May 9th

We spent most of today at UEF and hung out with the students.  First, we heard a lecture on the Mekong Delta, which is a crucial part of Vietnamese culture and agriculture.  Almost half of the agriculture in Vietnam and much of the fishing industry comes from the Delta, but all of this is in danger due to many different factors.  The Chinese damming of the river up North and climate change are two huge factors that can deeply hurt the Delta and the Vietnamese economy.  We had language class as well, where we learned numbers and how to bargain because in Vietnam bargaining is a very big part of their culture.  Following that, we had an activity with the English club at UEF, where we did a variety of activities including the chicken dance.  They were all so lively and excited to have us there, it was so fun to dance and play games with them.  We were given gift baskets at the end of it where I was able to try lychee for the first time and it was really good.  After that we went back to the hotel and just relaxed for the rest of the day.  It was nice to have a day mostly to ourselves so that we could catch up on sleep because we haven’t gotten much this trip.

Things I learned:

“Mot, hai, ba”- 1, 2, 3

“bot di”- lower the price