Risky Day

"Risky Day," huh? Bet I got you interested and reading now. Today started like any other--a bit of eggs and cucumbers in a roll wrapped in newspaper and eaten by the side of the road. Predictably, we had Vietnamese language class from 8-12. These classes are starting to seem more bearable. It seemed like a lot at the beginning, but we have spent so much time on the tones, words, and phrases in the past four days that the knowledge of the language is building up quickly. This leads me to think that today has been my best day in Vietnam yet. I feel like I know more of the language and sound ok speaking it to the natives. I can have a short conversation, buy things and ask how much things cost, order food, read words on the street, and even talk prices down. How exciting! Class was also fun today because we played this game with ponchos and small water guns. Our co`(teacher) is hilarious and entertaining. She also taught us a short Vietnamese children's song and we then played musical chairs while singing it. During our break in the middle of the long stretch of language class, I made friends with a German man named Mattheas. He is extremely intelligent and is learning the Vietnamese language in order to work for an NGO that helps the Vietnamese population in Cambodia. Yesterday, we spoke a bit in German and laughed together. Today, we talked about my visit to the War Remnants Museum. I told him about my uneasy feelings and he agreed. We proceeded to have a deep conversation about how Germany prosecuted the Nazi leaders and have moved on, while America has not done the same for the leaders in the Vietnam War.

Leah, Jackie and I ventured out for lunch and I had buffalo. After I ordered it, I realized that buffalo aren't native to this country and that I would, as a result, probably be receiving Mongolian buffalo or something. Then I remembered that the army shot a young water buffalo in Vietnam, as told in the book "The Things They Carried." The meal came with rice paper, noodles, a sauce, some greens, and a pot with fire. It was nuts and I am pretty sure that the waitress had a good time helping me cook the buffalo for myself and then wrapping it up in the rice paper using my chopsticks. I like the taste of buffalo, as it's like chewy beef.

We raced back to the compound in order to drop off our cameras and change into nicer clothes. Our group met in the lobby of our hostel and walked over to the American consulate, which is heavily guarded by men armed with AK-47's. They hardly bother me anymore, since we must walk by the French Consulate every morning to get breakfast and get to classes. You just can't stop or take pictures. Then they blow their whistle and you just about pee your pants. Hey, at least they're not shooting, right? We presented our passports, walked through metal detectors, and were finally allowed into the consulate. There was air conditioning in the lecture room we were ushered into. Thank God. A man and a woman spoke to us about a variety of subjects pertaining to their work there at the consulate. These included human trafficking, religious freedom, freedom of the press and internet, the current economical state, etc. There was a question and answer session after a long talk about nothing in particular, really, and I was dying to ask how they felt about representing the current administration of idiots. Figured that should probably stay in my head for once. Today wasn't THAT risky I guess. :)

We left the consulate (through a door whose keypad code was simply 3) and went in a small group to what I like to call Smelly Market. It's real name is something like Binh Tranh Market or something. We shopped and practiced our Vietnamese. We then walked back to the hostel, where our Vietnamese friend ZeeZee asked us to go swimming with her. I ran to get into my swimsuit, as it was literally over 100 degress Fahrenheit and almost 90% humidity.

ZeeZee helped me practice my Vietnamese on the ten minute walk to the community pool, and she was impressed. (See any trends here? Walk. Practice the language. Repeat.) We got to the pool and it cost 10,000 dong to swim, which is roughly 75 cents. They didn't understand that my board shorts were not shorts, and advised me to get other swimsuit bottoms for the next time. I guess they want me to wear the bikini bottoms too! We had a lot of fun at the pool for a couple hours and then came back to the hostel to shower. Jill braided my hair and I went out with ZeeZee and a couple of guys from our student (sinh vien) group that we had previously gone swimming with. She led us up many floors of winding stairs and other restaurants run by families with small children serving the food. We got to the fifth floor, which was the roof, and stopped to have dinner there. I had noodles (surprise!) with shrimp and pork. It cost me about a dollar to eat dinner tonight, which will never get old. I do notice that I have stopped calculating the prices from dong to dollars before I pay for something, though. Baby steps.

ZeeZee game me a ride on her moped to this coffee shop called "Acoustic." I was really scared, but she walked me through it (1 helmet on. 2 get on and off on the left side of the moped, as the burning hot metal part is on the right side, etc). The ride went smoothly, but I don't want to make it a habit, as it is pretty dangerous. Brian rode his bike behind us, and when we got to Acoustic, ZeeZee left us. The two of us walked into the alley and ended up nex to this guy who was part of the acoustic show tonight. His name was Curtis and he was from Cincinnati, Ohio. He asked Brian to play guitar for part of it, as it was so layed back. We ordered our watermelon juice, which is my favorite. It tastes just like they drilled a hole in the watermelon and let the sweet juice drain right into my funky-shaped glass. Then I took a bunch of pictures of the people, music, and coffee house. I thought of my brother Jimi (Hendrix? Pretty close...) because he is a sick nasty bass player. Brian and I heard three bands and they sang in English. Allison Krauss, Jackson 5, Maroon 5, Stevie Wonder--we heard it all. These people were speaking excellent English and had really great voices as well. There was one Vietnamese man who got up and rapped in Vietnamese and it was awesome. I have posted a video of this guy on YouTube so you can all see it. He is talented as well as hilarious. The video can be found at: . I'll post the rap one tomorrow, since it's late here and it's taking forever.

Enjoy those! Brian gave me a ride back to the hostel on the back of his rented bike, since it has a platform mounted on the back tire. I wore a helmet and it's much safer than it sounds in the previous sentence. In fact, almost everything in Vietnam closes at or before 12 AM, so the streets were pretty empty. I got back safely and have been reading and replying to emails, trying to keep my drunk friends from climbing from balcony to balcony, and sorting through today's pictures.

Guess what time it is! Time to comment! Oh and mom, you need to sign in to Google in order to leave a comment. If you need to, ask for help from your computer-saavy children who live at home. :) I miss you all TERRIBLY.