Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Author: Thang Nguyen 555
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It’s Chinese New Year morning. Except there weren’t a lot of Vietnamese around. They were here yesterday, and last week. But apparently, on this cold Sunday morning, gym wasn’t their priority. Attention is devoted to festivals and festivities at the Temples, in the park and at the fair. Like in-country counterparts, they would put on…
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I touched on this slightly in another blog. It’s about growing up never knew if my grandparents even smiled at all (I gathered this from the black and white photos in the family album). We are still shackled by the analog world which tells us to stand straight and stare straight into the lenses (36 poses…
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One person to himself. One or more chatting, arguing, agreeing. Then, a multi-lingual gathering, with or without a headset, with a bilingual person in the middle, trying to transport the weight behind loaded words. In Chinese Zodiac, Jackie Chan tried to smooth out intercultural tension by giving an opposite translation from the intended message. We also…
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Vincent Cerf is a case in point. He is perhaps the oldest employee at young Google. Before that, a lifer at MCI. But you need someone who has been there, done that. Who could connect the dots (or see them at all). Start-ups got money and the juice. Most of, start-ups got the goods and…
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Jet lag makes you feel hallucinating. Your body clock is still in sync with the old-time zone, and so, your sleep is out of whack. Brought back a memory of a minor jet lag (East coast, West coast), whose hotel bed could not even induce me to sleep. Then I visited my mom at her then…
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In 2000, after 25 years of being away, I made a short trip back to Vietnam. What a culture shock (especially when I landed in Hanoi, where I had only heard about). Twelve years. A dozen trips later. A little deeper into the alleys and byways. I think I have touched on different parts of the proverbial…
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40 years on since the last US combat boots pulled out of Vietnam. Today, Starbucks lady returns, luring passer-by amidst the town square. Senator Kerry is getting his confirmation while a 40-year-old Vietnamese couldn’t tell an American from a Russian. Vietnam is just a name, like Iraq will be 4 decades from now. Vietnam today has Vespas…
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In about ten days, the world will see an exodus of millions. Chinese New Year. Workers and students on The Last Train Home. First day of the New Year (Snake) will be dedicated to ancestors e.g. visiting their graves or wherever the family altar happens to be. From then on, neighbors visiting neighbors, catching up on…
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From papyrus to paper, from microfiche to microphone, we use technology for knowledge transfer. Learning is a great motivator. Once started it never stops (in my death-bed, I probably still ask the attending nurse what all those charts mean, and why not this and that). Don’t believe in learning curve (as if once you got…
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Faith not fanatic is one of the strongest motivators. Fanaticism is one-dimensional one-upmanship taking to the max. Not worth paying attention to (that way, it deflated on its own). But faith propels a man beyond himself. Take Cold Mountain for instance. It gives you a chill just to relate to the character (during the Civil War, weather-beaten…
Thang Nguyen 555 