Mot, hai, ba, JO!

While the spelling is almost certainly incorrect the title is how to do cheers in Vietnamese and there was a lot of that happening in celebration of Canada Day yesterday. The university here has a large Canada Day celebration each year because of the connections it has with various Canadian schools and organizations. So in the afternoon there was a ceremony filled with speeches, gifts, trivia, and performances. Students, faculty, local dignitaries and the consular general were all in attendence and of course we were expected to do a performance as well. We tried to sing Hello Vietnam and failed miserably, but did better with a rousing rendition of the I Am Canadian anthem from the Molson commercial. Following the ceremony there was a delicious dinner with the presidents of the university and local government members. It was here that we were introduced to this Vietnamese cheer business. It is customary to chug your entire drink, alcoholic or not, with every cheers. Let's just say that there was a lot if cheer going around that night and the Vietnamese can put the Canadians to shame when chugging beer if they want do. They won't take no for an answer either as we were egged on by them shouting "100%!". And of course karaoke followed. Canada was well-honoured in Tra Vinh this year.

We are two-thirds through our interviews and the recurring themes with the parents are how important it is to have connections and know the right people in order to get a good job, especially with the government. Sometimes parents say it is more important than your skills. Also, the university here gets mixed reviews with several parents saying the teaching and student support must improve, and sone local businesses look down on a degree from there. I have to give my Vietnamese partners credit for being good researchers and collecting this data without getting upset as they are students at this university and we have heard some harsh comments.