Friday (05-11-2012)

This morning was the first day I had any stomach problems but it was not too bad; I felt fine after I ate some breakfast.  We went to the University and had a culture class again where we learned about the religious history of Vietnam and some more of the cultural differences.  After this we had Vitenamese class and we learned some common phrases.  At lunch they had omelets, tuna and pork.  We made plans to go to Dominoes later in the day because some of us where missing pizza. 

After we left UEF we went to ASCENX technologies which is a computer engineering company.  The CEO is a Vietnamese war refugee who went to America when he was young.  He had a very interesting story about how he had to escape the country.  He also explained the Vietnam War is great detail.  After his presentation we went out to get coffee and talked about how he got his company working in Vietnam.

After the presentation we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.  We rode the motor bikes to Dominos and we all got pizza.  We were surprised that we could not eat as much pizza as we usually do since we have been used to eating smaller portions here in Vietnam.  I also thought it was odd that the Vietnamese students put chili sauce and ketchup on their pizza.

After dinner we went to the southern side of Ho Chi Minh City which is the wealthy, newly developed area.  We went to their mall and saw a bridge that lights up at night.  It stores energy from solar cells in the day and then lights up the bridge at night.  This was the only place that young couples go to go on dates and kiss.  Everywhere else in public it is inappropriate to show that affection.