Day One

Yesterday was our first real day of planned activities.  We started the day by going to The University of Economics and Finance to meet the Vietnamese students we are going to be paired with for the trip.  They gave us a very nice welcome ceremony and the Vietnamese students sang and danced with us.  After that we had our first language class, Vietnamese is nothing like English.  It is a tonal language which means one word has at least 5 different tones and each tone of the word has a different meaning.  It is very challenging to get the tones right and keep track of all of the different phrases.   After our class we had lunch at the university canteen which is the equivalent of a cafeteria.  Even their cafeteria food is good.  When lunch was over we took a quick bus tour of the city before going to the U.S. Consulate to see the site where the Tet offensive occurred.  I was interesting because on the sidewalk directly outside the consulate, on Vietnamese soil, is a plaque that commemorates the Vietnamese soldiers that died that day and inside the consulate not 20 yards from the Vietnamese plaque is the U.S. plaque recognizing the U.S. soldiers that died.  It was a unique opportunity to get to see this plaque and talk to the foreign diplomats about their life and job.  That night we had our welcome dinner.  It was at least a 7 course meal, much different than in the United States.  Everyone ate each course at the same time and shared off of a few big serving dishes.  There was so much food!

                So far the country is not what I expected.  The climate is very different than in the U.S.  I never knew it could be this humid all day long.  The people and students here have been nothing but welcoming and interested in getting to know us.  I am really looking forward to going shopping and seeing all the different things around the city.