Day 3-May 15, 2013

Today we visited VSIP, which was my company.  Before coming to Vietnam I was still sort of confused as to how an industrial park actually operated, but after this company visit it's all more clear to me.  I see how there are different companies located within the boundaries of the industrial park and they choose to locate themselves there because of certain benefits they will receive.  We also heard from II IV.  Dave, the presenter, was very knowledgable about his company.  I find it amazing how he came here from America and doesn't speak Vietnamese and he's still able to work here.  His children also go to school in Vietnam as well.  He gave us a tour of two II IV buildings.  It was really cool being able to see first-hand what goes on behind doors in a manufacturing company.  There are so many steps to make the smallest items.  I never realized how much time was put into making the most intricate parts of larger products.  They have a huge assembly line set up to accomplish these tasks.  Also, the labor laws caught my attention.  Workers are able to miss work up to five days in a row every month before they're fired.  In America you'd be fired in a second!  After the company tours, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant.  Asian Chinese food is very different than Americanized Chinese food.  The beef (or whatever meat that was) and broccoli with white rice was pretty much the only similarity I noticed.  While we were in the restaurant it began to downpour.  I thought rain in Oakland was bad, but that's nothing compared to this rain.  The bus driver had to pull under an overhang and workers escorted us with umbrellas so we wouldn't get wet.  It was crazy!  Then we went to EIU and heard a brief lecture on their school and played a game with the students.  My group had to describe to the Vietnamese students what Thanksgiving was and how we celebrate it and then they had to draw it.  It was a really interesting and fun game.  These students were so nice and welcoming.  On the long bus ride home we broke out the bus games.  It was like high school all over again!