Week 2. Mapping the City.

KDTM Sky City (88 Lang Ha)

      The location we went this week is near the new developing Sky City Building. The building was still under construction when we got there so we could not check out the inside of the building. The building has about more than 20 floors and an underground parking lot. Around the building there's more construction projects that are currently being build.  The area around is very similar to the location we went last week, Ngo Van Nham va Nguyen Thi Tham. It seems to me that it was not fully develop into a private neighborhood yet, compared to other private-gated neighborhood other groups went. All the places on the list are all available no further than two blocks down the main street. Everything were surprisingly closed by that it was not as tiring as last time going around to find all the shops in different direction.  I was also surprised they had a closed by traditional open market, however, no pagoda to be found. The area also have an area for badminton which we could not find last week. This was not on the list to find, but I noticed there was very few places for Bia Hoi. I only saw about 3 places near the area compared to every Bia Hoi restaurant on every corner elsewhere. Even though the area was not fully develop into a private neighborhood yet, but the surrounding has becoming very like the modern city. I did not see any street vendors walking around. There were many many automobile shops and big buildings are under construction. Big shops were on the front of the street while little houses or shops are pushed back into the little alley and hidden. As modern construction projects are moving into the neighborhood, it will set a whole new standard for the local who live around there.

    I would not live in this area in which it is too busy and might be expensive for me. As high class apartment like this being build, I wonder whether it is beneficial for the local or more for foreigner that can afford to pay rent  in those apartments. The streets are busy with vehicles and there's fewer and fewer local interaction as the area will continue to develop and soon everyone will be behind their shop doors that prevent them from interacting with their neighbors. As new businesses coming in, jobs like knife sharpener  and shoe shine boys will slowly disappear.  There's no nearby pagoda but just shops after shops after shops. There was no park and spaces for local use besides the badminton place we found. Will all of this upgraded city will forced the traditional ways of life disappear  eventually? And with all of the resources available to make it more convenient for local and/or foreigners to live in the neighborhood, how will it might affect the number of international residents that might move there?

-mai

Tran Xuan Xoan va Ngo Thi Nham

When starting this project, I thought it will be like Hanoi Survival, where we will have to run around to find all the places and it might be further down than our designated location, but I was wrong. A lot of the things we are expected to find are just around the street. We can easily found a lot of places located mainly on Tran Xuan Xoan. However, some places are easier to spot than others. For example, sinh to places are everywhere, you can find it basically down the street on every couple of houses. However, trying to find a a place to get knife sharpen or key made is a lot harder. We have to constantly asking the local around to see if they know any place that offer those services. In addition, those places are a lot farther than from the center of Tran Xuan Xoan va Ngo Thi Nham. Also, I was surprised of not being to find a court or space to play badminton. In a sense, the area have all the necessity shops that make it more convenient for the people living around there, but those "rare" services like sharpening knife, getting a key made, area to sit down, or to play sport were not easy to find. 

My favorite place in the area is the local supermarket because its very warmhearted walking around there. I felt a sense of community as the neighbor shop owners just hang around and talk to their neighbor store.  I also saw them eaten lunch together which I found very sweet! All the shops are in the open so everyone get to interact with each other more compared to the shops with building we found outside the supermarket and around the street. With building like those, everyone seems to be in their own little house that limited their chances of interact with their local neighbor. 

Even though mostly everything is around the area, but I'm not sure if I will live there. Without recreational spaces, i felt that something is missing. There were schools around but there was no spaces like the park or sport field for the local to use. It's very city-like for me and I want to live near a place that is more peaceful and quiet without much traffic. A place where there's a more community feel when everyone would know everyone near their area and interact more. I do appreciate all the convenient stores around that would make life a lot easier, but it is also important for me to live in a space where i can create a tight bond with the people living around me.

gig.

Favorite interview:

Software engineer.

This one is my favorite interview not so much due to the job, but how he compared the differences between the working lifestyle in his homeland versus America. When he was working in his homeland, he seems to spend most of his time relaxing and his job does not seem like a rush or stressful one. However, working in America, every hour counts, and the job is much more stressful and rush. Often times, we seem to be consumed by work and the majority of our time spent is working. People work to made a living to live a better life but often time to do so, they have to give up a lot of things due to work. Like the case of the crime scene cleaner (pg.80), he lost his marriage life due to the job and nonetheless he doesn’t think it’s a lost. This reflects the life of Americans versus people from underdeveloped counties. Americans, leisure time is sometime that is rare for working people. However, in Vietnam for example, working time and leisure time sometime are mixed. Street venders while selling fruits on the street spend most of their time talking and catching up with their neighbors. Businesses have shops in their own home which allow them to rest whenever they feel like it. They have time to cook and eat with their family, compared to packed lunch in America. Yet, leisure time in America is often only vacation that you take two weeks per year or on occasional holidays. Living in America for ten years, I often got caught up with the busy life due to school and volunteer work that I forget to make time for family.  This interview allows me the reflect on the lifestyle and make me think how I want to live or work later in the future. To be financially successful is important but quality time for family is also the important quality of life. 

Hello my name is Mai. :)

Nguyen Thi My-Thuan is actually my original name. I changed my name to Mai Nguyen after I got my America citizenship. Born in Cam Ranh, Nha Trang in 1990. Came to America when I was 10 years old, so I am privilege to still be able to speak two languages, Vietnamese and English. During the last 20 years, the biggest lesson I learn so far is how to love and appreciate the people around me, especially family. However, that lesson I learned it the hard way. Came home from school one day and I lost my grandma, she died from a stroke. She was my mom, my buddy, my sister, basically my everything. She literally raised me and my 3 sisters while my parents are busy working to put food on the table for us. It was her death that made me realized I have not done "shit" for my parents or anything for my grandma. I took them for granted. I always put them after friends, never tend to make time for them, never tend to stop and think whether that will hurt their feelings, never once do something small to cheer them up. I just went on to do my everyday thing and never really pause and question things. Even though, she is no longer with me physically she still taught me a lot. After she's gone, I learned to take care of my sisters to help out my parents. Since my mom is always too tired to clean and my dad is a tidy person, I'm starting to turn into a neat freak after years of cleaning. Having 3 sisters I have always felt like an outcast as the middle child and hated my parents for awhile until I understand how hard it is to raise all 4 girls together. Now, we are not the best kids in the world that do not cry or get sick and scream and yell and nag and gosh who knows what! Through all of this I just know I have to work extra hard to make up for the sacrifices my parents made in order to give us this educational opportunity in the states. Don't know how, but I got lucky to get into UC Berkeley and met all of these wonderful people from REACH! (API Recruitment and Retention Center).

I decided to participated in EAP ever since I was a freshman.  Even though I lived in Vietnam for 10 years, coming back now Vietnam is not the same Vietnam as I used to remember. My main goal for this semester is to challenge myself to explore and find those memories about Vietnam that I was longing for years. From eating the street food, to riding a bike around the village or small town, to connecting back to my roots. I remember, when the sun is about to set I would come and sit in front of my house and listen to parents chit chat with my neighbors. I would come by my neighbor house and play with her kids  everyday until its time to come home and sleep. I guess I would call it "chilling." "Chilling" in America is quite different, I usually don't "chill" with the neighbor, only friends or people I would know. mostly is also because they don't have time. But in Vietnam, "chilling" become a living style that everyone does everyday, interacting with the people around them and make great relationship! During my short staying here, I hope to create those relationships and continue to make it last doing whatever it is that I have to do.