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

  • Stories of Suffering

    Unlike America where suffering is well hidden behind locked doors, here in Vietnam, it is in your face: lottery ticket sellers. They could be an under-age child, a blind man, or the worst case, a young man who dragged himself (both feet paralyzed) along an extremely crowded street peddling tickets. Even the Cu Chi tunnel,…

  • Tears for Connecticut

    If this blog were written in ink, it would be blotted with tears. The photo of a school parent on cell  phone crying says it all. Tears over wireless. Tears over space. Heck, I am in Vietnam, and won’t be back after Christmas. But I feel the pinch, the lump in the throat (try to…

  • Traffic dance in Saigon

    First-timers to Saigon are shocked on arrival: the dance of two-wheel traffic. Some even had to flag down a cyclo (three-way cycle) to take them across the street. An Ivy-League Math Prof was killed when crossing the street. He was there for a conference on solving traffic problems. I have slowly built up confidence and…

  • On “Fraction of a Whole”

    We are not invited into this dysfunctional family of three generations, all 750 pages of it. Crime fiction, social commentary and extremely hilarious saga. I stayed up late last night for its racing conclusion. A year and a half ago, I read Freedom by Franzen. As engrossing as Fraction of a Whole. This family questioned everything, but centrally,…

  • When dreams are gone!

    A few blogs ago, I wrote about Noel Decoration in Saigon. A few weeks from now, the glitters will have been all gone. Party is over. Then, it’s a long grind. 2013. The quants have already crunchedl year-end data: sunk costs, margin, consumer behavior (irrational at times – hint: sell spirits over the holidays). The monks look on…

  • From Mandarin to Model (Lung Dai-Chan Dai)

    My generation have been a betweener one: from Mandarin to Mobile phone system, from French Colonial to Fashion TV (with Asia Next Top Model). The saying goes like this “Vong Anh di truoc, Vong Nang theo sau” i.e. when a man passed the King’s exam, he went home to the village , with his lady in tow. Now, it’s the Model who get…

  • The Filipino Invasion

    You will find a bunch of Filipino bands around Saigon, from Hard Rock Cafe to Acoustic. When the British rock bands gained noteriety in America back in the 60’s, the phenomenon was coined The British Invasion. Now Vietnam is experiencing similar invasion by their neighbors.  They got the language (English), the look (still brown-skinned), and the connection (E2…

  • Matchmaking

    In Vietnam, one of the first questions is What animal represents you? (12 symbols of the zodiac). Second question is, how come you are single. Find someone to alleviate your miserable state of being single (collective society). Third and logical conclusion: find someone, whose symbol matches yours, yin-yan, fire and ice, earth and sky etc……

  • No pure love

    I am half way through In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. The book was set in the time of Hitler as viewed by an American ambassador’s daughter. She seemed to have a grand time: dating all sorts of men , even of at opposite end of the political spectrum; shifting and evaluating them…

  • Reflections of my life

    ” I am changing everything” …Like Holden Caulfield, catcher in the Rye. “Oh I don’t want to die..”. The future that I once fret is my current present. “All my sorrows”….were for nothing. They said 90% of our worries didn’t materialize.  Yet we keep worrying. Like a plague. Dec 21st or 23rd (Mayan Calendar). Just…