So last night Thao and I went to the University Star competition at my school, RMIT. It’s an American Idol knockoff they do every year here. Only students and teachers from the various universities in HCMC can participate. They set up a stage on the soccer field next to the school (the same field Lam Dai and I were playing frisbee/aerobie on a few weeks ago).

It was a pretty big event – I would say several hundred students in attendance and a professional-looking stage, sound equipment, etc. Of course, this is Vietnam so there were glitches. During the first song – “Hello” by Lionel Richie – something happened with the sound equipment and there was this loud rumbling/grinding noise coming out of the speakers. The band (they had a live band backing the singers) kept playing and the singer just kind of stood there and waited it out. He did a good job bouncing back and finished strong.

The tickets said the thing started at 6:00pm, so we got there about ten til 6, but it actually didn’t start until around 7:00pm. I’ve still yet to fully appreciate that everything starts late here. I thought maybe this would be different since it was kind of a big event, heavily advertised, with sponsors, etc., but alas.

We sat with my buddy Chris – who is also a new teacher at RMIT. He is from Australia and is pretty funny. He’s lived in Vietnam for 10 years, so he’s a good resource for questions I have, etc. We made it through about 8 of the 16 singers before we snuck out. (Oh, I neglected to mention – this was the semifinal round. The final is next week. And last night was also only the male singers – the females do their thing tonight.)

Here are the songs I remember hearing: (1) the aforementioned “Hello” by Lionel Richie; (2) “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles (yes, this was sung by a man/boy/manboy thing, I think); (3) “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word” by Elton John (Thao and I called him “Elton Nguyen” – because we are clever like that); (4) “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi (!); (5) “Words” by the Bee-Gees (!); and (6) “The Laralee Song” (I am not sure how to spell that) by who knows. I either didn’t know the other two songs or can’t remember what they were.

I have some photos and videos of this but for some reason I can’t get my camera to connect to my laptop right now so I can’t upload them. I don’t know what the deal is with technology in Vietnam. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle of technology – your stuff might work fine in your home country, but if you bring it into Vietnam it’s going to inexplicably stop working. I’ll get them posted soon – hopefully. A couple of the videos are really funny.

After the show, Thao and I went and ate sushi at this place called the Tokyo Deli. It’s near my house in Phu My Hung and I’d seen it before but had never been in. Thao really only likes Vietnamese food – which I can’t eat every single meal. She tries to be a good sport about it by eating other foods with me, but she doesn’t really like it. She does like a Thai restaurant down the street from my place – but only because they serve some Vietnamese dishes. So that’s a good compromise. Anyway, I haven’t done many “Damn this place is cheap!” posts lately because I’m kind of just used to it now, but it’s still pretty amazing when I stop and think about it. Last night we ate the following: one order of California rolls, one order of spicy salmon rolls, one order of dynamite shrimp rolls, one bowl of seafood udon soup (big enough for two people), a wakame seaweed salad, three Carlsberg beers, and two iced teas (not iced tea like we think of it in the south in the U.S. – this is just iced “tra vang” – yellow tea – a very week tea they give you pretty much everywhere you go here) – all of that food and the bill was 259,000 dong, which is about $16 USD. That meal would have cost at least $50 or $60 USD back in the U.S. – and more if it was at my favorite sushi place in Atlanta, M.F. Sushi.

If/when I ever move back to the U.S., I think I am going to be in shell-shock over the cost of everything. I remember when I was home in December, the morning after I first got home, my friend Anne and I went to Starbucks and ordered two lattes, two scones, and a New York Times (which granted was the Sunday times, so $5) and the bill was $17.93. It blew me away. Also I keep reading on the internet about the price of gasoline in the U.S. and how people are spending $70 or $80 to fill up their cars. Gas prices have gone up here too, but I’m still paying about $3 USD a week to keep my motorbike going. I’m going to have a big adjustment to make if/when I move back!