My first love

              "High school is the time to love and to be loved". Somebody once told me that, but I didn't believe it until the day I saw him. I have never forgotten that day.

                 The first time I saw him was in tenth grade. I went to my math class at 5:00 pm. He got out from his class and sat on the bench in the front of my classroom door. He was very handsome and tall. I was impressed with his height. I could't control my eyes, I just kept looking at him and suddenly he looked back. We just kept looking at each other for a couple of minutes. The bell rang, I had to go to class. Nothing ever happened after that for months.

My high school

                  In my school, when we have midterm and final tests, we will take them with another class. He and I went to the same room to take the test. Oh my god, I was so happy and excited. I was so shy and I could never muster the courage to tell him how I felt every time I saw him. We finished tenth grade, nothing happened.

                   Months later, we went back to school after a long summer break. I thought I had totally forgotten him. We went to eleventh grade together but in different classes. When I walked around in the school yard, I saw him and he smiled at me. All my feelings for him came back. I just talked to my best friend about him and wondered if he liked me or not. His classmate told me; he went out with another girl I knew when I was in middle school and they were dating. I thought to myself: " all right he has a girlfriend already, so just forget about him."

                  Suddenly, one day he and that girl came to my class looking for me. I mumble to myself :" What is going on, don't tell me you guys are dating now." When I stepped into the hallway I looked at them and asked: "What happened?" The girl held his hand and said :"We are dating now". I felt so bad but smiled a strained smile. He let go of her hand and told me :" No , don't believe her. We are just friends." She left after that, just he and I stayed in the hallway. He told me he didn't have a girlfriend and told me not to believe in everything his classmate said. He said he really liked me. Oh my god I couldn't believe it was true. I melted in my shoes and  I couldn't say anything. He asked me:" Do you have anything to ask me?" I just said :" No" and looked another way. The bell rang, we went back to class. I couldn't focus on class for the rest of day.

                  We were too busy with much testing for 12th grade. Someone told him I didn't like him and it was just a joke or a game which I played with my friends. We didn't talk anymore. He didn't come to my class or ask me about that. I don't know why I didn't talk to him or explain either. At that time, I just wanted to focus on school because I was going to college after that.

                   His parents decided to move to America with his grandparent. Weeks later, he wanted to talk to me but I said I didn't have time. I didn't know he would be moving the week after. I was surprised about that. I was so sad when I learned he had moved already. I wished I could go back to that day  I would tell him I liked him and it was true and it wasn't a joke, but it was too late. I cried so hard for that.

                   High school was the best time for me because I have many memories about friends, teachers and my first love. I still remember him as a memory when I was young. In my culture and with my generation, it is the most we can do when we were in high school. We just looked at each other and nothing could happen after that. We were very innocent at that time.

Vietnamese New Year

 

                Like many people, I love my country- Vietnam. It is a very beautiful country where people are very friendly. It is bordered by China to the north and Laos to the northwest. The culture of Vietnam is one of the oldest in Southeast Asia, with the ancient Bronze age " Dong Son" culture is being widely considered one of its most important periods. Due to 1000 years of Chines rule,Vietnam was heavily influenced by Chinese culture in term of politics, governments,moral ethics and art.

Vietnamese New Year in country side

               We have almost the same culture as the Chinese when we celebrate the new year. It is mixed between Chinese and Vietnamese culture. It is celebrated on the first day of the first month in Lunar Calendar. It often falls between late January and early February. Vietnamese New Year is the most important Festival of the Vietnamese people and no mater where they live or work on that day the family members have to find ways to come back home for couple of days to celebrate together. We  serve traditional foods such as "banh chung"(a square cake made of sticky rice stuffed with beans and pork) and "bitter gourd soup". Everywhere will hang red banners which read: "Chuc mung nam moi" ( Happy New Years). Vietnamese culture is very special and especially in new year. We won't sweep the floor in the first day of new year because we think it is bad luck when you clean all the dirt in the house. (it means you clean all your money). As everybody in my country, my sisters and I run for the hair cut and buy new outfits for new year. We want to look very nice for the new year. Besides that, my dad will repaint our house with my favorite color and my mom will prepare traditional foods. We try to do everything before New Year's Eve.

Ho Chi Minh city 

              In the morning of the first day of Lunar New Year, my parents and all of my sisters and I will visit my grandparents' home, wishing to my grandparent and all my uncles and my aunts for a happy new year and great health, showing respect and gratitude, and giving a gift or a tiny red envelope with money inside. The red envelope has it is own meaning as great luck for the new year. On the second day we will visit maternal side. My sisters and I are always excited about that because we can see our cousins. Like all kids in my country I loved to go around to relative's house to get a red envelope and wishing a good luck for them in new year. I love to wake up very early in the morning of the first day of new year to dress up very nice and wait for my parents to give me a red envelope and wishing for them a very good year with much luck. All my sisters and I love to wear traditional dress"ao dai" on the first day of new year. We will have a family meals together with traditional foods such as: boiled chicken, pickled onions, Vietnamese sausage and chinese braised pork( pork dipped in boiling coconut juice and egg). I always love a family time when we can talk about everything and laugh at each other. My friends and I will visit our teachers on the third day of new year. On the new year time we always talk about happy things; visiting relatives and having a good relaxing time after a hard working year.

I and my traditional dress

              Vietnam is a small country but it is very beautiful with many beaches follow the country. Vietnamese people are very friendly. If you never go to there so just think about Vietnam when you  decide to go on vacation. Coming and earning experience about food, country, culture and people in there. If you have opportunity to visit Vietnam during "Tet" holiday, make sure you join  this festive and happy moment of Vietnamese.

               

My Mom

                  My mother is a very strong and successful woman. She is the most important person in my life. She isn't just another woman. She is extraordinary. She is the most influential person who inspires me. My mom is not only a very good mom but also a very good daughter in law too. I would be lost without my mom. She tried a very hard work to take care of my family and my grandfather.

                  Life was so hard after the war in my country. The economic was depressed. Everybody lost their jobs. A couple months after the depression, my dad lost his jobs too. My mom tried to looking for many jobs. She didn't care about how hard of the job was as long as she could earn money to support my family. Finally, she got a job; it was a seller in a bakery. She worked 56 hour for a week. My mom started her job around 1 o'clock in the afternoon and she finish at 9 o'clock in the evening. At midnight, she went to sell the bread in the parking place or on the sidewalk to earn more money. The more money she earned, the more food she bought to feed everybody in my family and to pay some bills. She had to work hard to take care of us and save money for us to go to school. School fees in my country are very expensive. My sister and I always used the old books from my cousin but we were happy because we could go to school. Every school year, she was more depressed but she still tried many ways to earn money to keep us in school.

                   While she was working two jobs, she also took care of my dad's father like a daughter. He had a heart attack, he wasn't able to do everything by himself after he got sick. He couldn't walk or sit either and he just lay in bed all the time. My grandfather had 9 children and 25 grandchildren but no one wanted to take care of him or help my mom. They didn't like to take care of sick people who gave birth to them. I have two older sisters and one younger sister. In that time, all of us were little and she had to cook and do everything in the house. All day long, she took care of my grandfather and all of us. My mom tried so hard to do everything by herself. Nobody helped her, even my aunts or my uncles who had a lot of time but didn't want to come to my house to take care of my grandfather. My younger sister and I helped her sometimes to give my grandfather a shower or feed him when we didn't have school.
               

                 
                   Time was by so fast. We were grown up by her fatigue. My sisters and I appreciated about what did she does for us. My mom isn't a famous person or a rich person either but in my eyes she is very successful. She is all my life. She was the greatest mom I could ever had in my life and a good daughter in law. When I looked at everything she did for us, it taught me how to love family. I want to become a mother like her. I want to take care of my children and give them all my love.

Green Summer Campaign

                                    
                    My life was changed after the "Green Summer Campaign". "Green summer campaign" is  a community service program which gives college students the opportunity to do community service in rural areas such as villages, mountains and the country side. Every summer the program focuses on a different rural area. Living conditions in these areas are very poor. There are also many different ethnic minorities who are backward and lagging behind.
                 

                    I thought it was a very good program. I wanted to come there and help them, also I could learn some new things. My friends and I volunteered to go to the country side. Twenty people lived together in a small house. It was hard but I had a lot of experiences.
                      We had  many group activities to do. In the morning, my friends and I went to the rice field to help them harvest. At night time, I taught the farm children who came bare foot to school. They didn't have much time to go to school because most of the time they had to help their parents.

               

 

                      One day, my team went to village to help them to build a house which was  made of wood and coconut leaves. It was a popular house in the countryside. It would cost a lot of money if you hired someone to help you in my country. We helped them to carry wood, clean and prepare coconut leaves for them put on the proof of the house. It was hard for  me because I hadn't done a hard job like that before. While we were cleaning all the dirt collapsed from the old house, some of my friends stepped on nails or fell on the ground. It was dangerous but we weren't afraid of that.

The next day, our team had a new mission. It was more harder than everything we had done before. We went to clean the drains. All of us had to soak in a dirty water for 2 hours to lean the trash and cut all the grass. After that, we moved onto another job, we tried to clean a small river with full of water hyacinth.

                      It wasn't easy for us who were used to living in the city and just went to school.We didn't know each other before we volunteered to the campaign. But after two weeks ,we were getting closer. We were changed after we came to the farm, after we saw how hard the people there had to work to support their family.

                      Thanks to "Green summer" campaign I learned to be stronger. It was a very good experience.  I learned many lessons from there, I was changed after I went back. I stepped back and reflected on my life; I stopped chasing for materials which didn't make me as happy as I thought. I appreciated what things I didn't have and those I have.  I was glad because after two weeks, most of the farm children whom I taught knew how to read their name and some basic words. I felt proud of myself because I had dedicated my efforts to help the kids who were very innocent and virtuous. I was proud I became a solider of the "Green summer " campaign.

New Life

                                                
                   I left Vietnam on a Sunday morning. It was a very nice day but I couldn't see it. I was so sad. I didn't look at my mom and my sisters because I knew when I looked at them I would be in tears. Inside my mind, I didn't want to go but I had to go.  I was scared to move to another country by myself but  I left my family and my memories to go to another country because I wanted to earn more opportunity to suppose my mom.

                   Many people have asked me:"Why did I move to America when my whole life was in my country? ". I always asked myself the same question and I knew exactly my answer. The reason was my dad had died 8 years ago. I promised I would take care of my mom. I would give her everything she wanted. I gave her money and my sisters would take care of her when I wasn't there.

                   I arrived to America on the same Sunday. Everything on my life changed completely after 13 hour. America' s weather was cold and I felt lonely when I came here . It was summer time.
                   On the way to my uncle's house. I felt like it was so far, as it took forever. I was suprised of my new place, it was smaller than I thought. My cousin shared with me her room. Everything just started.What should I do. In my mind I had many questions but I didn't have any answers.

                    Weeks later, my uncle found me a job. I started to work in Vietnamese store. Everything wasn't easy, I had to learn how to sell a stuff. Sometimes I did something wrong, I was very scared I lost my job. I was getting better after a while. I bought a lot of presents for my mom, my sisters and my nephew with the first check I got. I was so happy. Besides that, I had struggle with the languge. It wasn't easy even though I knew a little bit when I was in my country. It was real hard when I went to buy foods because the way I said they couldn't understand.

                     It was a hard time because I didn't have friends. Somedays I was very sad. I didn't know who I could talk to. I just sat in the front door step and cried. I really wanted to call my mom and tell her everything but I couldn't. I didn't want her to get worried about me. I tried to over come it by myself .

My mom, my sister and  my niece 

                   My new life was better after a while. I could do everything by myself. I learned how to cook and drive. I could cook every kind of my country's foods, it made me felt better. I have gone to school to earn my degree. I wanted my mom to be proud of me. Living alone, sometimes it is good but sometimes it made I feel lonely. Besides that I felt more confident when I did something by myself. Until now, I am so pround of myself. I have kept my promise with my dad. I can tell with my mom; you don't have to worry about me because I grow up now and I can take care of you, trust me.