Labor Classes with Lindsey!

This is my third day in Vietnam, and I am finally beginning to recognize landmarks on campus. My morning routine consists of walking down a long sidewalk to the Canteen for an iced coffee (black), and grabbing oat-flavored snacks from the adjacent campus store. Today is our first Monday in class, and we are all still getting to know each other; what I enjoyed most about our course today was having the opportunity to speak with both my peers from Cornell and from TDTU to get a sense of everyone’s research interests.

After an introduction, we were each given the opportunity to delve into a particular topic related to labor in Vietnam by giving presentations throughout the week. I chose to present on labor laws and unions along with four other Cornell students. As we discussed our upcoming schedules, the excitement in the room was palpable; not only would we have the opportunity to hear about the research of TDTU instructors, we would also have the opportunity to speak with both industry and NGO stakeholders, including representatives from IKEA and Better Work Vietnam.

As I continue to move forward and hone my topics of interest, I am most looking forward to speaking with representatives from IKEA to get a fuller sense of how multinationals in Vietnam operate, particularly at the administrative level. With this in mind, I hurried to pack my things and headed to the Canteen for a lunch of tofu, fresh vegetables, and steamed rice to continue to get to know my cohort.

Farewell celebration with Addison!

Today was the last day of the program! After a short class, all six of us in the group went to the mall for lunch. Then, we practiced our dance sequence for the ceremony! We are doing the YMCA, the Macarena, and the Cha-Cha Slide. We practiced for a while, then it was time for the celebration! A few of the Vietnamese students gave speeches, and we all gave little speeches too. Then, we brainstormed ways to stay in touch and decided we’ll meet in Dubai in five years! Finally, the time cane for our dance performance!! We were able to get the students to join us for the dances, and little did we know, the Vietnamese students had a dance for us to do together! After all the dancing, we all exchanged gifts! After that, giant dinner feast time!! There were a lot of interesting dishes, and they were all super yummy. I sat next to a girl who taught me words and complimented my chopstick skills. The craziest part of the meal was the hot pot that boiled fish alive! Crazy but delicious! After that, we did karaoke! I walk into a super fancy room, and a girl is singing a Taylor Swift song, so I jump right in!! At some point, Andrew joins too. I sang lots of songs! It was so fun! Finally, it was time to say goodbye. It was sad, but Dubai in five years! (Hopefully!) 

Learning Vietnamese Labor Law with Rija!

Today was a typical day for us at TDTU. The quadruple we were all staying in was hustling and bustling by 9 AM, and we were ready for our day. The first order of the day was ‘café su da’ from the English Café, which arguably has the best coffee on campus even though the barista had no fancy machines and poured the brew from her thermos. 

Coffees in hand, we made our way to our classroom, where we learned about Vietnamese Labor Law. Being ILRies and having focused on American Labor Law in the past, it was fascinating to learn about the Labor Law System in Vietnam. On paper, most agree that the law is very favorable to workers and their rights. However, enforcement of the law is weak, and penalties for those who violate it are non-existent. We also happened to be in Vietnam, just as the new labor laws were being introduced and had the opportunity of discussing their ramifications with both professors. In particular, the new law would allow freedom of association in Vietnam as opposed to the central union, the VGCL.

I found the paternalistic role of the government in labor law very interesting as laws like paid maternity leave, minimum wage and a cap on overtime suggest good intentions. However, the government needs to balance the interest of Foreign Direct Investment. These are questions that many countries in the region are no doubt battling with. 

The other highlight of my day and I daresay my trip, was being introduced to the all-encompassing service app called ‘Grab’. Grab works like Uber, Uber eats, a hotel booking service, payment portal, and even package delivery service. This allowed me to start tasting different kinds of bubble tea every day! I recommend ‘Bobapop,’ but the local favorite seems to be ‘Koi’. 

Exploring District 1 with Kaitlin!

Today we had an action-packed day as we were able to explore district 1 for the first time since arriving in Ho Chi Minh City. Our first stop of the day was a delicious pho place called Duong’s Restaurant Saigon. We shared a family-style meal with dumplings, noodles, spring rolls, and even panda-shaped buns. 

Once we had spent some time at the market, we went to a local park across from Independence Palace to regroup and decide what to do for the afternoon and evening. Everyone was excited to see Independence Palace, also called Reunification Palace. This marks Ho Chi Minh’s home after South Vietnam was reunited with North Vietnam. There are several stories in this massive palace, complete with a helicopter landing pad and a basement bunker. 

After we grabbed breakfast, we headed to Bang Niang Market. This market-place has all sorts of items, from Vietnamese themed trinkets to factory reject designer clothing and bags. The market even had produce, and food stands inside. One of the keys to the Bang Niang Market is to bargain with the sellers. Most people start at half of the sellers’ asking price. Asking for less than half can seem disrespectful while accepting the sellers’ initial offer means the customer is paying too much. 

As the day went on, the heat began to exhaust people, so we got a quick snack at a cafe in the Times Square area of district 1. We had great mango smoothies and quickly headed back to campus to recharge. Some students ended the night with massages and Thai food while others explored the school and some of the local street food found across the street from campus. All in all, it was a great day and were all very excited to explore more of Vietnam!

Visiting the Unicorn Island with Daniel!

Early in the morning, around 6:45 AM, our group met up with a number of TDTU students for our annual Mekong River Delta tour. After a 90 minute ride in TDTU’s amazing mini-bus, we arrived at a port. We took 10 minutes to browse some shops before boarding a boat to Unicorn Island! A TDTU student explained that the island’s name does not explicitly mention a unicorn, but instead evokes a legend of a mystical tiger (in a way, a Vietnamese unicorn). 

We rode in a horse-drawn cart until we reached a beautiful path shaded by fruit-bearing trees. The path led us to a bee farm, where we sampled delicious teas and snacks like ginger candies and banana chips. Our tour guide passed around a snake for all of us to pet to end our pit stop. 

We continued until we reached a coconut-based vendor, where we saw how the famous coconut candies are made. Our guide stripped a coconut and explained the process. We sampled some coconut candies before moving on to a fruit-based cafe for a refreshing snack. Singers performed traditional Vietnamese songs while we ate.

To leave Unicorn Island, we had to ride through a narrow stream on a smaller boat to reach our main boat. After we settled back on our boat, we traveled to another nearby island. Our guide showed us ponds with native fish and alligators on our way to a historical site. Nine dragon statues lined a beautiful Buddhist temple.

Finally, we returned to our boat and traveled to a waterfront restaurant for lunch. We feasted on elephant-ear fish, shrimp, chicken, and tons of delicious vegetables. Crisp watermelon and fresh coconut milk marked the end of a sunny, fantastic excursion.

Law School Presentation with Andrew!

We started the day off with an exceptional presentation about the recent Vietnamese Labor Law reforms in 2019, hearing from members of the TDTU Law and Labor Relations faculties, our own Professor Fincher, and several guest lecturers. The presentation was in the library, and the facilities were very impressive; we got an idea of how it is kept in such impeccable condition when we had to exchange our shoes for special library slippers before entering the building. The presentation included a lot of discussion and various group activities, we learned primarily about the changes to the law, which are meant to: increase the number of labor contracts, decrease workplace sexual harassment, and improve the overall labor conflict resolution process. We also talked extensively about the gap which exists between the incredibly progressive labor laws on the one hand and the extent (lack) of enforcement on the other.

In the afternoon, we got to have a one on one lecture/discussion with Dang Thi Hai Ha, the Founder and Chief Advisor of the workplace consulting agency Respect Vietnam, who had spoken to us in the morning about #MeToo and the law surrounding sexual harassment in Vietnam, and now shared with us her experiences and projects at Respect Vietnam as well as her overall thoughts on the Vietnamese Labor Relations system. She was an impressive speaker who was very knowledgeable about labor in Vietnam, and many students (myself included) found this to be one of the most engaging and exciting classroom experiences on the trip.

In the evening, we participated in the third night of our debate workshop, and by this point, we were ready to start putting our learning together to build a cohesive, well-structured argument. We learned about framing and summarizing arguments, how to put all of your arguments together, and we presented arguments to various topics in small groups. After the debate, we went to VivoCity, a nearby mall, for dinner, and some of us got the chance to play virtual reality on the top floor!