May 16: Goodbye Vietnam!

Today was our last day in Vietnam.  We started off the day at an indoor stadium where we played the UEF students in soccer and basketball.  The stadium wasn’t air conditioned, so it was as hot inside as it was outside.  I had never played in heat that brutal before, so I was losing my breath almost as soon as I started playing.  It was really impressive to see how good of athletes the Vietnamese were because they seemed almost unaffected by the heat, while all of us were really struggling.  So, with this in mind, the Vietnamese students kicked our butts in both sports.  They were really good!  After the games were over we all went back and relaxed for a little while because we were all so tired.  Once we had rested for a while, we met up with some of the Vietnamese students and went to a coffee shop again.  I am going to miss the Vietnamese coffee, it is so much better than the coffee in America.  Then, the UEF took us to a secluded road where they let us try out their motorbikes under their supervision.  It was really cool to try them out and see the differences from driving a car in America.  When we came back, we had to check out from the hotel because we were leaving at 3 AM in the morning. Checking out was a pretty sad moment because it started to set in that we were actually leaving.  After we checked out we said goodbye to most of the UEF students, which was another pretty sad moment because we knew we probably weren’t going to see them again.  We do at least have Facebook to keep in touch, so I will at least be able to talk to them when we’re halfway across the world from each other.  To end the night we went to a restaurant on a boat in the river.  It was the perfect place to end the trip because we ate on the boat and then it rode around the river so we could see the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh.  I will never forget the views that I have seen here, they are amazing.  So, that’s it. We leave soon and the last ones with us are Tin, D, and D’s cousin Krystal.  They are coming to the airport with us and we will say goodbye to them there.  So until next time, xin chao Vietnam!

May 15: Last Day in Class

Today was the last day at UEF.  We had a language class, which was a lot of fun because we split up into teams and played some games testing our overall knowledge of the material we learned.  My group won, mostly thanks to Scott, who knew the answer to pretty much every question.  It was weird because I was not going to see some of the students after this day, and it is now starting to sit in that we are about to leave.  After leaving UEF, we went to the post office and the market again where I bought a few more things.  The post office was really cool because it looked like a palace on the outside, and on the inside there were a lot of different souvenirs and other things you could get there besides just a post card.  The market was the same as last time, I must just not be a good bargainer because I couldn’t get a great price on anything.  To end the night we went to the club Apocalypse Now, which was pretty fun.  We spent most of the time there dancing, but it was a little weird because no one else in the club was really dancing.  Finally, when we left we made our way to the river and just watched it flow for a little bit before going back to the hotel.  I really will miss Vietnam, I wish I had some more time here.

May 14: Museum Day

Today we started off at the shipping port.  I was not expecting to enjoy it because I didn’t think that there was much to see or do at a port; I thought there were just a bunch of boxes sitting there and being moved.  However, it was much more interesting than that.  The organization in this company was unbelievable.  They moved thousands of boxes to and from their port every single day and are extremely efficient.  We went up to their control tower and everyone there had to do a job to ensure the safety and swiftness of business.  Overall, I was very impressed by the company and I wish I could’ve stayed longer to learn more about it.  Following the company visit, we went to the War Remnants Museum.  This was the most humbling experience that I have had while in Vietnam so far.  It focused mainly on the Vietnam War, but the war between the French and the Vietnamese was covered as well.  It was very interesting to see the war from the Vietnamese point of view and to see how much the war affected them.  You would not notice it now, but during the war much of the Vietnamese land was destroyed and burnt to the ground.  The thing that got to me the most was the affect that the toxin Agent Orange, which was dropped throughout Vietnam during the war, has affected future generations.  There were many babies with birth defects because of this.  They showed pictures of the victims, and I could barely believe what I was seeing because it was so sad.  This entire museum helped me learn a lot and I am happy I went.  After we got back, some of us went to an authentic coffee shop with some of the Vietnamese students.  It was awesome because they had you sit on the ground when you were drinking it, and they had many games you could play while you were there.  We played Jenga which was really fun and the coffee was some of the best and strongest coffee I have ever had.  At night, we went to a bowling alley, which was really cool because you would not expect to see one in Vietnam.  And to finish the night we went to a place where they had live acoustic music, which was awesome because they sang American music and it was really relaxing.  Overall, even though today was filled with a lot activities, I enjoyed every single one of them.

Things I learned:

No one should ever be allowed to use chemical weaponry.

Vietnamese coffee is amazing.