Grapefruit, tea and conversation in rural Hue

Vi wakes up before dawn every morning to make sure she can ride her bike 30 minutes to school.

School starts at 7 a.m. for Vi, a student at the main university in Hue, Central Vietnam.

For her parents, the day starts even earlier. Vi's parents are farmers, working hard day after day to send their second oldest daughter to college.

In Vietnam, the cost of going to school is about $50 U.S. per month. The average salary for a family in rural Hue is the same -- about $50 U.S.

The Vietnamese government does not tax its people -- 70 percent of which are involved in agriculture. Not many scholarships or grants are available to help students with their fees.

Vi explained that her parents sacrifice a lot to make sure she can fulfill her dream of becoming a translator.

"I respect my parents very much," Vi said. For her, family is the most important part of life.

"Without family, a person cannot survive," she said.

Vi studies linguistics, and has hopes to be a translator.

My friends and I found Vi during a bike ride through the countryside.

Surrounded by green of rice fields, I pedaled my bike as slowly as I could. The quiet rice fields penetrate all other noise, including the occasional motto bike that goes by.

The Perfume River flows, families sit in their homes, men and women work in the fields.

My friend Adelaide had been leading Sunny and I on a pagoda tour of the countryside outside of Hue when a local approached her -- Vi's mother.

She offered to take us to the ruins of a temple and then to her home for food, tea and to meet her family.

I was sweaty, hot and tired from the long bike ride. We agreed to follow her.

Their home was typical of most Vietnamese homes -- a bright color on the walls, wooden doors, song birds in cages on the porch.

Vi's mother served us grapefruit and tea, all grown from their garden.

Vi is thin -- too thin. I was thankful for the grapefruit, realizing how much that one fruit meant to this family.

Over tea we discussed Vietnam. I realized that Vi is a very special person.

Her English was absolutely perfect. She had no detectable accent. She understood every word I said. She was engaging, intelligent and thoughtful.

She works hard in school, realizing that one day she will have to go and work in Saigon. With sadness she admits that she will have to leave her family one day.

She motions around. "I would rather be here, at home."

Like many Vietnamese, she will most likely move to Ho Chi Minh city in the south for a job. The economy there has been growing rapidly over the past few years generating many jobs.

But Vi says she will not stay in the city.

"I want to come back," she said.

I told her that I want to be a journalist when I finish school. I told her that journalists need translators. We agreed that maybe one day we would work together.

I hope that one day I will return to the countryside of Hue, to Vi's beautiful home.

Any questions about Vietnam? Send me a comment or an e-mail and I will do my best to find an answer while I am traveling.