00:00:03 Hey, guys.

00:00:03 I'm making a trip home to America.

00:00:20 That was faster than I thought.

00:00:21 Since I'm home now,

00:00:22 it seems like a good time to continue exploring the topic "Normal in Vietnam, weird
elsewhere."

00:00:29 That is, I'm going to talk once again about things like showing off your belly,

00:00:31 drinking beer with ice,

00:00:32 and going to extra classes,

00:00:33 which the entire Vietnamese community have accepted as completely normal,

00:00:37 but which an American like me can't help finding a bit odd.

00:00:40 The point of this video isn't to criticize the Vietnamese way of life,

00:00:44 nor is it to praise the American way of life,

00:00:47 but rather just to explore the differences between the two places.

00:00:50 And our exploration is going to begin at the cinema.

00:00:54 "high-class cinema-going"

00:00:56 If you were to ask me where to find the best-dressed people in any given town in America,

00:01:00 I...

00:01:01 wouldn't know,

00:01:02 because Americans typically make the effort to dress up about once or twice a year.

00:01:06 However, if you were to ask me the same question about a town in Vietnam,

00:01:09 I would know the answer instantly:

00:01:11 the movie theater!

00:01:12 I mean, really, just look at how fabulous these people look.

00:01:15 And they don't just dress up. They also get their cameras out and pose for a bunch of
pictures,

00:01:19 like they're at some big, memorable event.

00:01:21 A movie theater here in American doesn't look quite the same.

00:01:25 To give you an idea of just how different things are here,

00:01:27 my cousin and his family have a tradition of going out to the movies on Christmas day.

00:01:31 And what do they wear?

00:01:33 Their pajamas.

00:01:34 So this is what their pictures look like.

00:01:36 "fast choice" restaurants

00:01:38 I've mentioned in some previous videos, I love the food in Vietnam.

00:01:42 But sometimes Westerners like me feel a little uncomfortable eating at restaurants there,

00:01:46 because the servers always bring the menus over,

00:01:49 and then just stand there waiting for you to choose.

00:01:52 Here's how it goes in America:

00:01:54 The server brings the menu over, says:

00:01:56 "I'll give you a few minutes to decide."

00:01:57 and then walks away while you choose.

00:02:00 It seems like a pretty reasonable system,

00:02:01 and I can't really figure out what's going on in Vietnam.

00:02:04 Like, is it that Vietnamese people have some preternatural ability

00:02:07 to instantly choose that they want out of a menu?

00:02:09 Or is it just that they don't mind being stared at by a stranger for a few minutes while they
decide?

00:02:14 Whatever the reason,

00:02:15 if you happen to work in a restaurant and you ever get Western customers,

00:02:18 try doing what I just mentioned:

00:02:20 Say,

00:02:20 "I'll give you a few minutes to decide,"

00:02:21 and then walk away.

00:02:23 They'll think you're the coolest server in all of Vietnam.

00:02:26 "misplaced street lights"

00:02:28 When I first started riding a motorbike around Hanoi, it was fun but also stressful, for a
number of reasons:

00:02:33 other motorbikes carrying big loads of steel,

00:02:36 idiots texting while riding,

00:02:37 and also, stopping at intersections and looking around like:

00:02:40 "Wait, where's the light? How do I know when to go?"

00:02:43 I'm not sure, this might be something you only find in Hanoi, and not other Vietnamese
cities,

00:02:47 but there are a surprising number of intersections there

00:02:50 where the stop light is installed on the near side of the cross street,

00:02:54 so if you're stopped right on the stop line in the middle of the street,

00:02:57 you can't see the light at all.

00:02:59 Now, most of those intersections do have that little red cross thing on the far side,

00:03:03 so you can see that,

00:03:04 but that just makes the whole thing even stranger to me,

00:03:07 because someone obviously realized that there needs to be something on the far side for
people to see,

00:03:12 so why not just install both stop lights on that side to begin with?

00:03:16 There must be some reason for it that I just don't know about, like . . .

00:03:19 feng shui?

00:03:21 "cannabis clothes"

00:03:22 Probably the funniest thing about living in Asia

00:03:24 is seeing people wearing clothes printed with ridiculous English that they don't
understand,

00:03:29 like the time my wife's sister was wearing a shirt that said "FAT DOG."

00:03:32 But something that's stranger to me are all the clothes and hats you see in Vietnam that
are printed with pot leaves.

00:03:37 And you typically see, like, high school students and really innocent-looking girls wearing
them.

00:03:41 For a long time, I just assumed that they didn't know what that leaf was,

00:03:44 but then one time I asked my wife's other sister:

00:03:46 "Do you know what leaf that is on your bag there?"

00:03:48 And she said:

00:03:49 "Yeah, it's marijuana."

00:03:52 The thing is, if you wear clothes with pot leaves on them in America,

00:03:54 people will assume not only that you smoke pot,

00:03:57 but also that you really, really like it

00:04:00 and identify with the culture of smoking pot,

00:04:02 like this guy.

00:04:03 So if you're planning on traveling to America at some point,

00:04:06 and you don't want people to think you're a pot smoker,

00:04:08 you might want to leave your favorite pot leaf hat at home.

00:04:11 "ultra-specific universities"

00:04:13 Over the past four years in Hanoi, I've had a lot of English students—

00:04:17 more than I can remember—

00:04:18 but while my students are in my class, I try to learn some things about them,
00:04:21 like where they're from and what they do.

00:04:24 But when it comes to university students and the schools they go to,

00:04:27 it's really hard to keep track.

00:04:28 I study at the University of Industry and Commerce.

00:04:31 I study at the University of Technology, Industry, and Economics.

00:04:34 I study at the University of Economics and Commerce.

00:04:37 Okay, I kind of made those ones up,

00:04:38 but, seriously, Hanoi has so many universities,

00:04:41 and they're so specific.

00:04:43 I mean, just look at these.

00:04:44 The University of Fire Fighting and Fire Prevention.

00:04:46 The University of Social Sciences and the Humanities.

00:04:49 The University of Transport Technology.

00:04:51 Jesus!

00:04:52 Is is really necessary to have separate universities for each of those things?

00:04:56 I mean, if you look at a large city in the US, like New York,

00:04:58 there are a lot of universities and colleges,

00:05:00 but they tend to have pretty general names:

00:05:07 And they tend to be pretty general in nature.

00:05:09 Like, at Gonzaga University behind me,

00:05:11 you can study accounting, education, nursing, or theater arts.

00:05:15 But, hey, if the super specific universities in Vietnam are working for you guys,

00:05:18 I guess there's no need to change anything.

00:05:21 I have been thinking, when I get back to Hanoi, I might open . . .

00:05:28 Anyone want to apply?

00:05:29 "pizza with tomato sauce to the second power"

00:05:31 Okay, I just got this pizza delivered to my front door here in Hanoi,

00:05:34 and even though I haven't opened the box yet,

00:05:36 I can still tell you something that's going to be inside, other than just pizza.

00:05:40 Ketchup, oooooooh.

00:05:42 Now let's go look at a pizza in America.

00:05:45 Okay, I just got my pizza from Bennedito's, a local Spokane favorite,

00:05:49 aaaand . . .
00:05:50 no ketchup to be found.

00:05:51 Now, I've been told that there are some other places where people often put ketchup on
pizza.

00:05:55 but I had never seen it until I came to Vietnam.

00:05:57 And the reason it seems particularly weird to me—

00:06:00 despite the fact that I just don't like ketchup very much—

00:06:02 is that pizza already has tomato sauce on it,

00:06:05 so putting another tomato sauce on top just seems redundant,

00:06:08 like dipping apples in honey

00:06:10 or wearing a raincoat while also using an umbrella,

00:06:13 or watching a movie on your laptop and your TV at the same time.

00:06:17 This is awesome!

00:06:19 "beautiful numbers"

00:06:21 I still remember, there was a really exciting time in my journey of learning Vietnamese

00:06:25 when I could start to understand signs out on the street,

00:06:27 like, "Oh, 'eyeglasses,'"

00:06:30 or, "Oh, 'low prices,'"

00:06:33 or, "Oh, 'pissing prohibited.'"

00:06:36 But there was one thing that I kept on seeing and kind of understood, but didn't really.

00:06:40 "Beautiful numbers."

00:06:41 "Beautiful numbers."

00:06:42 "Beautiful numbers."

00:06:43 "Beautiful numbers?" What?

00:06:45 I had to ask my Vietnamese teacher what it was all about,

00:06:47 and when she explained it, I only found it stranger,

00:06:50 because, first of all, where I'm from, you never choose a phone number.

00:06:53 You buy a phone, you get a number, and that's it.

00:06:55 And the idea that someone would pay extra for one of these "beautiful numbers?"

00:06:59 That's even stranger.

00:07:00 And compounded upon that is I often find these beautiful numbers really hard to read.

00:07:05 When I see a number like this, for example, I have to look really closely, and be like:

00:07:09 "Wait, how many 8s is that?"

00:07:11 So, personally, I find that your "s? d?p" are in fact
00:07:14 "s? x?u" ("ugly numbers").

00:07:15 "drinking warm water"

00:07:19 Water, of course, is the source of life,

00:07:22 but you might find that different countries enjoy it in different ways.

00:07:25 For example, most Westerners in Vietnam have probably had the unpleasant experience

00:07:29 of asking for a glass of water in someone's home

00:07:32 and getting something about as warm as bath water.

00:07:35 Most of us have grown up drinking water that's always cold, or at least cool.

00:07:39 But the thing that's even stranger to me than the warm water itself is the supposed reason
for it:

00:07:43 Oh, if you drink cold water you'll get a sore throat, Dan.

00:07:46 What?

00:07:46 Okay, probably every culture in the world has some superstitions and misconceptions
about illness—

00:07:51 like some Americans still believe that a cold is actually caused by cold weather itself,
rather than by viruses—

00:07:56 so please don't think that I'm judging Vietnamese people when I say this,

00:07:58 but I just want to tell you guys, in case you don't already know,

00:08:01 sore throats are not caused by drinking cold water.

00:08:05 You can read it right here:

00:08:06 "Most sore throats are caused by viruses, and the remainder are caused by bacterial
infections

00:08:10 or exposure to chemicals."

00:08:12 I'll make you this deal to prove it:

00:08:13 I'll drink this entire cup of really cold water,

00:08:16 and if tomorrow I have a sore throat, I'll send each of you five dollars.

00:08:25 Now, I know some of you are going to say:

00:08:27 "But you're a Westerner, Dan. You're used to it."

00:08:29 No. As far as I know, there's nothing in the world that works that way.

00:08:33 If you breathe ammonia fumes every day of your life,

00:08:36 you're not going to get immune to it.

00:08:38 You're going to get a sore throat every time.

00:08:40 And eventually you'll probably die.

00:08:44 This video was supported by ELSA, the app that helps you improve your English
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00:09:07 Just follow the three simple steps there to pay with a discounted price.

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00:09:20 Pretty sweet.

00:09:21 This video was also supported by viewers like you on Patreon.

00:09:24 If you're interested in contributing a small amount of money for each video I put out,

00:09:28 just go to patreon.com/danhauer.

00:09:30 The support I've received from my patrons on Patreon

00:09:32 helped make possible this trip home to America for me and my wife.

00:09:35 So I want to send a sincere "thank you" to all my patrons for their support,

00:09:39 and thank you for watching, as well.

00:09:42 Oh, by the way,

00:09:43 it's now the day after I shot that bit with the cold water.

00:09:46 No sore throat,

00:09:47 so no five dollars.