On Friday I went to visit the Cu Chi tunnels. It is amazing what war can do to people... The introductory video that we watched was anything but pleasant and one could really see the hatred that the Vietnamese following the initial end of the war held for those 'savage' Americans. In addition, we saw traps that the Cu Chi people set up to "capture" and to kill the Americans-I felt a little uneasy after that.I also went into one of the tunnels, it was pretty dark and a very intense experience. I did it fine (I was surprised too) but someone behind me started freaking out and so we all tried to hurry out of the tunnel so that the person could get out.
Today I went to Vung Tao (the beach!) and it was really fun. I went with Vi's family, Co Thanh's son (the academic director's) and with Thuy (her picture is here-it is one of the earlier ones). I have been working on my ISP proposal as the first draft is due tomorrow (Monday). I am glad that I got to take a break from working/studying. I ate a snail and it was very disgusting...After a couple of bites I seriously didn't know what to do. They didn't want me to throw it away so I put the whole thing in my mouth and it took me about 10 minutes to chew it to a point where I would be ok with swallowing it. In order to help my discomfort at having a snail in my mouth I ate A LOT of spicy sauce/chilly, ginger and some leaves (don't know what type). At least now I can say, ' I ate a snail and I didn't like it'.
After this week we are off to the capital, Hanoi! It should be interesting given that a lot of people in the South don't seem to think well of the Northerners. For example some people have told me to beware of the Northerners because they are not honest and straightforward people like they are (the southerners, especially in the Mekong).
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