Pictures Vol. 1

Before I start my homework, here are some photos from the past few days:

chilies drying at a bus stop

you can tell what they are selling by looking at the bamboo poles

Meg and I have both eaten fried fish tail, chicken feet, fish eyeballs and chicken butt

New friend Imy was telling us about the market. A pineapple merchant has a pineapple on a pole to indicate from afar what he is selling. She had some riddles for us:

• What is on bamboo that is not for sale? Their laundry. Some of these boat people live on boats their entire lives. Kids born on the boats don't have birth certificates and so they can't go to school. The government is working to fix that, but there is a lot of history to work against: one side of the river has had electricity for fifty years, and the other for only two.
• What is not on the bamboo that is for sale? Soups. I got that one right.
• What is for sale when palm leaves are on the bamboo? The boat itself.

We went to the market with our new friends (student volunteers from dinner last night). Getting there at 6:30 am wasn't enough to catch the real local market experience. By 8:00, it's just French tourists eating pineapple and bookies on boats collecting money.Yes, I stood on a boat eating pineapple, too. At least when I hang out with eight Vietnamese university students, I look more legitimate.

After the market, we had a tour and lunch at a tropical fruit garden, walking along the river and talking. Great conversations here. The students are just as eager to learn about the US as we are to learn about Viet Nam. Imy wants to go to UMass Amherst to follow her English teacher and see snow. I want to stay in Can Tho and eat more milk fruit, papaya and fish eyes. The grass will always seem greener.