- I have eaten some good/bad/strange things including:
- Fish meatballs and fish patties (not my thing!)
- Octopus
- Crazy mushroom things
- TONS of rice noodles (YUMMY!)
- ummmm very interesting looking pork,chicken, and beef (strange, often fatty cuts-you don't really know what you are eating and don't really want to know)
- An awesome "Hot Pot" lunch (it's like fondue at the Melting Pot, but instead of cheese, you cook all these different meats, veggies, and noodles in a spicy broth right at your table)
- fruits that look like eyeballs, tye-dyed sea urchins, and red garlic cloves
- Fish sauce (actually DELICIOUS and doesn't taste like fish at all--you use it like soy sauce on rice, meats, and noodles, and it actually tastes better than soy sauce)
- Spring rolls (famous Vietnamese rolls filled with veggies and shrimp-kinda like eggrolls but not fried)
- One kid ate a fermented egg (An egg with an actual DUCK EMBRYO-a crunchy duck skeleton-inside......uhhh ewww, could barely watch!)
- Animal Encounters:
- Rats
- Cockroaches
- Ants (all over my purse!)
- Dogs
- Our lizard friend, Kim, and MANY of his buddies
Although some of this sounds pretty gross, it has actually been an AWESOME adventure thus far! I have pretty much LOVED all of the food thus far, but I have really struggled with the whole chopstick thing. I even carry around a silver fork in my bag from home, but I haven't pulled it out yet because I'm afraid that it would be rude. So, every meal I try some new technique-prodding, poking, twisting....it takes a lot of effort but I guess it's good in that it forces me to eat slow. Another strange thing about going to restaurants is that there are no napkins. They do have these wet wipes on the table, but you have to pay if you use them...we learned this the hard way!
Yesterday we had a lot of free time. We went to this awesome palace, ate our Hot Pot meal, did lots of looking around, and ended up walking in the SCORCHING heat for well over 4 hours!
Today we started taking our intense Vietnamese language and culture classes. For 6 hours each day for the next five days, we will be trying to learn as much as they can force into our brains! This language is CRAZY DIFFICULT! There are all of these weird symbols and squiggles above every number. It's been hard, but fun and interesting at the same time.
We are also learning a lot about the Vietnamese culture as well. I was a little scared coming here because I was worried about how these people perceive Americans after the war. We did kill hundreds of thousands of their people and, being Confucius, the Vietnamese worship and greatly respect their ancestors. I was pleasantly surprised to see them all look at us with smiles, especially as we completely butcher their language (one kid was trying to say he was volunteering here and was actually saying that he was making love while in Vietnam!) They have a saying that they truly seem to live by: "Let bygones be bygones" (MOM-They must be watching Aly Mcbeal! HA!)
On another note, all of us Dukies keep talking about the Vietnamese culture. These people are so relaxed, and it's a really nice change of pace from our typical lifestyle. Everyone seems to have some sort of shop on one of the busy roads. There are no doors--it's like those garage doors that they just lift up in the morning. The families live upstairs. Throughout the whole day, everyone just sits outside their stores on the streets, just chillin. They oftentimes sit around tables that look like our "kiddy tables," playing cards, sleeping, people watching, or eating a pile of rice.
It's been so exciting and super exhausting, and so far...no complaints or food sicknesses!
xo
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