Wedding

The last time I was in Vietnam I was on the EAP study abroad program in Singapore visiting my brother while he was doing some research on the banking industry. I came with around 10 people from EAP and my brother was with his girlfriend and her nephew, who's is also her age I think, probably 24. But this time back, I see the nephew again only to find out that he's getting married and moving to Germany soon. Crazy. So we went to his wedding. It seemed kind of traditional, but it was also very hot. I'm getting used to the weather, but being outside in a suit can get a little nasty. This is our part of the wedding, holding heavy plates of fruit I think. I just felt sorry for the small Vietnamese girls on the receiving end, caues these things were heave and you had to hold them for a while.

Us taking a picture with the bride and groom.
The last time I was in Vietnam, he was single...Crazy. I hope he has fun in Germany.

Cu Chi Tunnels

So I've been really busy with work this week, sometimes staying until 2am...But I got to escape the office last week to go do some tourist activities. Alan, Tat, Tat's mom and myself took a guide out to see the infamous Cu Chi tunnels that the VietCong used in the Vietnam War. After we watched some propaganda film on heroic American killers, we set out to crawl in some tunnels, fire some guns and take pictures in some blown up American tanks. The tunnels were just big enough for a Vietnamese guy to fit in, but not much more room otherwise. After the crawl we got some target practice shooting an assortment of guns.

Here's Tat shooting a Thompson.

Me shooting an AK-47

And Alan shooting the M-60 (Rambo style)

They had a blown up tank.

Medium sized centipedes which reminded me of the one that eats the mouse on youtube.

The field trip was interesting learning some history between Vietnam and the United States. I'm glad my boss wants us to explore and have fun while we're young because he doesn't want us working too hard, especially since we are just here for the summer.

Soaked

Yesterday we went to buy a bed because we need more sleep space since Tat's mom is here. We go around Ian's place because there are a lot of bed sellers. But haggling in VN is difficult. In most Asian countries, you give them your price and you work it out to get a discount on the product you want. Not in VN. They simply do not care if you do not buy. Well one, we are in suits trying to haggle, they're probably thinking wow people in suits coming to buy merchandise, they have money lets raise the price. And 2, they will not chase you for the sale. But we got a bed and we haggled down about 60,000 VND. The bed ended up costing us like 380,000 VND. We were happy to get the discount, but halfway going home we realized we were just haggling for a few bucks. Like USD 4. Haha. USD 1 = ~17,000 VND. It's just pennies lol but its the principle and we won on margins and we have another bed to sleep on.

So today I woke up early or just earlier than I usually do. Like 6:45 compare to 7am to get to work earlier. I was on a good pace, ready to leave the house just a little past 7am. But then the bad happened. Rain. I'm the type of person that does NOT enjoy the rain, and living in a tropical environment kind of pisses me off. It will be sunny, hot, humid (which I do not really enjoy either) then it turns thunderstorm on me and its not sunny, hot, humid and wet. So this morning was one of those days...I'm all suited up, like suit and tie, and I get ready to walk outside. It's raining pretty hard but we have an umbrella. But the worst is that the drainage system doesn't exist here (kind of like so-cal freeways, they weren't designed to handle rain lol, so add water to the already bad drivers in America...better not drive with them, but anyways back to the story). So its raining so hard that if I walk out for 1 second, I'm 50% soaked. There isn't any puddles, just a lake of water. I start walking and the rain is not only attacking me from the top and on the sides, but the water on the ground has already creeped up my leg, or at least my feet. By then I'm just waiting to get to a dry area. But by then my suit is soaked, bag soaked, shoes and my once dry socks don't exist anymore, tie is almost like a wet towel I can use to slap someone with, just all bad. I'm afraid I have some water parasites eating my feet because I am in a third world country. So finally make it to the taxi and this just reinstates the point, Vietnam has major infrasture problems.

But I got some laughes out of it this morning, because Vietnam is like motorbyke heaven. So all the people were wearing poncho rain capes while riding. Because of the rain, I'm at work stuck wearing my wet socks or taking off my shoes and socks while working...sorry co-workers I decided dry. Haha full suit and no shoes or socks.

Tomorrow I have conference to listen to my boss, the former chief equities strategist from Merrill Lynch give a presentation on Vietnam. I'm excited to learn from the best. And on Friday I'm going to some tourist stuff for the first time while being here for 2 weeks. I'm going to the tunnels to see what it is like to be a VietCong. Haha. Anyways that should be cool if it doesn't rain, plus I hear I can shoot off some rounds on an AK.

But besides that, just busy at work with multiple projects going on at one time, but cannot discuss, confidentiality agreement that I just signed today.

My summmer...is gone...

So this the view from the top of my brother's house. He says this isn't ghetto, but I like to think otherwise. It looks like a bunch of tin houses to me. But hey at least we get AC in Ian's house. I don't really go outside 1) view sucks 2) hot 3) humid 4) I like AC. I guess its not as bad as some places though. But inside Ian's house is alright.

We went to visit Ian's big brother who looks out for him while he is in Vietnam. It was his birthday and we went to surprise him, but couldn't get a cake because all the stores were closed. His name is Anh Tu and he's a pretty funny guy. He likes to drink a lot and he's pretty small. So I gotta watch out or I might get messed up if I go out with him. He's a CFO at a fund here and offered me a job if I want to go to buy side. It's seems like a great opportunity, but I am limited on time so I have to see what I learn at my internship I have now first.
We went walking around District 1 which is where a lot of the tourists go because its like the center of the city with the nicer stores and has more of a western friendly feel. This girl is trying to sell Tat a flower. I told the girl he was gay and that his boyfriend really wanted a flower so she kept following him.
So this is the view of the entrance to my work where I intern. Everyone speaks vietnamese and a little english so its a little difficult to get used to things here. I'm just glad we have AC. But its fun and interesting but we are at work a lot. This picture was taken on a Sunday night where we were working, thats why there isn't anyone there. We were also there the night before til like 11pm on a Saturday night. And on top of that we work from like 7:30 or 8am til like 9pm for a usual day. But that's just us Americans because everyone else leaves and is lazy during the day too, but hey TIV (This is Vietnam).

Work...

So here in Vietnam I started working with my brother and his firm. It consists of a lot of reading of newspapers to get a feeling of whats happening daily. My brother and Tat showed me this article in which they found a picture of me in it...

If you look at the guy in the left, it looks like me supposedly. So I guess I'm model status, but we all knew that already. Kidding.

Vietnam is pretty fun and interesting so far. Even though everything is really hectic and sometimes weird to comprehend, its fun. I am learning to communicate my English, in which i have to dumb down and say with an accent. If I want a coke, i have to say cok-ca-co-laaaaaaaaa and drag out the laaaaa in a annoying nasally tone. I'm pretty much working all day, and that isn't a 9-5, more like a 7am til we get really hungry which can go past 9pm sometimes. But whatever, I'm here to learn and if it means being the first in last out I'll sacrafice my summer now to make big bucks in the future.

Made It

I got into Vietnam yesterday after like 24 hours of traveling from SD to LA to Taipei and Finally HCMC. As soon as I stepped outside of the airport I realized how I do not miss the hot and humid weather here. I see my brother wearing a full suit in the weather and I don't know how he is able to do it. Luckily my brother's work is nice enough to give him a taxi card so he doesn't have to ride the motor bikes and vespa scooters, not only because they are dangerous but because the taxi's are comfortably air conditioned.
So after he drives me to his place, a 3 story 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom and living and dining room/garage (but its no kingdom) and AC we eat and head off to work. I was excited to go check his company because I will also be interning there with Tat and Alan. Of course I have to put on a suit (I miss winter weather already).

His work is not too far from home and it is also air conditioned. As soon as I get in, I see Tat and we get ready to head off again to meet a company. We take a taxi, which was a total waste because the guy pretty much took us in a circle because the place was seriously like next to our building. I think my brother wanted to kick the guy's ass but we were late for the meeting so we had to take the raincheck. The meeting was pretty funny because I didn't say anything. I been outdoors a lot the past week so I got darker, so I guess I look really Vietnamese. They all thought I was my brother's translator, but I really cannot understand Vietnamese.

After getting back to work, Tat and Ian finish their work for the rest of the day. I start crashing because by then its already been 48+ hours since I slept. I slept like 1 to 2 hours on the plane but I wasn't too tired but about to get there. We go get those Vietnamese coffees, which get you wired out because I think they use speed instead of sugar. We are the last ones to leave work, by then its already 9PM, which is EARLY for them. Usually they leave later! But I think we were all starving so we head home and eat and just catch up. I finally get to get some rest by like 2 AM but luckily they have a conference tomorrow so I get to sleep in until they come and pick me up to get to work again.

Testing Testing

Tonight, I left San Diego for Vietnam to do an internship with my brother, Ian. Here's a picture Kristen snapped of me unloading the car of my baggage. I'm trying to look as excited as I feel. Two suitcases (both filled, surprisingly), my messenger bag, and my old backpack. I packed more than I expected and so I'm not sure where I'm going to store all of Kristen's gifts when I come back, lol.

And here's also a picture Kristen snapped of me and her right before she let go of me. I hope she will be okay while I'm gone. We actually asked some couple to take a photo of us but Kristen said that it came out bad?? I don't see how that's possible with me in the picture, haha.


Right now, I'm talking to Kristen as I sit in the airport. I flew from San Diego to LA and will be going to Taiwan and THEN to Vietnam...finally. I'm trying to take a somewhat artistic photo of me here...and it's awkward.

Mission accomplished, it's very "MySpace" type.

Hold on, let me try again.

Okay, that's pretty gay.

Really embarassed, will not be doing that again.

Okay, so that's the first post. This was mostly written by Kristen while she was on the phone with me, but the rest of the posts will actually be written by me, lol.

Take care, America! Mothaland, here I come!