Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thien Nam shares about traditional Tet holiday

This time, I went to Korea to teach at the Korean University of Foreign Studies. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I taught online almost all year. The time to meet and speak Vietnamese directly with others was very little.

Perhaps when living abroad, the thing that makes us most startled is the sudden Vietnamese sounds that suddenly resound somewhere, in the most unexpected places. I have been to many countries, and every time I suddenly hear Vietnamese around me, my nerves suddenly focus on those Vietnamese words and think of nothing else. Then suddenly I turn into an "eavesdropper", and then I can't help but start a conversation.

Around the end of March last year, one afternoon I went to the Daiso store near my school to buy some small things, and suddenly I heard Vietnamese coming from two young men about 23-24 years old. "You buy this", "If you want to buy it, then buy it", "Why would I buy it"... About 10 minutes later, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I did something I would never do in Vietnam, which was to suddenly strike up a conversation. "Hello, two Vietnamese kids. I'm Vietnamese". After exchanging words, it turned out that they were students studying at the school I taught at. Through the conversation, I learned that there were about 100 Vietnamese students at the school.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thien Nam and two students

The niece told her nephew: "Take my phone number, if there is anything I can help you with." Just a few days later, he took me to buy a bicycle (I had asked several people, but for a whole month I still didn't know where the bicycle shop was).

One day, while I was at home, I suddenly saw my son texting me: "Uncle, can you eat pig intestines?". "Oh, you're abroad and you're asking that? Of course, why?". "Then I'll bring you a gift this afternoon. I said I'll order it and make it." So at 5 o'clock, he brought me a full plate of intestines like in Hanoi, and porridge with intestines too. He said, "I was craving it so much that I couldn't resist, so I ordered it online and made it myself, a whole pot."

Speaking of food, one day I went to Cheongyangni traditional market, a famous market in Seoul, selling all kinds of vegetables, meat, fish, and even traditional Chinese medicine... it seemed like it had everything. While I was walking around, I happened to see a long row of people selling pupae, so I immediately bought the smallest bag for 2,000 won (about 40,000 VND) to stir-fry with chives.

That plate of silkworms brought back a whole childhood. When I was a child, from 7-8 years old, I lived with my aunt in Thanh Cat, Thanh Chuong, Nghe An. My aunt worked as a silkworm farmer, "Working in the fields, eating while lying down, raising silkworms, eating while standing up". I still remember, every day, if I studied in the morning, I would go to the fields in the afternoon, if I studied in the afternoon, I would go to the fields in the morning. My aunt told me to find a "sông du" (a basket of mulberry leaves). I went to pick mulberry leaves with some friends in the neighborhood in the vast mulberry fields on the banks of the Lam River. Actually, we were stealing from the cooperative. But the mulberry fields were so vast that the guards didn't catch me. I also remember the morning when I went to pick mulberry leaves on the riverbank across Cat Dinh village, on the other side of the river was Phuong Ky village (Do Luong), suddenly an American plane came and dropped a bomb. We also learned that if we looked up and saw a shaped bomb, it was okay because it had fallen far from where we were standing, but if we saw a circle, it was falling right where we were. I looked up at the sky and saw many circles, so I ran into the village on all fours. Bombs had exploded on the other side of Phuong Ky village, then on the river. Behind me, I heard the sound of bomb fragments hitting the bamboo trees on the side of the road, so I ran straight to the field. That day, Chinh’s sister Chau, who was in my class, couldn’t run away in time. Also that day, on the other side of Phuong Ky village, hero Nguyen Quoc Tri died from a delayed-explosion magnetic bomb while he was cycling from home to visit the anti-aircraft artillery site.

Another day, I passed by Weitei Station near my school (Weitei is the Korean University of Foreign Studies station), and saw an old lady selling vegetables along the path near the station. In front of her was a pile of young mugwort. I suddenly felt excited. And I immediately bought some to make mugwort eggs to eat. While eating, I was filled with nostalgia for my hometown.

Well, the homeland when far away is actually not a big deal. It is just a greeting in Vietnamese, or a taste of memories. But the homeland still touches the hearts of people far away from home, especially when "Tet comes and Spring returns". I celebrated five Tet holidays in Cambodia when I was young, three Tet holidays in Japan when I was 30-40 years old. I understand what it means to miss home and hometown at those times. It seems that people far away understand the value of Tet better than when they are at home. I remember when I was in Tokyo, I had a Vietnamese friend, Professor Le Van Cu, who married a Japanese woman and has been in Japan for 45 years now, and he said that every Tet he "asked his wife's permission" to find a group of Vietnamese friends to celebrate Vietnamese Tet, and spend the night celebrating Tet. My house in Tokyo at that time was also where he and dozens of Vietnamese students gathered to celebrate Tet.

This time I am on a long-term business trip, and this Tet holiday also ends my term, but I don't know if I can come back in time for Tet because the pandemic is still tense here, and the only way is to wait for a rescue plane. So, even though it's in the middle of winter in Seoul at minus 12 degrees, I still hug my guitar and groan the songWinter memoriesby musician Phu Quang: "How can I return in winter, the river has white sand on both banks, How can I return in winter, autumn the bridge has broken...".

Whether I can come back in time for Tet or not, my heart will still sing: So... Tet!