I had never been out of Vietnam before, and it is a tropical
country. Well, I was not used to the cold weather. I wore 2 jackets and 3 socks
but I was still cold. During the night, I couldn’t sleep because I was so cold.
I walked and walked and walked to keep warm. Although there were some
challenges during my journey, I tried to overcome them and I also knew how to
deal with my difficulties. Having difficulties, I recognized I grew up and stronger.
I think that this is a valuable lesson in my life. When I told my problem
to my friend in Vietnam, she told me that she also learned a valuable
experience from me.
There were some
impressions when I arrived in Syracuse:
The first impression when I came here is that I saw many
trees without leaves. They are different from the trees in Vietnam.
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The trees without
leaves
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The second impression is that I saw the traffic lights that
are also different from the traffic lights in Vietnam.
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The traffic lights in Utica
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The next impression happened the second day I was here. When
I went out, I just wore a jacket, a pair of socks, and no hat, no gloves. I
thought I was Ok with my clothes when I went out, but I couldn’t
walk because of the cold weather. At that time, I think I would die because I
was going to be frozen in such cold weather. I think that it is a valuable
lesson to me. I think I can’t forget it in my life and I will share my
experience with everyone when I come back to Vietnam. After that, when I went
out, I often wore 6 layers, a hat, 3 socks, and gloves. Now I think I have a
nickname “Nhe 6 layers.” Ok, everyone can call me by this nickname. Although
the weather was cold, I felt warm because everyone was nice to me.
Another impression was that when I visited a Spanish class, I
saw that the students didn’t wear uniforms, and they also didn’t greet the
teacher when the teacher came into or left the class. They also didn’t take off
their hats when they came to the class. Besides that, when they answered the
teacher’s questions, they didn’t stand up, but they just sat at the seat and
answered the questions. This doesn’t happen in Vietnam.
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Spanish class
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I will always remember this day because I had a chance to
participate in an American’s birthday party. I felt interested and happy and
the party was fun. Everyone was very friendly. I liked them a lot. I learned
something new when I participated in this party. The first one is that the
gifts are opened in front of the givers and everyone in the birthday party had
to serve themselves. However, in Vietnam, people will not open gifts in front
of the givers. If you do that, you are considered to be rude. In addition, the
hosts have to serve the food for the guests.
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American birthday
party
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Last Sunday I went to Aiko’s house on Easter Sunday with her
family. I tried many dishes that I had never tried in Vietnam. I also made
friends with her three her daughters. They are so cute, so nice, and
easy-going. I thanked her family because everyone made me feel warm and happy.
There, I learned how to celebrate an Easter holiday in the USA. Frankly, I have
never had a chance to participate in it, so I felt excited and the
experience was meaningful.
Thus far, these are my new experiences that will be
very useful for me in my teaching culture to my students.
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EGGS AND DISH ON EASTER
DAY
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Another thing I saw that Americans always say “thank you.”
People say “thank you” to the stranger who holds the door open, to the cashier
at the snack bar, or in the supermarket or in the coffee shop. Husband says “thank
you” to his wife and his sons or his daughters several times a day for various
things: closing the door, asking him if he wants to eat something or do
something with them and vice versa. In brief, Americans say “thank you” for
everything. In the U.S., people have offered thanks for coming to their homes
or parties. In contrast, in Vietnam, people rarely thank their friends or
classmates. People have
never thanked their parents, their husband or wife for anything. Vietnamese
people just say “thank you” to the strangers who help them to do something or
sometimes younger people say “thank you” to elder people when they take
something from the elder people. I also shared this issue with Alison’s
students in her class.