Jesuits and Pork Blood

Three words that I can’t deal with in the morning: coagulated pork blood.

Okay. So I was walking down the street looking for breakfast when I saw a food cart spooning out what looks like vats of porridge. Sweet, that seems like breakfast food (there is no actual Vietnamese “breakfast food” you can get any type of food any time during the day). $10,000 dong—or approx 50 cents? Sure I’ll give it a try. It’s pretty delicious as I spoon warm chunks of broth/meat/soybeans into my mouth. Then I arrive at class.

My professor who is Vietnamese starts making a big deal about my breakfast. Comments like, “Ohh I’m so glad that you are adapting to Vietnamese culture!” “We don’t see enough American’s eating like you”. It’s 8am, so I’m aware enough to know that something is up, but not smart enough to just go on with my life. I did the worst thing possible, I asked what I was eating. “Oh! You don’t know?” my professor replied, “That’s coagulated pork blood soup!” To my credit, I did not spit out the large spoonful I had just shoved into my mouth. With a gulp worthy of a cartoon character I swallowed my last spoonful of soup, and shuddered. At least I saved myself some money, I couldn’t eat for the rest of the day.

The inside of a beautiful restaurant

As you may or may not be aware, I am a huge proponent of Jesuit education. I’m pretty sure I could write a book about how much I love Jesuit education, but I’m also sure that there are a million books out there about how wonderful it is. The director of the Vietnam Center is Father Julio Giulietti SJ. He is one of the coolest people I have ever met. Besides having some awesome credentials—Dean at Georgetown University, Dean at Boston College, called in by the UN in 1992 to help rebuild the education system in Cambodia, fluent in a million different languages, and now Director of the LUC Vietnam Program (the ONLY American school allowed in Vietnam), he is funny, nice, and personable.

Father Julio and Rachel enjoying a walk

I’ve been collecting some of his words of wisdom and humor:

“Never let school get in the way of your education”

“You can’t argue with other people’s taste. Even if they’re wrong”

“I’m a Jesuit, would I ever lie to you? Actually, yes, you should be questioning me.”

One of my favorite situations was when we were telling him how impressed we were with our PLSC teacher. Our teacher is a serious name dropper, and with in the first 20 minutes of his class I learned that he went to Cornell, wrote a book, taught at Yale, and knew the authors of the books we had to buy for the class.

Father Julio’s response:  rolling his eyes, “Oh dear, you got that spiel already? Well what he didn’t tell you is that he was an adjunct professor at Yale for a summer, he met the author of your book at a book signing, and we hired him despite him graduating from Cornell. Experience will get you farther than name dropping”

Things I learned (among other things):

• Roasting your own raw octopus over hot coals is very satisfying 

• The expensive restaurants can’t hold a candle to the street food

• Saigon beer straight from the bottle is the best way to go

• And of course: sometimes it’s best not to ask what you’re eating  

Classes and Normal Things

I’ve stopped writing every night (and posting every few days) because I have normalized to my life here. I have a bit more of a routine now with classes and yoga, and while things are still incredibly interesting and fun and different, it’s not quite the overwhelming shock of the first few days.

Unrelated photo. Hahah Starbucks is not part of my Vietnam routine. But here's a picture of the very first Starbucks in Vietnam! It will open in a week!

This is where I do my laundry! 

I have officially had my first session for every class. Here’s a short breakdown of the actual academics I’m taking while here (after all it is STUDY abroad):

SOC: First off, I love my professor because he’s a tiny Vietnamese man dressed in an oversized 70’s style suit. Then I found out he went to University of Washington, and I knew I was going to like this class. This class was strangely more political than my PLSC class. We looked into the Vietnamese communist government, it’s shortfalls, and how the people are responding.  It’s a fascinating alien world to me.

ENV: In all honesty I took this class because they go on field trips. I’m not above admitting that. We had over 200 pages of reading due for the first class, which I dutifully read 150(ish) pages of them. We didn’t discuss a single page of the reading. Ohh well. The professor has her PhD in urban environmental science and development, so we’ll focus first on Saigon/Ho Chi Minh and then look at rural Vietnam. She was a little concerned about how excited I got over environmental urban zoning codes. We all have our passions.

PLSC: Our first session of this was today. The professor is French, and started out the class by saying something along the lines of, “if you find me offensive that’s okay, because I’m French”. Take that as you will. He uses the Socratic method of teaching, and you really have to be on your game for his class. Good thing PLSC is my major.

VIET: This class, the intensive Vietnamese language class, meets the most times during the week, which I’m thankful for. While we all try to pick up words and phrases here and there, I especially find this course very helpful. I am, however, a bit frustrated that I’m not fluent yet and I’ve been here already over 10 days. I suppose patience is a virtue no matter where you are or what you are doing.

Things I’ve learned (among other things):

• Finding food at midnight is a lot harder in Vietnam than Chicago

• People usually understand more English than they let on. Watch your tongue.

• It is illegal to rent a hotel room for a Vietnamese and a foreigner (regardless of the sexes). You must present official proof of marriage or family relations in order to stay

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

My dreams of being a calf model have officially been squashed. I got off on the wrong side of the lawnmower strapped to a jet engine (aka: May’s motorbike) and now have a nasty looking burn. According to May and all the other roommates, it means I’m now truly part of Vietnam. I think I probably could have done without this cultural experience.

(I was going to put a picture of my burn right here, but once I actually looked at the picture I decided it was much too gross to post online. Instead, please enjoy looking at my favorite drink. Pureed strawberries on ice)

my crack

I’ve briefly mentioned the shower in passing, but I think it deserves a full blown paragraph. It’s a faucet, two feet off the ground, with a bucket underneath and a dip cup. To call it a shower is generous. The hottest the water gets is the temperature outside (which I will admit is actually quite warm) and then somehow, miraculously it turns within a minute into an icy cold puddle. Need to get your blood pumping in the morning? Forget about a run; try forcing yourself to pour frigid water over your head in small quantities until you can finally put shampoo in your hair. It sounds like I’m complaining, but surprisingly this whole cleaning process a pride point for me. If I can get through a shower with a dip cup every morning, I can definitely get through anything the day has in store for me.

Conner and I enjoying our strawberry drinks

Since the only time it is safe to run in Vietnam is at 5am, Conner and I have decided to take up yoga. There is no such thing as hot yoga here, as all of it is in 100 degree temperatures. The first day was rough, but we both bought unlimited two month passes, so we’re holding each other to going. I've gone a few times and it's definitely worth the $45.

Things I learned (among other things):

Having red nails means you’re a prostitute (whoops)

If you catch a cricket flying, put him on your stomach and he bites your bellybutton then you will know how to swim. (This actually sounds a lot more complicated than just learning how to swim the old fashion way)

I have a calling for cards. I’ve learned a whole bunch of Vietnamese card games, and kicked some serious butt.

If you burn your fingers (not seriously, just if you touch something hot) put them on your ears. It cools off your fingers and warms up your ears! 

The Local Life

May said to me, “I think it’s so funny. You have all these questions for me about Vietnam, but I don’t have any questions for you about America. I’ve seen all the tv shows and the movies. I know all about America. I’m moving there one day”.  There are a lot of things that don’t translate, and then there are real facts of life in America that sometimes she doesn’t want to understand.

May at her family's store

I went home with May today to see her house. Her parents own a little store, they were very nice. Her dad doesn’t speak English so he was pretty quiet. Her mother on the other hand loves to talk, even if I don’t understand too much of what she’s saying. She was once a famous singer, and has the most incredible voice. She sang “Let it Be” by the Beatles (she has no idea what it means, but oh my goodness she can sing!). 

 I also met May’s uncle and grandmother, who live next door. He owns a… there’s not an English word for it. I’ll try to describe it instead. They serve coffee and lots of different drinks (non-alcoholic) and sometimes food and sweets. You can play billiards and ping pong or just sit and relax by the pond, under the Havana huts, or in the tree houses. An outdoor lounge perhaps is the best way to put it.

Chris, the director of our program is more like a dad than anything else. (If you’ve ever seen and/or read “Holes” by Louis Sachar, think of “Mom” from camp). He invited us over to his apartment, which overlooks all of Saigon, for an exotic fruit tasting. There was a TON of fruit, and as a treat he ordered pizza. I (along with all the other American students) were sadly relieved that we were getting pizza. This, however, did not last long as Vietnamese pizza is only slightly reminiscent of American pizza. However, the Vietnamese students were crazy about it. One tiny girl (think about the size of an 8 year old) put away an entire pizza. I kid you not, it was truly incredible.

Things I learned (among other things):

• There are crosses on top of every Catholic church in Vietnam. If Jesus is on the cross, then they worship him. If instead it is just a plain cross, they worship Mary.  (The details of this were unclear)

• Ketchup is not the tomato-y substance we know in the United States, but rather a combination of hot sauce and tomatoes and spices

• Toilet paper isn’t a thing here.

• The only reason people here know of Seattle is because it’s where all their relatives go to get a fake beauty (manicure/pedicure) certificate

We also watched Top Gear: Vietnam. It’s pretty great if you have time to kill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1zfuBgCUqY

The Amazing Race

The days feel like years here. I think it’s mostly because of the sunshine: it rises at 4am and doesn't set until 8pm. I suppose I’m making up for living in Seattle with a serious vitamin D deficiency.

 As part of our orientation we had a mini “Amazing Race”. We had four challenges:

1. Learn a Vietnamese card game--The superstition is that if you lose this card game you will fall in love soon. I lost only once (we played at least 20 times) take that as you will

2. Be able to read/pronounce a few new phrases in Vietnamese ( I can now count to ten, ask what your name is, and how much something costs)

3. Take a bus to the famous market Ben Thanh and buy watermelon seeds

4. Crack 20 watermelon seeds with your teeth and pull them out whole (hardest thing I've had to do in quite a while)

Pigs feet!

Ben Thanh Market 

so. many. shoes. <3

At night we had dinner with Papa G (aka Father Garanzini, aka the president of Loyola University Chicago). He was doing the whole circuit, Rome, Beijing and finally Vietnam. He seemed very out of place in Vietnam, but even still it was very cool to sit down to dinner with him.

You haven’t really lived until you’ve ridden on the back of a motorbike in Ho Chi Minh at night. It was one of the most exhilarating things I’ve ever done. Perhaps because of the tropical air, the late night, and the breeze. Or maybe it was the fact that there are no actual lanes and most of the time is spent driving head on into traffic. Either way, it was incredible. May drove me around the city for a while, showing me all her favorite places. We got bubble tea (taro root flavor) and ate seafood ramen. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go back to Top Ramen again.

As I mentioned before, some things don’t translate. Tonight one American student (hi Joe!) was a bit tipsy and was trying to explain that in America we have jokes on our popsicle sticks. To give an example he said, “you know, like ‘why did the chicken cross the road’”. “Chicken” in Vietnamese, is another word for slut.  This caused an insane amount of confusion, as the Vietnamese students couldn’t understand why a joke would start with “why did the slut cross the road”.

Things I learned (among other things):

• Sometimes they turn off the water and the electricity to save money. There’s nothing you can do but wait until they turn it back on

• Pantomiming a swing is harder than it seems (try it)
  
•  The first two years at a Vietnamese college is devoted to memorizing/learning Lenin and Marxist theory. Each semester they take 72 credit hours (comparison: Americans usually take 18 credits) 

• Loyola University Chicago is the only American university allowed to teach in Vietnam. The only other university is the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology – from Australia. Everyone else is banned.

Starting Out

Friday never happened. It just didn't exist in my world. I left home on Thursday at 10am. I arrived in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh (It’s not yet clear which city name you’re supposed to use. Quite literally everyone calls it Saigon, and then every once in a while you hear it referred to as Ho Chi Minh) Saturday at 1am. We promptly ate pho. Needless to say I was basically in heaven.

May and I 

My roommate’s name is May (which means cloud and/or lucky depending on how you say it). She’s nice, very relaxed, and majoring in Spanish. Most of our conversations are in Spanglish with Vietnamese thrown in. Spanglishnamese? May points at things and says their name in Vietnamese and then I repeat them back to her. It's quite comical. Her goal is to be an international translator, hence all the languages. Communication can be frustrating for both of us, and some things just don’t translate. Most conversations end up with one of us throwing up our hands and laughing.

I have not stopped eating since I got here. It seems like every few hours we sit down to another humongous meal with lots of different food that just seems to keep coming. I try to pronounce the names of each dish, but by the time the next one comes I've already forgotten the first.

duck egg (you break open the top, pour in the sauce and add the mint leaves)
clams, snails, and dragon fruit

Pork spring rolls, egg balls (called nuggets)

Coconut bark shrimp salad

Things I learned (among other things):

1.       Taking a shower with only a dip cup and a 5 gallon bucket is actually harder (and colder) than one might think

2.       At the Vietnamese night clubs they only play American music. And of course my roommate knows all the words to “Starships”

3.       Vietnamese people say “hi” and do what we typically think of as the “peace” sign (two fingers in the air) because “hi” means two in Vietnamese. It’s a joke on the English word “hello”

4.       How to eat a (nearly grown) baby duck before it’s hatched

5.       Since Vietnamese is a completely tonal language, lyrical music is very hard to make. Instead they take the “melody” that the words make in a poem, and arrange background music to fit the sounds of the words.