but nurse! I swear I feel fine!

Yesterday blogspot wasn't working but Facebook was :) I blame it on Friday the 13th. The day has special powers to bring Facebook to blocked countries!

One of the biggest accomplishments of the entire trip was fulfilled yesterday morning: I successfully mailed 16 postcards. Hopefully they arrive before 2012.


In the afternoon we went to a medical college. The school was so excited we were coming that they hung banners on the entrances.


We toured the nursing, pharmacy, and the language departments. At the nursing dept I was volunteered to be the patient.


Tomorrow morning Hunter, My Hanh, and I are leaving for home. We head for the airport at 3am. On a good note, I checked my flight itinerary and the flight from Hong Kong to Chicago leaves at 11:50am and gets in at 1:20pm. So it's only an hour and a half flight right!! :)


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bạn bè mới

Today was long. I went to Phu Sa Island with the French professors kids, two boys, 7 and almost 2. We saw the crocodiles getting fed, and monkeys swinging near our heads.


Then I met up with the rest of the group and we headed off to the middle of the jungle (I'm not kidding). We visited a sustainable family farm. The only way to get there was by boat through a small channel that breaks off of the Mekong River.


After supper, the 2 French students, My Hanh, and I went to the park near our hotel to have coffee with some university students who are studying English. I had a blast! They really wanted to practice English and learn all about myself and my culture. They asked the French students to sing a song in French. The Vietnamese students also sang songs in English that they like. At the end they asked me to sing one in Spanish so I sang a song from camp.


The photo session probably lasted well over half an hour but we were all having a ton of fun :) Too bad there were only 4 of us to talk to them. They were all very nice, and smiled all the time. They even helped me with my pronunciation of Vietnamese words. It was a wonderful experience.

Music Lesson

Today was spent in class at Can Tho University (not the campus that we almost got electrocuted trying to enter). The afternoon was by far the best part of the day. Even though the morning lecture was in an air conditioned conference room and the afternoon was spent in a hot classroom, everyone greatly enjoyed the Vietnamese culture and music lecture. The professor didn't speak any English but he still connected with us as we learned about the differences between Vietnamese and Western music.

I'm not sure if you can see but he's lecturing in Vietnamese and throwing some Chinese in there as well for good measure. I wish we could spend more time talking to the Vietnamese professors and students at the University. I learned many new words in Vietnamese just listening to him talk.


Traditional Vietnamese music from the Mekong Delta.

Vietnamese music only has 5 notes, instead of the 7 that can be found in Western music. E and B are excluded from Vietnamese music.

Cultural point of the day: The Vietnamese government blocks Facebook. I'm not sure if my blog can still sinc up with my Facebook but I can't see or post anything on it until I get back to China.

Electric Adventure of the Day

So the internet is spotty today but hopefully this gets through. This morning we took a boat to the floating market. Many people sell fruit on the Mekong Delta River during the day and sleep on their boats at night. The river is literally their lifeline. A pineapple boat pulled up along side us and we got an entire pineapple for 10,000 dong (50 cents).


In the afternoon we visited the university. The dorms for non-local students are very different from what we are used to. Imagine two hallet dorm rooms put together, now fit 10 people in them with no closet or desk space, and no air conditioning or fans in 100% humidity and close to 100 degree heat.

After a quick tour of the library, we went to see another campus. Trying to get in was the adventure of the day. First we reversed down a busy street (think 8th st in Moorhead during rush hour, or hwy 55 in Mpls). The power lines in Vietnam are much lower than the ones we are used to. Rather than cutting down trees in the way of the lines, the tree are used to help hold them up! Anyways, the bus was too tall and snagged quite a few power lines. About 3 broke and laid on top of the bus. Others caught on the emergency exit on the roof of the bus, almost pulling the exit hatch off the bus.


As it turns out, we weren't cleared to go on that campus anyways . . .

On a cultural side note, the heat here is apparently no match for the people's desire to have light skin. They will wear sweatshirts, gloves, and masks to keep their skin out of the sun.



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Journey to Can Tho

It's 12 hours early, but: HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

Although some titles of my past entries have referenced the classic journey to Grandma's house, the journey to Can Tho really did take us over the river (many in fact!) and through the woods (if jungles count). We left our hotel at 8am and got on the bus. A two hour bus ride was paused with a break at a local rest stop.


If this is a typical rest stop, I'm dying to see the actual jungle!

We then arrived at the Mekong Delta River. The next 6 hours were spent on boats, both large and small.


There are many islands throughout the river. At one point we took row boats into the channels and hiked across the largest island to taste some fruit that grows on the river. Honeybees are also quite common there. We ate honey straight out of a honey comb with the bees still on it. At the same place a couple of us got to hold a python.


I was the only one it tried to squeeze :P

Lunch in the jungle was . . . interesting. While there was enough food to go around, I mostly stuck with the rice, chicken, and stir fry. Don't worry mom! I tried everything, even the Elephant Ear Fish (no surprise, I didn't like it).


We got to the hotel after 6pm, a 10 hour trip in all. After putting the room key in the slot that turns on the lights and AC, the first thing My Hahn and I noticed was one of the desk drawers with a special label . . .

Nous faisons une maison!

Today's highlights started with lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. The evening before the van drove by it. Everyone was talking about how great it would be if we could eat there and see if it was different from one in the U.S.


Mi Hanh and I had fun taking pictures and shopping in the gift store but you'll have to wait to see who got an Hard Rock Cafe from Ho Chi Minh City gift.




We got to pick anything we wanted on the menu and for the first time since we got here, I ate my entire meal! (ok, I didn't eat the coleslaw)



Cameron, one of Dr. Rawson's sons, really likes to break dance so he was the entertainment while we ate.


After lunch we met with a guy from France who started an orphanage in Vietnam in 1992. The bus ride to the center was an hour and a half, but it was interesting seeing the differences between those who live in the cities and those in rural areas. The site can hold around 50 children, ages 0-22. The kids had broken up into small groups to work on arts and crafts. Some speak a little French. I went up to see what kind of art they were doing and a little girl named Fou tugged on my arm, handed me a piece of colored paper, and said "une maison, une maison!" Oh, a house! ok, I can do that :)



Our group made the prettiest one if I do say so myself.

Afterwards, we got to play with the kids. They LOVED having their pictures taken so they could look at it. A couple little boys figured out how to shuffle the pictures on my iPhone and thought it was just hilarious!


All over Ho Chi Minh you can see people squatting close to the ground. This little boy thinks it is more comfortable than sitting on the ground. I tried doing it and fell right over, making all the kids around me laugh. (I laughed too!)

Tomorrow we leave for Can Tho. It will take the entire day to get there but we are stopping along the way to meet various Vietnamese people from different areas.

Thu'c Pham

To overcome jet-lag our tour guide had us get up early and took us on tours all day. We went to the president's palace ( which has it's own cerca 1960s man cave) and to the Vietnam war museum.

The most surprising part for me was the food. I actually ate it! Yes there were veggies which I stayed clear from, but the rest was really good and nothing like we have back home.

After we got back to the hotel, we each had a foot massage which was really nice after a full day of walking in 95 degree weather.

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Hotel

Our hotel here is the Lavender Hotel. I was supposed to be in a triple with two other girls but when we got to our room there were only 2 twin beds. The desk worker gave us a single as well and since I was the alum, I pulled rank!

Over the river and through the Rockies, to Cali we go!

The first leg of our international French adventure began in three different cities throughout the U.S. Trying to check in at the airport at 5am is always difficult, but even more so when security wants to see my Vietnam visa which I don't receive until I get there...there seems to be a flaw in the system. The flight to Denver was pretty empty but there were a group of Cobbers, heading to Las Vegas. I am now on the plane heading to San Fransisco; first time to California! We are flying over the Rockies. I managed to get a gorgeous photo with my iPhone.




Also I took a picture of what I think is Steamboat Springs, where some of my family live (hi Becca!).



I'm not sure when I'll be able to upload photos so stay tuned and I'll make sure they get posted eventually.

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