A Few Weeks in Ho Chi Minh City

I am very sorry for my absence on my blog. Upon returning to Ho Chi Minh City, we were thrown back into the chaos of classes and our homestay. The first week back was a recovery week; sickness plagued all of us in different ways. The weekend was mainly spent in our homestay with our families.

We attend classes during the week from 9-3:30. It feels like high school again, but in a hotter and more challenging setting. The first half of the day usually consists of a Vietnamese language class, where for two and a half hours we are in a perpetual whirl of confusion. The Vietnamese language is incredible; just the pronunciations are a challenge. One thing we have done that was notable and a memorable part of our learning of the language was playing "The Amazing Race." We split up into teams in the morning and the challenge started by our language teachers reading us directions in Vietnamese, and then we had to draw a map that describes what they were saying. Once we completed that, they gave us our first location where we had to read the directions and blindly follow them where we would find a local Vietnamese student, who would give us a challenge. These challenges consisted of us berating random local people and interview them in Vietnamese. It was an extremely discomforting and difficult experience. Try to picture this if it was in America: three foreigners running up to you, and in broken English, asking personal questions, saying thank you, and then running to other people saying the same things. Well that's exactly what we did that morning. Once we got the challenge done, we received more directions to another place, another challenge, and then more directions. The race ended with us finding our Vietnamese language teachers in a coffee shop. Yes, it was very hard, but the excitement on their faces as we completed the race was awesome; they were so happy that we were able to do everything. I definitely learned a lot from that morning.

A few other notable things we have done in Ho Chi Minh City was visiting a business center and factory, where an American company runs a business and factory here in Ho Chi Minh City. It was really interesting learning about the management and process of the business, and the CEO of the company was very in touch with his workers, something that is not common in Vietnam. The benefits and support that the workers also receive is significant to this business.

Another trip we took in Ho Chi Minh was visiting the Phu My Hung residential complex, which is the exact company and area that was run by Lawrence S. Ting, and where Albert Ting took me. This trip taught me more about what Mr. Ting briefly showed me that morning of September. It was really great being able to tour the entire complex, learn more about it, and see the impact the Ting Family had on the entire 20 year process. Going back to the Phu My Hung District was amazing and I got to see it in a different perspective.

We also visited Ben Tre this past weekend, a province in the Mekong Delta. Ben Tre has been one of my favorite places we have visited so far. We visited a brick making factory, coconut farms, coconut candy plants, porcelain museums, and got to bike ride around the province, and not to mention, we were taught how to climb a coconut tree by a 60 year old man who could out climb all of us. It was peaceful and we were taught a great too. In Ben Tre, we were able to learn about the apparent changes that the rising water levels is hurting the Mekong Delta, and ultimately the entire country.

Say what you want about climate change and global warming, but the Mekong Delta is inevitably disappearing. The water levels of dirty water are rising in the Mekong river, destroying fisheries and the ability to farm. Because of this, people are migrating elsewhere, and by people I mean poorly educated, relatively low income, families. Therefore, the mass amounts of people migrating to Ho Chi Minh City poses huge problems: how they are going to sustain that mass migration, where they are going to live, and what type of occupation will they take on with their education level. It seems as though Vietnam's short minded mentality is not prepared for this mass migration, because the Mekong region will be underwater in 33 years. This is a huge problem the South of Vietnam needs to address, and it seems as though they haven't. A sustainable, practical city is necessary for Ho Chi Minh to prosper.

Again I apologize for not blogging for a long period of time. I will try to be better and more on top of my posts. In two weeks, we will start our grand excursion where we will go to Hue, Danang, Hoi An, and Hanoi, so my posts will be more frequent.

--Vietn-Amy