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: Vietnam

  • The Elder role in Vietnamese society

    I often interact with nephews, one in particular is even older than I, but all call me Uncle. To them, I belong to the previous batch. Last of the line. In the old Vietnam, once you made past 50, you are moved up to the “elder” circle (“chieu tren”) when feasting. I had an occasion to do…

  • A flood of love

    Every year, flooding in SE Asia killed people and took away their livelihood. And every year, people rush out to give materials and their time for reconstruction. So the mishaps were occasions for the best in humanity, and turn a flood of misery into a flood of love. Nobody wants to be on the receiving…

  • seeing what’s been there

    Adjust your lens or change it, then you will see all kinds of things. Even the same things, but much clearer. The power of reframing. Organization or organism all need to self-examine at one time or another. For instance, after taking your shirts back from the cleaners, you might notice that even though they are…

  • Deer facing headlights

    WSJ most read article is “Why people can’t make decision” (see my other blog, “buy-in behaviors”). I also found another article that reinforces this period of indecision: companies are saving the money they borrowed at bank’s low rates, thus fail to spur the economy. Why would people borrow money at low rates, then sit on…

  • last leaf

    Skyline of West VA presents quite a scene and makes a case for Fall foliage. We used to play King of the Hill on top of a heap of dead leaves. Reminds me of the Last Leaf, a story about a terminally ill patient looking out the window and said “when those leaves all fell…

  • Get fat, get fit

    I was crunching, when the PA system announced “free pizza at Planet Fitness, 1st Monday of the month”. Might as well. Indulge.  After all, it says “No judgment zone.”  Get fat, get fit. Carrot and then Stick. In a blog I recently subscribed to, I found : ” the extent that we help fulfill other…

  • From BRIC to VIC

    http://www.ukti.gov.uk/de_de/uktihome/pressRelease/117708.html?null Among the top findings from an UK investment survey (Economist Survey Unit – above), Vietnam, India and China (VIC) are the top three to watch. Other findings by HSBC came up with CIVETs (remember BRIC?): Columbia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and S Africa as stable political markets (as of this edit, you can take…

  • daring swim

    I was privy to not once or twice, but thrice, work  in non-profit capacity with displaced Vietnamese. My first time was at IndiantownGap, Pennsylvania as a Child Welfare interpreter. Later, in Hong Kong as a relief worker. And latest was in 1983, in the Philippines, where Cambodian and Vietnamese awaited their flights to the US.…

  • This gotta to stop!

    Yesterday, I saw Monique Truong on the Poets-and-Writers cover. The author of “the Book of Salt” was launching another title : “Bitter in the mouth”. Meanwhile, I still am awaiting the shipment of “East eats West” by Andrew Lam. What’s going on here? A Renaissance in publishing by Vietnamese-American authors? Top of my head, I…

  • Vietnam still loves reading

    Huffington Post picks up a piece from Vietnam news, featuring used book shops in present day HCMC. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/13/used-bookstores-vietnam_n_714522.html If you don’t know, you would think the city was on wheels. But in some quiet corners, you still find students and researchers actually reading and browsing just as you would find at a B&N here. The…