Day 1 in Ho Chi Minh City

As I mentioned before, I got very little sleep going into the first full day. However, I wasn't tired. I was too excited. The first order of business was a shower. The water pressure was a little weak, and you needed to flip a switch on the wall in order to get warm water, but overall it was, like the rest of the hotel, very clean and more than adequate. The hotel offers a complimentary breakfast. The fare is interesting, to say the least. They had several options for drinks. I went with the "Orange Juice", which tasted more like Tang than anything else. I did not try either the Soy Milk or the Water of Boiled Corn, though I feel compelled to try them before I leave. Most of the food was more like lunch or dinner than breakfast. There was rice, along with macaroni and beef (quite delicious), and several other dishes of noodles and meat. The food was very good, if not exactly typical breakfast food. The fruit was also very good, including bananas, pineapple, and papaya. They also had toast, along with delicious strawberry (at least I'm pretty sure that's what it was, the signs weren't translated) and pineapple jam.

After breakfast, we boarded the bus for the University of Economics and Finance (UEF), the school where we are taking our morning classes on Vietnamese business, language, and culture and history. The bus took a good half hour to get there, but getting to see the streets of HCMC in the daylight was well worth it. Again, the traffic is something that can't be described. There doesn't appear to be even the hint of order or rules, and though it looks abysmal to American eyes, somehow it simply works. There's really no other way to put it. The drive also gave me a really good feel for the city. Though aspects of Viet Nam and HCMC in particular are quite advanced, there is still a very strong traditional core. Countless small shops line the streets. They offer everything, ranging from meat to bread to tires to wedding dresses to inflatable pool toys. Even with the insane traffic, and the millions of people living in the city, it has a very relaxed feel to it.

Upon arriving at UEF, we were immediately welcomed. They had hung a greeting banner in our honor, complete with Pitt's crest, which was a really touching gesture. We had a reception with a group of students and with several members of the faculty and administration of the university. The students were all extremely friendly, were excited to meet us, and spoke with excellent English. We also had our first Vietnamese language class. After just an hour and a half of work, I can honestly say that Vietnamese is, without a doubt, the most difficult language I have ever had any experience with. To start off, there are 11 different vowels (the Vietnamese do use the Roman alphabet, though they have a number of different diacritical marks. The extreme differences in pronunciation of vowels that differ only by a diacritical mark are so acute that, in practice, they become separate vowels entirely). The language is also based very heavily on tone. There are 6 different tones in the Vietnamese language. For a Westerner, these are very difficult to produce, and even harder to notice in the speech of others. Different tones produce different meanings for words with the same spelling. For example, the phrases "He is sleeping" and "He is stupid" are spelled exactly the same way, differing only in the tone of your voice. My goal over the next 2 weeks is to gain a little bit of skill in working with these tones.

Our plan for the afternoon was a tour of the city and a visit to the U.S. Consulate. The first stop on our tour was the old Presidential Palace (or Independence Palace), currently known as the Reunification Palace. Originally built by the colonial French government, it served as the home of the President of the Republic of Viet Nam (South Viet Nam), and the center of government for the South. It was taken over by the Communists in 1975 during the Fall/Liberation of Saigon (depending on your perspective). The building now serves as a museum, preserving the palace as it was under the South Vietnamese government. We were able to see the lavish offices and living quarters of the President and his family, as well as the bunkers in the basement. After leaving the Palace, we went to the center of town and stopped at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office. They both occupy a very large square (or possibly more of a circle). As its name implies, the Cathedral was built by the French. It's a very large, beautiful, traditional cathedral, in the style (though not quite as impressive) as the original Notre Dame. The Post Office is a large building. The outside facade is modeled after the old train station in Hanoi. Inside, it still serves as an actual functioning post office.

Our final stop of the day was the U.S. Consulate. The consulate is built on a rather historic site, home to the original U.S. embassy to South Viet Nam (the embassy is now in Hanoi, the current capital of the country). It was the site of a famous attack by Viet Cong commandos in January 1968, an important event in the War. In addition to touring the grounds, we were able to meet with Charles Bennett, Chief of Consular Section in HCMC. He graciously gave us his time, discussing the U.S. Foreign Service and the current state of affairs in Viet Nam. It was really interesting to get his perspective; Mr. Bennett has served for over 20 years in the Foreign Service, entirely in Southeast Asia. It was also comforting, after seeing portraits of Ho Chi Minh on every wall, to view more familiar faces (President Obama and Secretary Clinton, the Vice President's face hadn't arrived yet). I was able to learn a great deal about the way diplomacy actually works on the ground.

For the evening, we were treated to a welcome dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant. We were served a 5-course, family-style meal at a long low table. It was clearly a high quality restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious. It consisted of pork, many different types of seafood (including excellent seafood spring rolls), and much much more. The quantity and quality of the food was beyond compare. After the meal, I went back to my hotel room, and sleep deprivation finally caught up with me. Exhaustion necessitated postponing further exploration of Vietnamese nightlife. I'm tired from posting now, but I'll hopefully be able to get caught up later on tonight.