While in Saigon, our professor has let us in on a ton of opportunities within the city. His research in Ho Chi Minh is directed at studying youth culture and, as such, he knows about all of the events going on that we would never have heard about otherwise. It has been a very fascinating way to learn about what the "hip youth" are doing when they aren't on Facebook looking at memes.
One evening, the class went to a Saigon Heat basketball game. Saigon Heat is the premier basketball team in the VBA—or, Vietnamese Basketball Association. The game was a cultural experience to say the least. The gym was smaller than the Smith Center and the game was so loud at all times. They have an announcer that screams into the microphone and runs onto the court during every timeout with a roving basketball hoop and he throws a ball into the audience and they have to try and make it in this target. The highlight was getting to meet their star player, Stefan. I know follow him on Instagram.
Another night, we attended an ~underground~ art exhibit. It was down a winding alley and housed some more experimental artists. It was in a small coffee-shop-by-day-art-space-by-night so it was crowded with people and everyone was barefoot. One of the pieces was of war ravaged forests and another that stood out was a floor-to-ceiling, naked, Buddha—I think? It felt like I was in a scene from Girls and I would hear Lena Dunham over my shoulder calling the work "over stimulating". I loved it.
The following weekend, we went to a different exhibit that took a much more interesting approach. The event was hosted at The Factory—a really cool art space made of shipping containers—and the artists were discussing the inspiration behind their pieces. One artist used silk layering to build upon distorted portraits representing stages of their life. The other, pictured below, were images of slaughterhouses that were painted with a solution containing animal blood. Don't worry, it didn't smell!
Then, most recently, I attended a performance at the Saigon Opera House. The show, Teh Dar, was an exploration of tribal dances and music in Vietnam. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. There was not much speaking, and when there was, it was done in a tribal dialect so no one knew what they were actually saying. There were a great deal of acrobatics in the show. One piece was executed with the entire cast facing upstage and they wore masks on the back of their heads. Khanh (my new best friend) and I thought that vignette was "kind of freaky".
Overall, it's been amazing getting to explore the more exciting scenes in Saigon that I never even considered a possibilty. I can't wait to see what else is in store!
**For those of you who don’t know, I love Carly Rae Jepsen. This post is titled after one of her (many) hits off of her 2015 hit album, Emotion.**