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: United States

  • the Nguyen

    In college, I could just tell when teachers got to my name: they couldn’t pronounce it. To save time, I just said “here”. This was Penn State, late 70’s, when a name like Carter from Georgia could barely register in Washington Belt Way. Now a random walk on the web tells me the Nguyen have…

  • Traditions: collide and compromise

    East meets West. New Year and Valentine’s. Families vs lovers. In Vietnam, with a strong Confucian foundation, filial quality stands above all else. So on that first day of this year of the Tiger, sons and daughters are expected to show up first thing at the parents’ door steps. Then, in the evening, this year…

  • globalize, empathize and digitize

    It’s Kitchen God day in Asia. Super Bowl weekend here in Miami. And the DOW is down across the board. Oh when the Saints oh marching in…. People were guessing, just like Mr Watson, that maybe the world can make use of a few computers, or move to digitization perhaps 15-20% of current load. Well…

  • Amuse ourselves to the next level

    Neil Postman didn’t see the rise of game online when he penned “Amuse ourselves to death”. But he was on to something worth discussing: we are heading toward becoming a couch-potato nation or in China, Internet-addict camp. When Chinese kids get sent to these internet addict camps, we witness another unintended consequence of our high-tech…

  • Our dichotomy

    Abundance or shortage? Keynes or Milton Friedman? The quants rule? Human beings are selfish or empathic? what is the optimal point for happiness? Louisiana, one of the poorest states in the Union, yet ranked the Happiest. New York City crime rates are at the lowest in decades. South Korea, always at war, yet always connected.…

  • tale of a survivor

    A Canadian lady, back from visiting her family in India, was aboard the flight to Detroit on Christmas day.http://www.thecanadianpress.com/english/online/OnlineFullStory.aspx?filename=p122649A&newsitemid=27268234&languageid=1 She recalled vivid details of near-miss explosion, the terror and the bravery of passengers and crews. We cannot control some events, but we can control our reaction (10/90 rule). As far as stats , the chance…

  • Decoding America

    It’s a grand title. But the intention is put up some guide posts to mark the new (Lonely) American trail Or else, new comers to America, reading Orientation web sites only, would end up like the Oregon couple who trusted solely on GPS readout, without consulting paper maps. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100102/ap_on_hi_te/us_stranded_motorists We learn and continue to refine…

  • On being a foreigner

    Train, plane or automobile, we all try to get somewhere, point A to point B. Far enough to be looked at as “foreigner”. The Economist has a piece on this subject to highlight the decade of globalization. http://www.economist.com/world/international/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15108690&source=hptextfeature I was surprised to find Vietnam, especially in HCMC and Hanoi, to be very cosmopolitan i.e. a…

  • BYOD

    The Economist Christmas Special was about America, a Ponzi scheme that works. http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15108634&source=hptextfeature It projects 1 Billion Americans by 2100. With its many niches, America seems to offer a bit of everything, for everybody: hunting, boozing, gambling, church-going and freedom to protest. I remember my first Christmas, living humbly in a cold basement. But I…

  • My SAAB story

    OK, I took a picture standing next to the convertible SAAB I won, but I took the cash option ( for grad student loan). Now, this brand, along with Pontiac and Saturn, will soon be relics of the past. We have a lot of In’s/Out’s at the end of this decade: ABC new anchor, BoA…