Can Tho University

So, we have been in Can Tho now for about three days. It is fantastic being in a place that we know we will see for a while and we are already setting ourselves apart from the tourists. This city is a bustling, exciting place, and I can't wait to get to know it better.

The first night we arrived we met our program assistant, Huy (pronounced We), and he took us on a tour around the town by way of Honda loys. So, our program does not allow us to ride on the motorbikes because they can not find an insurance company that will cover us on motorbikes, but Honda loys are acceptable, thank goodness. They are little carts that are pulled by the motor bikes, so you really get a feel for what it is like to be in the traffic with the sooty air flying in your face and all the noise and excitement. After an exciting cruise around town, seeing the sights and the university, we settled down for a great dinner and got to know the two program assistants.

The next day was our first day at the university. Now this is the second semester that SIT has run this program, and we are some of the first foreign students to study (not teach) at this university, and we are also the first students enrolled in a program that the university is trying to start called the "tropical semester". Needless to say, the five of us are treated very well, much to our surprise. When we walked into our office on the first day, we met the vice-chancellor of the school and he gave us a presentation about Vietnam. The international studies office offered us access to everything that they have. Their hospitality was very overwhelming. The rest of that day was getting to know the university, and our final orientation.

For dinner that night, we met a representative from our host families. We are unable to have a longer home-stay while we are here because it is such a new program, and they want to be sure that everything goes smoothly, which is too bad because I can't wait to move in with them. My youngest host-sister is my age, and was the representative at dinner. We got along great. I will also have two older sisters and an older brother. The mom is an english teacher, but she also teaches cooking lessons! So, hopefully I will be able to learn a thing or two from her.

Our first official day of class started with us buying bicycles, so that we can provide our own transportation for our stay here. I love my bike. We gave them all names, and they are fun but also essential to getting around. So you want to talk about an adrenaline rush? Let's talk about riding a bike through rush hour. There are people driving motor bikes through the streets, and they mostly go the normal direction, but a lot of people drive the wrong way down the street because they can't cross thought the traffic. So, in the left lane are the motor bikes, and then on the right are the bicycles, but also at rushour, people are pushing carts of food through the traffic, and then big trucks come tearing down the streets honking all the way. In Vietnam, people don't honk if they are angry, they honk if they want you to know they are there. Because there is so much zipping and zooming around by the motor bikes, there is a lot of honking. We also pass by two schools on the way home, so there are little kids running around everywhere, just to add one more bit of chaos. It's actually pretty cute: to have all these kids cross the street safely, they put a huge rope around them, with the older kids holding on to the rope, and all these kids just walk right through the busiest intersection without a care in the world. It's pretty cute if you stop thinking about the impending danger. It's clear that traffic made a pretty big impression on me, but being a part of it really gives you a great perspective on it.

Anyway, back to school... In the morning we have a lecture on different subjects like culture, ecology, watersheds, and the like. And then in the afternoon we (try to) learn Vietnamese. The best way I can think of to describe the language is that it is like singing, but with words that have no correlation to anything I have ever heard before. There are twelve vowels in the alphabet, plus six tones. I am only thankful that they use the latin alphabet and not characters otherwise my hopes of being able to learn any of the language would be very very low. Luckily, we have a patient teacher and we are working through it.

This mornings class was the best by far. We had a renowned professor teach us about Me Kong culture, with an emphasis on music. We got to play the different instruments and a lot of the students taught us traditional folk songs. It was a great time, and the surprising part about it was that there were three journalists from different universities there to do an article about us. Apparently, we are a big deal here, but we just feel like silly americans most of the time. I hope that will change.

I hope that didn't overwhelm anyone reading this, everything is just so new that it is easy to write on and on. And I will have more to write soon because tomorrow we are going to the floating market. So, more on another day...

Xin Chao! (the accents on this keyboard do not work, apparently)

Julia