I just learned how to make titles! Day Three: Pat Wall and Smushball

The third day in HCMC was another great one. Although I woke up feeling a little sick, I pushed through breakfast to UEF (with the help of some ibuprofen). At UEF we had another Vietnamese language class and a lesson on rural development in the Mekong delta. We learned just how different the delta is economically, environmentally, and socially than the city. Our professor was very knowledgeable and passionate about the delta, as he was born and raised there. He also had some insightful comments, such as "you can tell a good professor because they will make things clear and then confuse you again in a single lesson." After UEF we ate lunch again at Kent. By this time I had regained my appetite, which was good because the food was particularly good today.
In the afternoon we headed to Diamond Plaza downtown to visit the U.S Commercial service. The U.S Commercial service is a governmentally run operation that acts as a consultant and advocate for American business in Vietnam. As a division of the U.S consulate it is technically U.S soil, however to my dismay we did not get to visit the part of the building where they kept the roaming herds of buffalo and double cheeseburgers. We got to talk Pat Wall, the head of the department, who explained how he worked to promote the growth of U.S enterprise in Vietnam. Pat had a great understanding of the trends in enterprise in Vietnam and working with the Vietnamese government.
After the meeting we headed back to the hotel, where me and a few others got to head to the hotel swimming pool to relax for a bit. For dinner our friend from UEF (and basically our HCMC tour guide as well) Kate took us to Broken Rice Restaurant. The food was great, but the star of the night was Smushball, the house cat who we discovered on the second floor of the restaurant and named appropriately. Smushball was friendly and excited, not afraid to hop up on your lap while you were eating or play around with your leg. He was also especially photogenic! After dinner we took some taxis deep into the city to a Cafe. We split into two groups to fit into the taxis; I was in the first group, meaning we didn't have Kate with us and didn't quite know where we were going. We were dropped in a small four way intersection at some train tracks deep in the middle of Saigon with no cafe in sight. The next twenty minutes were a bit exciting and a bit terrifying as we tried to figure out where we were, where we were supposed to go, and how to get a hold of Kate with no international calling plans or Wifi. Luckily we were eventually able to get a hold of Kate, and she explained to us how to get the cafe. The Cafe was tucked away in an alley with a bi of a hidden entrance, but when you walked inside, it was like a hidden paradise. It seemed to go on forever, with terraced levels, indoor and outdoor seats, and a pond and waterfall. The cafe also had the best Cafe Sua Da (iced coffee with condensed milk) I've had on the trip yet! Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.