Day Three

We knew we had a busy day ahead of us so we decided to start it off right with two cups of cafe sua da at our usjh coffee joint.  I'm addicted to the coffee here and am really starting to develop a dependence on caffeine because of it (which is why I had two or three more glasses of it before 4 o'clock).

Our official day began with two company visits:  one to VSIP (the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park) and one to II-VI (a manufacturing company that specializes in optics and is located within the industrial park).  We spent the entire morning learning about the VSIP and II-VI, and taking tours of two of the II-VI factories.  

Our "tour guide" was the chief engineer of II-VI in Vietnam, and an ex-pat of the United States which gave us the opportunity to ask a lot of questions about how the company rules and regulations compare to a United States company.  He talked a lot about how these rules are written to protect the worker so it makes it essentially impossible for him to be able to terminate one of his employees.  For example, Vietnamese workers are allowed to have five no call/no shows per month without being fired which is a problem when they all decide not to go into work on the same day.  

We had lunch at a new place today.  It was a Chinese restaurant-the first I've been without General Tso's as the first menu item which was when I knew the food would be nothing like the Chinese food back in Pittsburgh.  It was delicioso! :)

After lunch we ventured to the Eastern International University which is a school that is funded by VSIP.  The students that attended this school had the opportunity to study business, engineering, or nursing. Three of the students there gave us overviews of their programs.  One of the students had an Australian accent when she spoke English because her language instructor is from Australia which I never realized could happen.  I was mind blown!!!  Next we played a game where the American students would explain an American holiday to the Vietnamese students to draw and vice versa.  Our holidays seemed absolutely absurd compared to theirs, but it was really fun.  Last, but certainly not least, we took pictures with the students which was their favorite part.  The students here are such cuties!!!  I'm gonna miss them so much.

That night we decided to explore the city on our own which basically led to us going to the more westernized Vietnamese restaurants and destinations, but it was still so much fun.

I havent posted any pictures yet because they are all on my camera, but here is a glimpse of the Ho Chi Minh motorbike traffic I talked about on day one.  CRAZY!