Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

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With some short-term relief work in Asia/Africa and long stint in Telecom, Thang also earned a B.A. at Pennsylvania State University. M.A. in Communication at Wheaton Graduate School, M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communication at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Boston. In addition, he earned a CELTA – classes taken in Hanoi for cultural re-immersion.

Tag: California

  • Viet-Am Third Migration

    First wave: 1975, 4 “ports of entry”: Arkansas, California, Florida and Pennsylvania. Second wave: 1978 -2008 South Westward to California and Texas. Third wave: joining everyone else during this Recession to the Lone Star State, where 8% unemployment still looks better than 12% and 10% in Florida and California, respectively. Part of the American Dream…

  • Where have they gone?

    Subtitle “Time to remember”. When I was in high school, the consumer society began to take shape in Vietnam: beer, cheese, cigarettes, toothpaste and vinyl music albums. Then we moved on to AKAI tape. By the time I got to the US, the first item I purchased was a portable cassette recorder (to record music…

  • Time to heal

    Of the 5 stages of grief, the first one goes away the quickest (denial). The last stage, acceptance, takes the longest (not without some relapses). I wass at my parent’s graves this past Thanksgiving. A bit of acceptance there. Trophies, college degrees and even old business cards showed our accomplishments. But they are not indicators…

  • Halloween in Vietnam? A redundancy

    Young people are out in drove, that is, if they were not already on bikes, racing like mad on weekend nights. This time around, in costume. Halloween costume. In Vietnam, of all places. First, the masks trickled in at tourist and expat hot spots. Then, wider adoption is made possible by cheaper goods from next…

  • Forced leisure

    MSNBC  interviews a blogger from Good magazine on automation nation. The take away: automation is moving beyond manufacturing sector (e.g. Google test drove an unmanned vehicle in California, or Italian researchers tested a driver-less van, from Italy to China) to service sectors, such as health care . Japan has been deep into robotic technology, a national policy…

  • Palm Beach to Palm Springs

    I blogged once about “Dakao vs Dalat”. Today, it’s about Palm Beach to Palm Springs. Mirror image of each other, and located on the opposite side of the country: palm trees, professional golf and private resorts. Places exclusive. Unlike Dakao where even after a relief bridge was finished, traffic and flooding still present a nightmare for…

  • Love on aisle 13

    Inside Wal-Mart, you can find towels, pillows and assorted bath items neatly displayed, aisle by aisle. Almost all the essential and desirable are available in store and online, but you can not find love on aisle 13. You wish. http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/business-news-briefs/2010/09/money_cant_buy_me_love_but_it.html Love and happiness are quite alluding. The more one hunts for them, the further they…

  • torn between two places

    Yahoo News had a piece about Diaspora, the return. It features Mrs Nguyen Cao Ky, who is now a proud owner of a Pho restaurant in former Saigon.  She said to have spent a few months in the US, and the rest in Vietnam. Other Viet Kieu expressed similar sentiment: “when I am here, I…

  • Tales of a Recession

    Two men were caught on surveillance camera for stealing $2000 worth of Victoria Secret panties. http://www.wpbf.com/news/22568081/detail.html 73-year-old Tampa man was arrested last week for robbing a bank to pay his mortgage. In California, a unionized plumber got laid off, now sleeps in his truck. When the city of Tustin laid off people, an employee, a…

  • Have you ever seen the Rain (bow)

    Despite a lot of sunshine, in California, when it rains it pours. Yet, photographer did not fail to snap a picture of a rainbow http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Calif-Storms/ss/events/us/101409califstorms#photoViewer=/100120/480/448ac9a2ced64a438dd5ecb4c958e984 Payback for all the dry months, the fire, and the smog. The State got enough on its plate: budget concern, gay marriage repeal, and now this. Best of wishes to…