Day 4

Day four started off with breakfast at the hotel as usual then straight off to UEF for some classes. The first class was about rural planning and development in the Mekong Delta. The lecture was interesting because it was given by Le Quang Minh who has lived in the Delta almost his whole life. We learned many things what is grown in the Delta and the current problems they are having live the mixing of salt water farms for shrimp and pure water farms for rice. Before it got to the end of the presentation, I was called out of the room. It turns out that a Ho Chi Minh City television station was doing a piece on the program and wanted to interview a female from the group. They asked questions like how I like the culture and how I liked the classes, if I was excited about the site visits and activities planned. I probably said exciting and interesting a lot more times than I needed to but it's whatever. So hopefully, on day, I will be on Vietnamese television!

After the Mekong Delta presentation, we had Vietnamese Culture class. Now this class was very interesting because we learned common things to say and do while in Vietnam so we would not be viewed badly. One major thing is to not let anyone lose face because it is viewed in a very negative light. Another thing that we learned was in order to not lose face, never admit you are wrong. Something that our entire group has been trying to do more of is complement the service or gift instead of just saying thank you. Thank you does not allow for growth in a friendship. Culture class was definitely a positive experience that has made us more aware of the Vietnamese culture.

We soon left UEF and travelled to the US Commercial Service Office in the center of district 1. There we met with Jennifer Ludders the economics officer for Ho Chi Minh City and Dave Averne the commercial officer. They are in Viet Nam to help US businesses decide in Viet Nam is the right place to grow their business. Using current statistics and knowledge they have gained about Viet Nam, they are able to connect US businesses with Vietnamese companies to given them a little more insight.

Since we were in the middle of the city, we decided to walk to the markets after the site visit. Little did we know that some monsoon rains would hit us then. We tried to wait it out but after 15 minutes, we decided to walk through the rain, 5 blocks, to the market. It was an experience and totally worth getting soaked. At the market I bought a lot of things which will become known to everyone once I get back.

To make the night short, we had dinner at this VERY nice Vietnamese restaurant but the cost of the meal was less than 7 per person. We all decided that we will be looking for these nice restaurants and eating at a new one almost everyday.