Weekend Update

It has been such a busy and fun weekend! On Saturday, we didn't have class. So instead we took a tour of Ho Chi Minh City and did some really touristy stuff. We started off the day by going to Reunification Palace. It was originally the building where the president of South Vietnam lived and conducted business. However, when the North Vietnamese invaded Saigon, they took this building over, marking the end of the Vietnam War. It was an absolutely huge building with so many beautiful rooms in it. After that we headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral and post office. Even though we had already seen the cathedral and post office with the UEF students, it was still nice to see the cathedral during the day and we got some much needed shopping done at the post office gift shop! Then finally, we visited a beautiful pagoda. We got to go inside of it and see the Buddhist temple. The inside was incredible and very ornate, with gold almost everywhere you turned. We got to take our shoes off and explore the temple, and we even got to light incense and pray. It was a really unique cultural experience that would be unlikely to happen back home in America.

 Me in front of Reunification Palace

 Tran and I with a lovely view of Ho Chi Minh in behind us!

 The Notre Dame Cathedral

 Me in front of the pagoda we visited 

Part of the inside of the temple

Because we were only sightseeing we had a lot of extra time. Since we wanted to go shopping but wanted to make sure we weren't getting ripped off, a few of our UEF friends came with us to help us bargain. We went to the Bến Thành Market, which is a really famous tourist location in Ho Chi Minh City. Dang helped Emmy and I bargain in the market and we got some really good deals on cool stuff to bring back to the United States. Dang was so nice to help us out, because we were kind of clueless about prices! After that we got on motorbikes (of course) and headed to a karaoke bar. It wasn't like your typical American karaoke that involves stuffing a bunch of drunk people into a room and listening to a bunch of awful singers. Instead, we got a private room with a giant couch and huge TV and karaoke machine with almost any song you could imagine. It was really fun to watch everyone sing and have a good time. I decided to spare everyone from hearing my awful voice and didn't sing, although there was definitely a lot of peer pressure for trying to get me to sing. Maybe next time.

Emmy and Ricky rocking out

The next morning, our entire plus3 group took a trip to Vung Tau, which is about an hour and a half south of Ho Chi Minh City. After taking a boat to the area (which made more than a few of us a little seasick!) we spent the morning at the beach. First, Tran was nice enough to set up a few games for us to play. While we were doing this, we attracted a very large group of locals who stood their and took our pictures as we played the games. Being in Vietnam makes me feel like a celebrity sometimes. Everyone is taking our picture and the local news station even followed us around one day. Living in America, I am definitely not this used to feeling this out of place and it has been quite a culture shock! After the beach we relaxed in the South China Sea, which so beautiful and a great temperature for swimming! We swam for a really long time, but then had to dry off and go to lunch at a seafood restaurant by the sea. Then, we hiked up to this GIANT statue of Jesus that overlooks the town. It is huge and it is placed on a cliff that overlooks the entire town so you can see it for miles. Climbing up to the statue was quite a challenge (I obviously need to start working out when I get back to the States). I had a giant 1.5 Liter gallon of water that I was carrying with me, but one of the UEF students named Eden was so sweet and insisted he carrying it for me. He was so nice and I really enjoyed struggling up the hill with him! We stayed their for a while and practiced our Vietnamese on some of the locals. Most of the people we talked to were really surprised we knew any Vietnamese at all and were really fun to talk to. We spend a lot of time at the Jesus Statue, but then we eventually had to get on a boat and head back to Ho Chi Minh City.

 Some images of the beautiful Vung Tau

JESUS STATUE!

When we got back we took a much needed shower (but seriously, its amazing how gross you can get after a day at the beach and hiking in 100 degree weather). Then we went to dinner at a place called the Black Cat and found something really special... CHEESEBURGERS! And they were so good! But trying to eat one of the burgers made me realize just how much my diet has changed since coming to Vietnam. It was a pretty big cheeseburger, but before eating Vietnamese food for over a week I could have eaten it no problem. But after adjusting to the Vietnamese lifestyle, I couldn't even eat half of the burger without feeling sick. Still, it was so worth it and I would order a cheeseburger all over again. After dinner, we went to another restaurant where we sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather on an outside porch. It was a really busy day, but so much fun and a nice break from classes

Someone is very happy with her cheeseburger!

Even though this weekend has been adventurous, I am excited to get back to classes tomorrow morning. We now have less than a week left in Vietnam, so I'm hoping the next week will be just as insightful and awesome as the last week! Since it is Mother's Day in the US right now, I'd just like to give a shout out to my wonderful Mom (and I know she'll see this because I'm pretty sure she stalks this blog). I'm sorry I can't be in the United States with you to celebrate, but I'll bring a really cool Mother's Day gift home with me. So try not to be too sad.

-Hailee