I Wish to Fully Grow My Small Dream

I am a bit behind on my blogs, since I did not have much internet access (and didn't want to worry about the safety of my laptop) on my three day trip to the Mekong Delta. It was one of the best trips I have ever taken, though.

Thursday, September 13th, began with my usual breakfast of iced coffee with condensed milk and an egg sandwich in Ho Chi Minh City. During our Vietnamese language class, we went on a field trip to the market to use the conversations we had learned this week. We caught a taxi and when we got out of the car, we were immediately approached by a small girl who was missing shoes and holding out her hands to us in a silent plea for our money. She also had a large black stripe on her tongue. Some of us gave her money and gum, and later on she found us again and wanted to get into the taxi with us. We went into the market and I bought a couple oranges using my bomb-diggity Vietnamese language skills. Then we caught a taxi to lunch and ordered in Vietnamese. They could understand me, and that made me more than happy, since I was sitting right next to my language teacher. We then caught another taxi in order to be in time for our short meeting with Rylan, the head of our program in Ho Chi Minh City, about the Mekong Delta. It was a 15-minute briefing on what not to eat and how you shouldn't swim in the dirty river or get near birds. Avian flu has cropped up in some humans in the province we were going to visit, so we weren't taking any chances.

Immediately after Rylan's talk on the perils of our oncoming adventure, a man named Dr. Tran Dinh Lam spoke on the current economic status of Vietnam. He also included what the future looks like for Vietnam if they continue in this vein. At first, I was excited for my first economics lecture. Then it started and the graphs and charts were enough to hold my attention for all of 20 minutes. I began to nod off and then draw all the Spongebob Squarepants characters I could.

The lecture let out before 3:00 and we walked back to the guest house to pack and get ready for the trip. We boarded the coach bus at 4:00 and then spent two hours driving through the city and into the country. At 6:00, our bus stopped so we could get out and go to the bathroom and buy drinks. I found a woman who had cute kids and made friends with them and took their pictures. I am quickly learning that the kids here might be a bit wary of me when I approach them to take their picture, but the camera is seriously the way into their hearts. As soon as I take an initial picture of them and show them the results on my digital camera, they laugh and usually pose. Then we can talk in Vietnamese, which they usually think is hilarious as well. :) I need to get back on track here. We boarded the bus again and drove another hour to our dinner destination. I talked to our professor, Martin Benjamin, because my camera has an annoying way of cataloguing my pictures and I wanted to know if I could change it. We couldn't find how to change the setting and ended up talking about politics and then religion instead (definitely not at the same time). I hope to join a Cao Dai temple when I get to Hanoi, so hopefully there's a temple close to my internship at the middle school or our dorm.

We stopped for dinner and Mike and I ate the eyes of the fish we were served. There was also some really good fried rice that followed the eyes. I finished my dinner and, of course, decided to go exploring. I walked across the restaurant and found a bunch of clocks on the wall that were for sale. They all had poorly translated English on them which was pretty funny. Then I spotted a Winnie the Pooh clock and the inside said, "I wish to fully grow my small dream." It made me stop and think for a second. I quickly decided I love the saying, though.

We got back on the bus (seeing a pattern, here?) and drove another hour to the ferry to get to Can Tho. We waited for a hot second before being let out of the gates with all the mopeds and then onto the ferry. I took pictures from the top of the boat since it was so pretty so see the city and the water at night. I then descended to the second level of the boat and was surprised to see about ten men in burnt orange robes. I made conversation with them in Vietnamese and they told me they were Buddhists from the Central Highlands of Vietnam who mix the Theravada and Mahayana sects of Buddhism. They were traveling south in order to attend a celebration. They were interested in my major and they were really awesome. They even let me take their picture! After a half an hour ferry ride, I said good bye to my monk friends and got back onto our bus. We drove down the street to the Asia Hotel (how appropriate) and I chose to room with Jill again. We got to our room at 9:00 pm, dropped our stuff, and grabbed our cameras to go exploring. Our group set out as one big glob of Americans, but I soon chose to go with a smaller group of about six friends who were going to find some billiard tables. We walked for about 45 minutes until we found a small park with a gigantic statue of Ho Chi Minh, of course. The fence around the park was made of communist stars, as well. We took pictures and then spotted a hotel across the street that had pool tables in the lobby. We played for about an hour before they started turning off the lights to shut down for the night. We got the hint and left to walk back to our hotel. Four of the boys in our group, however, went to the massage place next to the hotel to relax with some Vietnamese women. The next day, they told us their masseuses had asked them if they wanted "boom-boom." They all refused, or so they say. :) Instead of the spa and massage, I went back to my room, took a shower, and was in bed by 12 am.