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June 1, 2007
Can Tho
Humid as always
10:54pm
It was a great day. I woke up @ 6am and lifted weights. I thought I was going to be running but the gym that is at our hotel has nothing electrical. So the “treadmills” they do have are manual. And so is the “elliptical” machine, haha. Oh and Karma and I discover tonight while we worked out again that is cost 5000 dong/day. Which is like $0.3125 dollars/day. The place is 100% worse than War Memeorial. I’m going to have to go back and take pictures. It’s old school but hey it did the job (I got my workout).
Breakfast is at the hotel from now on and it’s a buffet. It hard getting use to having so much meat so early in the morning. There is sausage, beef, and chicken and lots of rice and rice noodle dishes. I might try and eat that stuff but for right noww the French bread over here is great. And the fruit is so fresh. I’m defiantly in fruit heaven.
We had our first set of classes today. I was quite excited. I’m really happy we get to settle down somewhere for at least 6 days. We are taking classes at Can Tho University. By the way we are in the Mekong delta right now. Everywhere you turn there is water. I’ll have to take pictures of the university. It is quite different from out buildings. There are double wooden doors for windows and doorways. The room is mostly open. There is no beautiful landscaping that Tech waste our tuition on. Its plan and simple. There even have an agriculture class for rice planting. And we saw a student fishing with a duckling as bate. It was cute but weird
So we have like 10 Vietnamese friends. They sat in on our first class, but not the other too. We eat so much food over here. Do not expect me to be any thinner when you see me. Between each class we have a break. Outside our library classroom is tea, coffe, and snacks. We eat all day long. Today actually was my last day of eating without feeling full. In fact I’m so hungry right now. Its like the first time in this country that I have felt hungry and I’m lovin it. I did not eat dinner instead I ran. And I feel so much better. Its like I’m a ew person…I’m so addicted to exercising, if I do not run I get sad. Anyway I’m going to have to workout this eating thing b/c I’m eating too much and a lot of people (most of those who exercise regularly) feel the same way.
So my run in town was awesome. It was an experience to be running on these dirty streets, motor bikes zooming by you, and then being in biker shorts that seem to never keep riding up. Everyone was staring at Karma and I. oh and both of us had our iPods in our ears to make us look for like westerners. It was a funny sight. Moms were telling there kids to wave and say hi to us as we ran pass. We got so many honks and people yelling at us in Veitnamese and English. It was quite fun.
Even at the Univesity, the students would just stop what they were going (which mostly was typing on the computer) and just stare. We had all three of the floors to the library in awe. It was crazy. They are a culture that just loves to stare. No smiles, no frowns, no surprised faces…just jaw open/no talking stares.
Around 8pm, our Vietnamese friends from the University met us at our hotel and took us around Can Tho. We went to a Buddhist temple and actually prayed and presented incense to Buddha. OMG…I found bubble tea!!! And it is so much better than Café de Bangkok. I had pineapple…so good. Oh then we all sat down and had sweetened soy milk. It was sweet alright…just like some southern tea BUT it was the bad ice. So people continued to drink it but I stopped. So we’ll see tomorrow how is sick or not.
Oh the Vietnamese students are soo welcoming. They want to do everything with us. Like Anh, a guy I met, wanted to some over and study with us. I told him probably that was not a good idea since he was studying for finals and….well…we don’t study that much on this trip. The girls I met, I can not remember her name right now, wants to take me shopping. I was like OK!! The students were like we’ll stop by your hotel and go take you places. Not this all I described it the Vietnamese culture in a nutshell. They give….give…give. and they love foreigners b/c they are curious and never get to see us. Their kindness can be too much. So I’m curious to see how all us take it. Too much of something is not always good, in the western mind frame. But they were kind and I look forward to the time we will be with them. They really enjoyed taking us around their town. It was a great experience for me b/c I got to talk one on one with them and help from practice their English.
So yea, that is it. Tomorrow we do the same thing. And then the next day we are going to the floating markets at 5:30am
Oh yea, I saw a old Vietnamese woman’s butt today. she was going to the bathroom in the middle of the street as we drove by in a taxi. We asked Ty, our close Veitnamese friend and travel guide, if that was normal and he just laughed. Its not normal people. The only “non-western” bathroom experience I have had is squatting in a toilet bowl on the floor. And then pouring water in it which is equivalent to flushing in America. Oh and we had to bring our own toilet paper in that case too. But that was in a really rural village.
Nite.
11:30pm
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Aunt Sandra
non-member comment
Jogging
I have really been enjoying your TravelBog. It reminds me of when our family lived in the Philippines in the early 60's. A major exception is that we lived most of the two year stay on a military base, which was a more protected environment. The conditions and culture that your are encountering are going to make you really appreciate what you have at home. But you have this tremendous opportunity to expenience a different culture first hand, so embrass it. It will give you great insight in working with different people with differenct cultures in the future. Regarding your love for jogging, be smart and always jog in daylight and always with a friend or two. Always. The war memorials that you are visiting are always horrible, but it is a way of never forgetting the past. It should be a way of never repeating the past, yet, we are in Iraq now. Enough said. Continue to take in the culture and people, and as time goes on you will get into your own groove. Love ya, Sandra