Day 2: So much fun!

I'll start by describing hat we did last night for our welcome dinner. We went to a restaurant called Wrap and Roll. At this point in the day, we were all pretty tired and hungry from the jetlag, so we all ordered Pepsi for some caffeine. There was so much food at dinner though! In my words, it was enough food to feed an African village for a day. There were spring rolls made with lettuce and rie paper that were filled with rice noodles, pork, shrimp, lettuce, carrots, and/or cucumbers. There were so delicious. We were also taught how to roll our own spring roll wraps that we filled with rice noodles, pork, beef, cucumbers and bananas. They also brought out rice wraps and chicken on a bamboo stick. At this point we were stuffed but little did we know two more courses were to come. Next, they brought out a fondue type pot with vegetables and a variety of seafood. I did not cook any seafood to eat, but other kids in the group got to eat jellyfish, shrimp and squid. For dessert they brought out some watermelon and a giant citrus fruit. Finally, we all hung out when we got back to the hotel and had a great time!

We started the day today with a presentation at UEF on the urban development of Ho Chi Minh City. It was interesting to see the problems Ho Chi Minh City is facing as its population has outgrown the city limits, as well as to understand the solutions that are being executed to solve everyday problems aound the city. Some of these problems include: sidewalk space being used by vendors, flooding, traffic, few medical facilities, and poor road designs. Ho Chi Minh City councils are now working on expanding sidewalks, implementing new drainage systems, damming the Mekong River, building more roads around the city and building metro and monorail systems.
Our language class today was awesome! We learned how to seriously barter when we got to the market. We leared how to say the numbers 1 through 1,000,000! The numbers 1-10 are mot, hai, ba, bon, nam, sau, bay, tam, chin and muong. Language class was an hour and half today, but it was so much fun, especially since our teacher is great. We had the typical Vetnamese food for lucnh again, which was rice, pork, bananas and shrimp.

This afternoon we visited the Phu My Hung Corporation. It has worked with designing companies to build a giant, suburban communitee south of Ho Chi Minh City. The communtiee is part of a master plan to build a bigger, new business communitee south of Vietnam. The current mini, city wenter we visited has huge corporations, malls, parks, hospitals, international schools, recreational facilities, restaurants, small businesses and lots of upscale villas and homes. I was impressed by the planning and increasing level of  success scene in Ho Chi Minh City through this new city center.

Tonight, out friends from UEF are taking us out to dinner and to get ice cream! It should be a fun time with them as well! I am thoroughly enjoying experiencing a new culture!