Did I eat cockroach juice last night?

That is the question of the day. After reading an article for class that mentioned banh xeo (translation: rice pancakes) are sometimes made with cockroach juice I am curious to know if the one I had last night was made with this magical ingredient. And by curious I mean I don't actually want to know.

 

we love cockroach juice. nom nom nom

Regardless of what bug juice is squirted into banh xeo, it's pretty delicious, as everything else here. Tonight was most definitely my favorite meal because I went to my homestay's house and got to meet my new and improved (just kidding, Mom) family. They live in this beautiful house in what appears to be a nice part of the city. There are two daughters in the family, one named Trinh and the other I call Jessica. Thank you impossible to pronounce Vietnamese names. Trinh is going to be 18 in a few weeks and Jessica is 13. Their English is incredible. Both the mother and father speak very little English. The father is a professor of Computer Science at the University of Ho Chi Minh City. Then they have the most adorable grandparents ever. The daughters and I talked for a few hours before dinner in English the whole time (obviously since I know how to say hello, thank you, seafood, and 1, 2, 3, cheers! in Vietnamese) but when we got to dinner it was quiet because I couldn't understand anything that they were saying and they didn't really know what I was saying. I honestly wanted to burst out laughing at one point because I couldn't believe that I was sitting around a table in this beautiful home, eating this amazing Vietnamese dish with a Vietnamese family. But what completes the image is the the fact that I hold the bowl of rice or soup up to my mouth and shovel it in with my chopsticks. I absolutely love it. I don't know why it never crossed my mind that I would be using chopsticks at every meal. Life is too good. I return to my family in one month and that is when I will live with them for three weeks. Prior to this visit I was really nervous about my homestay but now I am ecstatic. They were so warm and welcoming and I am excited that when I return I will have a month of intense Vietnamese under my belt. Maybe I can say something constructive at the dinner table. Like "Yum." That would be a good start.

More food: this morning my roommate, and I woke up hungry so we roamed the streets until we found a nice little breakfast place. I got watermelon juice and then we split a plate of watermelon. Clearly I like my watermelon. I also had it for dessert tonight. We ended up staying in the cafe for a few hours just talking. By that point we were hungry again, which was justified since it was almost lunchtime and we only ate watermelon for breakfast so we went to a street vendor that was recommended to us by our program director and got baguettes with egg, soy sauce, and vegetables. 8,000 dong aka 40 cents. SO YUMMY! I guess the safest thing to do around here is get a recommendation from a local for which street vendors to buy from. If a local buys there then it can't be sketchy, right? Alex tried to get some sticky rice but they put some weird stuff on it that neither of us felt very good about. We don't have any of the basic Vietnamese to say stop or no when they keep piling stuff on. It is sort of frustrating because sometimes I start speaking Spanish on instinct just thinking that if I speak in another foreign language I will be understood. Not exactly the case. Soon enough I am sure I will be able to tell street vendors what I want. (Don't cross your fingers because here in Vietnam that means female sexual organs).

Okay, this blogpost is chronologically backwards. I'll keep that up. Yesterday I strapped on my Pretty Dog helmet and rode around with a new BELL member, Titu. Each SIT student was given a "task." Mine was to go to an art museum. Maybe five years ago I would have considered that a task but I really enjoyed myself. It was interesting to see how much Vietnam's history influenced and was reflected in the pieces of art. Here were some of my favorite masterpieces.

 

 throw them up Titu

yin-yang sculpture

After the art museum we went to a market and I got a Rolex watch. And by Rolex I mean a knockoff. As you can imagine the word "market" suggests bartering, which is probably one of my favorite things to do while traveling. I got the vendor down to half his original asking price. Okay, so then I actually went and spent big money on a new phone, SIM card, and minutes. I decided to splurge and pay a little extra to get a phone that was pink instead of gray. Like I said, big money: $34. Being reconnected feels so good, not that I receive many texts, let alone phone calls. Guess I need more freeeends. Come visit me in Vietnam???

Tomorrow is Monday, meaning classes officially start. Vietnamese every day for 2.5 hours in the morning and then a history/culture class for 2 hours in the afternoon. That's it. Life is rough. That is a joke. I don't know what I am going to do with all my spare time. Thank goodness I have a whole city to explore and I easily get lost.

One more food promo: