Today we got on the bus bright and early, and headed over to UEF. For the first two hours we listened to a guest speaker talk about urban planning and development in Ho Chi Minh City. He talked about the economic reform, the current economic situation in Ho Chi Minh as compared to previous years as well as the rest of Vietnam, modernization of infrastructure as well as related problems and constraints, and the potential for future development. It was interesting to hear that they are looking for foreign investment to develop more public transit, such as a metro. I guess there are companies that do that? I just wasn't sure how it would benefit them, but I suppose if they get a cut of the fares maybe it would work out eventually? Or maybe they just do it for the good of the world or something.... who knows. Next, we had our language class. Today they taught us how to count.... it was really hard (for me at least). I kept having trouble remembering the numbers, and which order to put them together in. But now I can count in five languages..... kind of. Một, hai, ba, bốn, năm, sáu, bảy, tám, chín, mười! Ein, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn! Uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, dies! Un, deux, troix, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix! .... that was me counting from 1-10 in all the languages I can, other than English. We also learned how to barter at the market. "Cái này bao nhiêu?" "20,000." "Mac qua! 10,000 đi." (How much is this? 20,000. Too expensive! 10,000 please.) Apparently we're supposed to cut the price in half, and then work our way to something reasonable. We also reviewed the basic Vietnamese that we had learned yesterday. After our lesson was done, we went to the canteen for lunch.
From lunch, we went straight to a company visit at Phu My Hung Corporation. Their city design for South Saigon seemed so futuristic and cool. It included lots of apartments, malls, hospitals, international schools, and room for business. The apartments would be considered fairly luxurious by American standards, but the price here is much lower. It was interesting to look at the scale model they had made of their plan and then to drive around and see what of it had already been built.
We then went back to the hotel briefly, and after that our Vietnamese friends picked us up to go to dinner. I'm not really sure where we went, but we ate some more traditional Vietnamese food, which was once again pretty good and brought out in multiple courses. They had something they called a "pancake".... which was completely different from our pancakes. It was made of egg and filled with mushrooms and perhaps some meat (as far as I could understand). We also went out for ice cream, which was a nice treat.
Today was another tiring day. Goodnight!
Phu My Hung's model of South Saigon
Hailee and I on the balcony at Phu My Hung
Group shot!
Pancake?
Ice cream!
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