Today proved to be yet another fantastic day. In the morning we had a guest lecture about rural planning and development in the Mekong Delta. We learned about the delta and some of the things that are there such as bamboo bridges, rice, fruits, plenty of palm leaf conical hats, floating markets, and the bull race festival (which we sadly won’t see). There are also different peoples living there such as Vietnamese, Chinese, and Cambodian. There are only two seasons in the Mekong Delta—the rainy season and the dry season (and we’re here right as the rainy season starts). We also learned some history of the region as well as culture elements and proverbs. What surprised me the most was that the Mekong Delta is at risk of disappearing someday, and is on the list of 100 Places to Remember Before They Disappear.
We then had another exciting language class session where we reviewed a lot and went over numbers some more as well as learning months and days of the week. One huge difference between Vietnamese and English is that in Vietnamese once you learn numbers you are halfway to learning the days of the week and months (they are used in the term for Monday for example). In Vietnamese after you learn pronunciation and certain words you can build upon that to understand other vocabulary. VERY interesting!
Today’s company visit was to ACDI/VOCA Success Alliance. This was the smallest company we have seen yet, but also one of the more interesting ones. They educate farmers on growing cocoa and empower them to take advantage of this crop, all while using an environmentally friendly and sustainable approach. This organization is an NGO, or non-governmental organization, so other than paying for their employees’ salaries, they are not out to make any money. One great success story they shared with us was of a woman named H’Bim. She is a single mother who went from day to day living buying rice 1kg at a time to being one of the top farmers in her area who is able to buy rice 20kg at a time and close to buying her own car! This story is actually about 3 years old, so based on what we read she probably has that car at this point. We also received some cool ACDI/VOCA Success Alliance hats and bags, so when we gave our presenters some Pitt gear we had some really greatpictures of them with the Pitt stuff and us with the hats! I will try to acquire a copy of this picture as soon as possible…
After this Tuan and Khuong took us to a really cool karaoke bar. This place looked REALLY cool, and we were put in our own private room with a large couch, a huge TV for the music videos and words, as well as a very small lighted stage in the corner. Since I believe that a picture is worth a thousand words and that I can’t convey this place in words, here are just a few pictures from this night:
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