happy new year.
here is a happy new year message i received on my phone last night: "HAPPY NEW YEAR! BUSY IN WORK! FUNNY IN LIFE! LUCKY IN GAME! CRAZY IN LOVE! STRONGLY IN BED AND MONEY IN POCKET! NEVER SAD, ALWAYS FUN!"
i wish the same to all of you.
Friday, December 31, 2004
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
christmas in long xuyen was, well, lackluster.
eric and i sat around all day and did very little. i worked on some of my projects, even though it was saturday and even though it was christmas. i guess the worst part of the holiday was that my email inbox dried up almost completely.
the world is preparing for the lunar new year celebration. the flower market is being built back up again along the bank of the river. people are finishing up with their work before the holidays arrive, as things tend to get busy before there is a break. pepsi, and this i find fascinating, decided to ditch their trademark blue boxes in favor of red boxes that look quite like coca-cola boxes. we all know that red is quite a lucky color over the holidays.
in one week, rachel lee swartzendruber will come out to visit me. we will spend time in ho chi minh city and then down in the delta. it promises to be a wonderful time and i am excited beyond anything i could possibly describe. before she comes, however, i am obliged to finish writing my book. i am now sitting at my computer from sunrise to well into the evening trying to translate the vietnamese sections into english. my fingers hurt from typing. my eyes hurt from straining. this is the reason that i have not been writing anything of substance.
blessings to all this holiday season and have a wonderful new year.
eric and i sat around all day and did very little. i worked on some of my projects, even though it was saturday and even though it was christmas. i guess the worst part of the holiday was that my email inbox dried up almost completely.
the world is preparing for the lunar new year celebration. the flower market is being built back up again along the bank of the river. people are finishing up with their work before the holidays arrive, as things tend to get busy before there is a break. pepsi, and this i find fascinating, decided to ditch their trademark blue boxes in favor of red boxes that look quite like coca-cola boxes. we all know that red is quite a lucky color over the holidays.
in one week, rachel lee swartzendruber will come out to visit me. we will spend time in ho chi minh city and then down in the delta. it promises to be a wonderful time and i am excited beyond anything i could possibly describe. before she comes, however, i am obliged to finish writing my book. i am now sitting at my computer from sunrise to well into the evening trying to translate the vietnamese sections into english. my fingers hurt from typing. my eyes hurt from straining. this is the reason that i have not been writing anything of substance.
blessings to all this holiday season and have a wonderful new year.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
IV Tet
One day that is extremely important for Vietnamese people is the Lunar New Year. Most Americans would recognize the Vietnamese word for the holiday, ‘Tet’, because of the famous uprising throughout the South in 1968.
There, however, is quite a difference from the way I understood ‘Tet’ before I came to Vietnam and how I understood the word after words. In American I didn’t understand the customs of this very important holiday. My first ‘Tet’ experience happened at the beginning of 2003 which I had been in Vietnam for about four months and before I had many friends. At school, one person told me that during ‘Tet’ everyone stays at home.
Americans who visit Vietnam always notice how packed the streets are and possibly can’t imagine a day when everyone is at home. Maybe my friend meant to say, ‘Many people stay at home.’ I guessed wrong.
The first day of Tet, 2003, the year of the Goat, I woke up early. At about 8 o’clock in the morning I went out to try to find something to eat but was greeted with a surprise. Vietnamese flags were posted all over the sides of the roads but no one was there. It even appeared like the myriad dogs that usually passed back and forth searching for food had even found homes. No people, no animals but a plethora of flags. I was hungry but I didn’t know what to do, surprised by the absence of people and traffic.
It’s hard to imagine the Vietnamese streets as silent as they are during the Lunar New year celebrations. I had to pedal my bicycle quite far just to find a place to eat. My first ‘Tet’ experience was seeing that empty road and no food.
The 2004 celebrations, the year of the Monkey, were quite different. At that time I had made friends with many people and many of those people invited me over to their house to eat with their families. I was really excited to experience ‘Tet’ with a family because I had heard so much about this day but didn’t at all understand it.
The last day of the 2003 lunar year was a very special day for me. I ate with my friend’s family and was given a new Vietnamese name. I am now named H? Minh Trí and I truly felt like a member of the family. I felt lucky to have two families: one in America and one in Vietnam. They even considered me their son.
That night we sat down and ate a delicious meal. My friend told me that if I wished my new parents good health, happiness and the like I would experience another Vietnamese custom. I walked up to them and wished that everything went their way in the year of the Monkey. After that, I was given a red envelope with lucky money in it. I was quite content with my new family. They allowed me to experience ‘Tet’ not like a foreigner who was staying and leaving but as a true member of the family.
After we had eaten the year of the Monkey was almost upon us. We went and prayed to the family’s ancestors at the alter of the house and then went to the local pagoda to wish all of our friends and neighbors a happy new year.
Following my experiences of the Lunar New year, I believe that society as a whole implodes and everyone spends time with their most important relationship. The first day is for only the most important people in your life, your parents. You have to wish them health and happiness because they gave you life, you have to give thanks to your ancestors because; ‘To drink the water is to remember the source’.
However, before everything implodes, everyone has to wish all of their friends a happy new year. It’s almost like people are saying, ‘I’m about to go home for about three or four days and we won’t have a chance to meet. Have a good ‘Tet’.’
After we prayed at the pagoda and wished our friends happiness, I went home and slept the first night of the New Year. ‘Tet’ doesn’t really begin until the first day of the Lunar New year. The last day of the last year is the day that everyone will wish everyone else health and happiness before they spend time with their family and other people very important to their lives.
The first day of the New Year is a day for the family and also one custom I really enjoy called ‘Ng??i xông ??t’. This phrase is used to describe the first person to enter your home who isn’t a member of your family after the New Year begins. Depending on their social status or personal life, the following year will be lucky or it will be bad. In America we don’t have a concept like this and I was quite afraid to be the first person to enter the house of a stranger. That’s one of the reasons that my friend’s family gave me a new name, so I could eat with them and I wouldn’t be considered to be breaking any of the rules.
I spoke with a bunch of people and always ask them if they really believe in that custom. Most say that only a few people in the family follow that custom but it really isn’t everyone.
The first day of ‘Tet’ I didn’t know what to do but I also didn’t want to go out and visit friends because I didn’t want to be the first stranger to enter the house after the new year arrived if that family had wanted someone else to come.
Before I experienced ‘Tet’, I had asked my friend this question, ‘If everyone is at home, what do they end up doing?’ My friend said that most of the time is spent eating together. It was hard to imagine spending a whole day simply at home without going out at all.
I woke up a little late and ate with my new family. We sat around and ate a wonderful meal and talked about life, desires and the future. One full day of doing nothing except talking about life with people who are the closest to you in your life is very special because our modern lives are so busy and they rarely afford us an opportunity like that. If there wasn’t the ‘Ng??i xông ??t’ rule and if people didn’t spend so much time at home, the ‘Tet’ holiday just wouldn’t be the same. We need to talk in order to understand each other better.
The second day of the Lunar New year is when every family goes and visits the ancestral homeland. We went and spoke to other members of the family who were also making the trip.
In America we don’t have anything that is similar to the Lunar New year in Vietnam. We have Christmas and that day is very important for many Americans but not for everyone. Christmas is also a day for family but it isn’t as important, or doesn’t last as long as the Lunar New year. Also, if you want to spend time with friends on Christmas after your family as been together, it isn’t really a problem.
Thanksgiving is also an important day for many families because it isn’t necessarily religious. Most Americans spend time together over Thanksgiving but it still isn’t the same as the Lunar New year. Thanksgiving is only one day and there are not the 10 days to travel around and meet people as there are in the Lunar New year celebrations of Vietnam.
The Lunar New year celebrations are extremely important for the people of Vietnam. While everyone has their separate lives on a normal day, when ‘Tet’ rolls around each family comes together and celebrates themselves. It’s just as if society implodes and everyone spends time with their most important relatives on the same day. The Lunar New year begins at the beginning of the month and stretches until the end of January. After spending time with your family, you move out and meet other families until all of Vietnam is reunited through familial ties and normal life can begin again.
One day that is extremely important for Vietnamese people is the Lunar New Year. Most Americans would recognize the Vietnamese word for the holiday, ‘Tet’, because of the famous uprising throughout the South in 1968.
There, however, is quite a difference from the way I understood ‘Tet’ before I came to Vietnam and how I understood the word after words. In American I didn’t understand the customs of this very important holiday. My first ‘Tet’ experience happened at the beginning of 2003 which I had been in Vietnam for about four months and before I had many friends. At school, one person told me that during ‘Tet’ everyone stays at home.
Americans who visit Vietnam always notice how packed the streets are and possibly can’t imagine a day when everyone is at home. Maybe my friend meant to say, ‘Many people stay at home.’ I guessed wrong.
The first day of Tet, 2003, the year of the Goat, I woke up early. At about 8 o’clock in the morning I went out to try to find something to eat but was greeted with a surprise. Vietnamese flags were posted all over the sides of the roads but no one was there. It even appeared like the myriad dogs that usually passed back and forth searching for food had even found homes. No people, no animals but a plethora of flags. I was hungry but I didn’t know what to do, surprised by the absence of people and traffic.
It’s hard to imagine the Vietnamese streets as silent as they are during the Lunar New year celebrations. I had to pedal my bicycle quite far just to find a place to eat. My first ‘Tet’ experience was seeing that empty road and no food.
The 2004 celebrations, the year of the Monkey, were quite different. At that time I had made friends with many people and many of those people invited me over to their house to eat with their families. I was really excited to experience ‘Tet’ with a family because I had heard so much about this day but didn’t at all understand it.
The last day of the 2003 lunar year was a very special day for me. I ate with my friend’s family and was given a new Vietnamese name. I am now named H? Minh Trí and I truly felt like a member of the family. I felt lucky to have two families: one in America and one in Vietnam. They even considered me their son.
That night we sat down and ate a delicious meal. My friend told me that if I wished my new parents good health, happiness and the like I would experience another Vietnamese custom. I walked up to them and wished that everything went their way in the year of the Monkey. After that, I was given a red envelope with lucky money in it. I was quite content with my new family. They allowed me to experience ‘Tet’ not like a foreigner who was staying and leaving but as a true member of the family.
After we had eaten the year of the Monkey was almost upon us. We went and prayed to the family’s ancestors at the alter of the house and then went to the local pagoda to wish all of our friends and neighbors a happy new year.
Following my experiences of the Lunar New year, I believe that society as a whole implodes and everyone spends time with their most important relationship. The first day is for only the most important people in your life, your parents. You have to wish them health and happiness because they gave you life, you have to give thanks to your ancestors because; ‘To drink the water is to remember the source’.
However, before everything implodes, everyone has to wish all of their friends a happy new year. It’s almost like people are saying, ‘I’m about to go home for about three or four days and we won’t have a chance to meet. Have a good ‘Tet’.’
After we prayed at the pagoda and wished our friends happiness, I went home and slept the first night of the New Year. ‘Tet’ doesn’t really begin until the first day of the Lunar New year. The last day of the last year is the day that everyone will wish everyone else health and happiness before they spend time with their family and other people very important to their lives.
The first day of the New Year is a day for the family and also one custom I really enjoy called ‘Ng??i xông ??t’. This phrase is used to describe the first person to enter your home who isn’t a member of your family after the New Year begins. Depending on their social status or personal life, the following year will be lucky or it will be bad. In America we don’t have a concept like this and I was quite afraid to be the first person to enter the house of a stranger. That’s one of the reasons that my friend’s family gave me a new name, so I could eat with them and I wouldn’t be considered to be breaking any of the rules.
I spoke with a bunch of people and always ask them if they really believe in that custom. Most say that only a few people in the family follow that custom but it really isn’t everyone.
The first day of ‘Tet’ I didn’t know what to do but I also didn’t want to go out and visit friends because I didn’t want to be the first stranger to enter the house after the new year arrived if that family had wanted someone else to come.
Before I experienced ‘Tet’, I had asked my friend this question, ‘If everyone is at home, what do they end up doing?’ My friend said that most of the time is spent eating together. It was hard to imagine spending a whole day simply at home without going out at all.
I woke up a little late and ate with my new family. We sat around and ate a wonderful meal and talked about life, desires and the future. One full day of doing nothing except talking about life with people who are the closest to you in your life is very special because our modern lives are so busy and they rarely afford us an opportunity like that. If there wasn’t the ‘Ng??i xông ??t’ rule and if people didn’t spend so much time at home, the ‘Tet’ holiday just wouldn’t be the same. We need to talk in order to understand each other better.
The second day of the Lunar New year is when every family goes and visits the ancestral homeland. We went and spoke to other members of the family who were also making the trip.
In America we don’t have anything that is similar to the Lunar New year in Vietnam. We have Christmas and that day is very important for many Americans but not for everyone. Christmas is also a day for family but it isn’t as important, or doesn’t last as long as the Lunar New year. Also, if you want to spend time with friends on Christmas after your family as been together, it isn’t really a problem.
Thanksgiving is also an important day for many families because it isn’t necessarily religious. Most Americans spend time together over Thanksgiving but it still isn’t the same as the Lunar New year. Thanksgiving is only one day and there are not the 10 days to travel around and meet people as there are in the Lunar New year celebrations of Vietnam.
The Lunar New year celebrations are extremely important for the people of Vietnam. While everyone has their separate lives on a normal day, when ‘Tet’ rolls around each family comes together and celebrates themselves. It’s just as if society implodes and everyone spends time with their most important relatives on the same day. The Lunar New year begins at the beginning of the month and stretches until the end of January. After spending time with your family, you move out and meet other families until all of Vietnam is reunited through familial ties and normal life can begin again.
Friday, December 17, 2004
the holiday season is fast approaching and life here continues to plod along. there is no magic in the air, no consumerism and no family.
when i was young, the holidays were always such a wonderful time. there was so much anticipation surrounding christmas eve and christmas day. i used to sit on the counter of my home with my mother and bake cookies and any other goodie that would fatten us up for a long hard winter of sitting in heated homes.
we used to make fred's spread. it was basically ketchup with pepper. you would eat it with cream cheese on a triscut. what were we thinking?
so, this year, our plans are pretty simple. everyone here is leaving for home except for eric and i. a lot has happened since i was not able to post. we now have a total of 9 foreigners living here (and one more on the way). the newest member is mr. r. eric burdette. he is a fellow bluffton grad and is my mcc colleague. he's a wonderful person and we get along very well. we will stay here for christmas with the dog. we will have rice for christmas and will sit around at night and talk about how wonderful things were when we were children. we will live in the past for those few hours.
thanksgiving was wonderful this year. the foreigners that just arrived were fairly dedicated and organized an entire thanksgiving with stuffing and all. quite an accomplishment when you think about living in a place with no ovens.
vietnam is still wonderful. the view out my window has changed little. the trees have grown and the fish pond across the way has lost some of its water due to the dry season. other than that, we still have little children running about and screaming at the top of their lungs every morning at about 630 and the roads are still crowded with traffic. life is beautiful, but i live in a future world when i will return home to those i truly love.
when i was young, the holidays were always such a wonderful time. there was so much anticipation surrounding christmas eve and christmas day. i used to sit on the counter of my home with my mother and bake cookies and any other goodie that would fatten us up for a long hard winter of sitting in heated homes.
we used to make fred's spread. it was basically ketchup with pepper. you would eat it with cream cheese on a triscut. what were we thinking?
so, this year, our plans are pretty simple. everyone here is leaving for home except for eric and i. a lot has happened since i was not able to post. we now have a total of 9 foreigners living here (and one more on the way). the newest member is mr. r. eric burdette. he is a fellow bluffton grad and is my mcc colleague. he's a wonderful person and we get along very well. we will stay here for christmas with the dog. we will have rice for christmas and will sit around at night and talk about how wonderful things were when we were children. we will live in the past for those few hours.
thanksgiving was wonderful this year. the foreigners that just arrived were fairly dedicated and organized an entire thanksgiving with stuffing and all. quite an accomplishment when you think about living in a place with no ovens.
vietnam is still wonderful. the view out my window has changed little. the trees have grown and the fish pond across the way has lost some of its water due to the dry season. other than that, we still have little children running about and screaming at the top of their lungs every morning at about 630 and the roads are still crowded with traffic. life is beautiful, but i live in a future world when i will return home to those i truly love.
the holiday season is fast approaching and life here continues to plod along. there is no magic in the air, no consumerism and no family.
when i was young, the holidays were always such a wonderful time. there was so much anticipation surrounding christmas eve and christmas day. i used to sit on the counter of my home with my mother and bake cookies and any other goodie that would fatten us up for a long hard winter of sitting in heated homes.
we used to make fred's spread. it was basically ketchup with pepper. you would eat it with cream cheese on a triscut. what were we thinking?
so, this year, our plans are pretty simple. everyone here is leaving for home except for eric and i. a lot has happened since i was not able to post. we now have a total of 9 foreigners living here (and one more on the way). the newest member is mr. r. eric burdette. he is a fellow bluffton grad and is my mcc colleague. he's a wonderful person and we get along very well. we will stay here for christmas with the dog. we will have rice for christmas and will sit around at night and talk about how wonderful things were when we were children. we will live in the past for those few hours.
thanksgiving was wonderful this year. the foreigners that just arrived were fairly dedicated and organized an entire thanksgiving with stuffing and all. quite an accomplishment when you think about living in a place with no ovens.
vietnam is still wonderful. the view out my window has changed little. the trees have grown and the fish pond across the way has lost some of its water due to the dry season. other than that, we still have little children running about and screaming at the top of their lungs every morning at about 630 and the roads are still crowded with traffic. life is beautiful, but i live in a future world when i will return home to those i truly love.
when i was young, the holidays were always such a wonderful time. there was so much anticipation surrounding christmas eve and christmas day. i used to sit on the counter of my home with my mother and bake cookies and any other goodie that would fatten us up for a long hard winter of sitting in heated homes.
we used to make fred's spread. it was basically ketchup with pepper. you would eat it with cream cheese on a triscut. what were we thinking?
so, this year, our plans are pretty simple. everyone here is leaving for home except for eric and i. a lot has happened since i was not able to post. we now have a total of 9 foreigners living here (and one more on the way). the newest member is mr. r. eric burdette. he is a fellow bluffton grad and is my mcc colleague. he's a wonderful person and we get along very well. we will stay here for christmas with the dog. we will have rice for christmas and will sit around at night and talk about how wonderful things were when we were children. we will live in the past for those few hours.
thanksgiving was wonderful this year. the foreigners that just arrived were fairly dedicated and organized an entire thanksgiving with stuffing and all. quite an accomplishment when you think about living in a place with no ovens.
vietnam is still wonderful. the view out my window has changed little. the trees have grown and the fish pond across the way has lost some of its water due to the dry season. other than that, we still have little children running about and screaming at the top of their lungs every morning at about 630 and the roads are still crowded with traffic. life is beautiful, but i live in a future world when i will return home to those i truly love.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
hello all.
it has been ages since i have last posted and that is because my blog was hijacked for a bit. i would log in and was routed to another page.
life here is quite normal. the semester has ended and we are all waiting for the final exams to be administered. i have been spending all of my days finishing the book. the vietnamese section is almost finished and we will attempt to finish the english section before january.
this holiday season will be quiet. this is the fourth time in the past five years that i will not be home for christmas and that pains me. i will spend the holiday at home with the dog and eric, the new mcc vol.
eric came the other day and it's wonderful to have another familiar face here. he's getting adjusted and will do brilliant work.
well, i will post tomorrow about life in long xuyen once again. this involuntary hiatus has ended and the blogging must continue.
i hope everyone is well.
it has been ages since i have last posted and that is because my blog was hijacked for a bit. i would log in and was routed to another page.
life here is quite normal. the semester has ended and we are all waiting for the final exams to be administered. i have been spending all of my days finishing the book. the vietnamese section is almost finished and we will attempt to finish the english section before january.
this holiday season will be quiet. this is the fourth time in the past five years that i will not be home for christmas and that pains me. i will spend the holiday at home with the dog and eric, the new mcc vol.
eric came the other day and it's wonderful to have another familiar face here. he's getting adjusted and will do brilliant work.
well, i will post tomorrow about life in long xuyen once again. this involuntary hiatus has ended and the blogging must continue.
i hope everyone is well.
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