Ngày thứ nhất

Today was my first full day in Vietnam and it has been full of excitement. I woke up very early this morning and went to a meeting with the director of our program. She is a Vietnamese American named Alyce and is very kind and helpful. She talked a lot about the trips we would be taking and the activities that we would be doing throughout the semester. I am getting really excited for our weekend trips and especially our long trip to Hue and Hanoi where we get to take the train and see Central and Northern Vietnam. We each must also submit a proposal for a weekend activity plan during the semester. If anyone has suggestions of things to do within a couple hours drive of the city, I would be happy to hear them. Although very friendly, Alyce spent a lot of time scaring us. She started a lot of sentences with, "I don't want you to be paranoid but..." There are certainly dangers of living in the city but I think overall she prepared us very well for them. The cockroach that I found in my room this morning. My first reaction was to jump up on my chair like a little girl, then to take a picture, then to smash it with my notebook.

Then followed our walking tour of the city. I finally got to face my fear of crossing the streets here. It wasn't so bad with a group of four of us and eventually it actually became kind of fun. If you walk at a slow steady pace, the motorbikes will just go around you and even though it seems that the stop lights are more a suggestion than law, they can make predicting the flow of traffic much easier some times. We saw great alleyway places to eat, fancy department stores, large markets, parks, the famous Notre Dame church, and government buildings. I was amazed how exciting and diverse the city is. We were also taught how to spot "fake cabs" which often wait outside of tourist attractions. After our walking tour we had lunch at a very nice restaurant specializing in bún. It was nice to sit in the air conditioning for awhile as I still have not quite gotten used to walking around in this heat and humidity. This afternoon Anna, another student, and I walked around the city a bit on our own trying to get our bearings and try crossing the streets outselves. We also ate a very nice restaurant for dinner. We ended up going to a pretty nice restaurant for dinner and I was worried that it might be expensive. It amazes me that even at this "expensive" restaurant, the bill came to a little under $5 for the two of us. I have also noticed that the three restaurants we went to, all sit-down places, deliver your food to you less than two minutes after you order. We also had quite a funny experience at dinner. Anna ordered the spring rolls, which are what the restaurant was known for. The waiter brought out my dish and a bowl of bún, Vietnamese rice noodles (vermecelli), with rau, various leafy greens and vegetables as well as a bowl of nước mắm, fish sauce and vinegar. We were both expecting something already rolled with meat inside so we were very confused. Anna started making wraps with the bún and vegetables and started eating the nước mắm like soup! A short while later the waiter brought out Anna's actual dishand all was well. It turned out that what we thought was the meal were just condiments.

Anna and her attempt at a spring roll

Her actual dish

Hôm nay là ngày thừ nhất của tôi ở Việt Nam và tôi rất thích. Sáng nay tôi gặp Alyce, giám đốc của chương trình CET. Chị ấy là người Việt Nam-Mỹ. Chị nói về Việt Nam và chương trình này. Mỗi cuối tuần chúng tôi và bạn cùng phòng của chúng tôi sẽ đi nhiều nơi gần Saigon và một chuyến xa đến Huê và Hà Nội. Nếu tôi muốn đi một nơi gần Saigon thì tôi có thể dề nghị hoạt động và cả lớp sẽ đi. Alyce cũng nói về ngủy hiểm của Việt Nam như xe nhanh và trò lừa đảo.

Sau khi đó chúng tôi đi bộ và xem nhiều nơi nói tiếng ở Saigon. Chung tôi xem Notre Dame, "Diamond Plaza," và một chợ lớn nói tiếng. Tôi tập qua đường và bây giờ tôi thấy qua đường vui lắm! Trời ấm và ẩm và tôi chưa quen trời này nên tôi vui khi chung tá có ăn trưa ở một hiệu ăn với máy lạnh.

Bây giờ em phải đi ngủ tại vì ngày mai chúng tôi sẽ gập Alyce để nói về lớp học ký này. Xin lỗi, tôi biết tôi không viết đủ bằng tiếng Việt. Bây giờ viết bằng tiếng Việt vẫn mất lâu lắm nhưng tôi hy vọng tôi sắp viết bằng tiếng Việt nhanh hơn và giỏi hơn.