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: Indonesia

  • The limits

    If you happened to watch the Olympic men weightlifting , you would find out quickly that we have our limits. We are shaped in this body, given that much neurons and glued to the ground by gravity (tell that to the jumpers). This is an unpopular observation. We are more used to hearing inspirational messages, that…

  • Middle-Income Trap

    The phenomenon known as Middle-Income Trap is alive and well in SouthEast Asia. Not all boats rise with the water. Contentment sets in and gets in the way of progress. Countries like the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia are  in this trap. From a global perspective, they could do better if getting over the hump. Yet…

  • Maybe all we need is time

    Time heals all wounds. It also ushers in a generation, now in high school and college. Here in Vietnam, students have classes on Saturdays and even Sundays. Kids of all ages, in uniforms or out of, but always with a backpack, riding on wheels of all types: bikes, electric bikes, scooters, sedans, and buses. They…

  • Inertia and urge

    In business parlance, we call them “entrenchment” and “creative destruction”. Find a niche, dig in. By the time you crossed “valley of death”, someone had already elbowed in to eat your lunch. As Venture Capitalists scour the globe looking for “the” deal, they find new energy and risk-taking in places like Rwanda, Indonesia and Israel, the new “BRICS“. Emerged…

  • Saigon in motion

    A couch floats down the river right pass Bong Bridge a while ago. As of this edit, there was a “hot” clip about police trying to stop a girl from jumping to her death on another bridge. Vietnam still has to battle with forces of nature, (typhoon Utor) and economic pressures  (bad debt). Here, before…

  • body building in Saigon

    I have paid my first-month membership and come back for seven days straight. The place is tiny.  I must have timed it badly: my body peak performance coincides with peak-time traffic which weaves through the front door (bikes found their short cut artery in an alley). So I lift while listening to Michael Jackson’s CD. I…