’t even know of! We’re so proud that we’re able to navigate our way around about three streets. Anyway, in our scavenger hunt, we split up by roommate pairs plus a Vietnamese buddy to take pictures around the same areas we toured yesterday. Some of the tasks and anecdotes:
-One of the tasks was to take a picture with a bride and groom. It’s entirely not impossible. You can literally stand outside the Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon and run into at least 10 couples taking wedding photos.
-We had to take a picture with people in uniform, so we first asked a guard in front of the French Consulate, who was not into it. We ended up taking this picture with some kids in school uniforms, who wanted us to play a game with them first. Hated to disappoint but we had to finish this scavenger hunt :( (Kayla, Minh and I were still last though- we got back about 20 minutes late!)
-Super pleased to find coconut water at the market!!! And also so much fresh fruit- our buddy Minh said she would take us there again to try some of the more exotic fruit.
-We now know where the hospital is which is good...still trying to take it easy on food because I know my stomach is weak...fingers crossed I don't have to come back!