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
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