When at Indian Town Gap in 1975, I was busy helping out at the Bureau of Child Welfare so time passed rather quickly.
But not for my fellow countrymen. Many sat there worried: how were they going to make it in America, that winter was coming.
Many hurried weddings took place at the camp chapel. People were busy matching up sponsors and foster children.
For me, I was glad I could earn a few bucks by being a translator. And spent them all on cassette tapes.
We recorded music (one machine would play, the other recorded, in the barrack’s bathroom).
“Lovin you” was number 1 on the Hit Parade that year. And ironically, someone was playing “Band On the Run”.
We left unfinished youth: time spent at cafe, listening to Lobo‘s number 1 hit “You and Me and the dog named Boo”.
Or felt so spiritual with “My Sweet Lord” .
If you want to “break in” to the Vietnamese market, best way is to figure out your niche, then play those music subliminally.
Mix in some French songs, because the Romantic era never left Vietnam, especially Hanoi. In fact, time seems to freeze there.
You can still see a Citroen on a good evening.
Back to my odyssey. So when I got to Penn State, I immediately made friends and we threw a party.
It’s one of those times when you could spot someone Vietnamese on a cold Harrisburg night, and he would let you sleep on the floor.
And never forgot the hospitality of people of the same human condition. And I realize now the things I wanted then to take with me: my dreams, my expressions of those dreams, and the heritage I left. No wonder song writers wrote about Hanoi after the evacuation of
1954, and Saigon, 1975. Those places are symbols of one’s lost times, unrealized dreams and definitely, curators of both wise and foolish choices.
To tourists , these cities are just crowded network of concrete dividers, and trees are few. Tourists would place Hanoi, Hue and HCMC against a back drop of 100 places to see before they died. But little do they know, they have their own” Hanoi” and “Saigon” too. They just didn’t care to acknowledge, until the 11th hour. No wonder I can identify with Cinema Paradiso. The Italian have a lot in common with the Vietnamese. We both like Sophia Loren. We know what’s nostalgia is and do not feel ashamed to admit it.
What’s wrong with burning incense and feeling reconnect with loved ones, since they might not be living, but the relationships are very much alive. In fact, one loves one’s parents more when they are gone because absence makes the heart grow fonder. ” I love you too much to ever start liking you, so don’t expect me to be your friend”. Lobo knows how to say it, in a very Asian way. No wonder he can still have some Asian fans, late in his career.
Thang Nguyen 555 