Foreigners happily celebrate Vietnamese New Year

(Baonghean) - For many foreigners, being able to celebrate the traditional Vietnamese New Year is an exciting opportunity. The people we met and talked to below showed that they were truly impressed with the unique cultural features and warm, hospitable feelings of the Nghe people.

Provincial leaders congratulate foreign investors on the traditional New Year. Photo: SM

When we mentioned the memories of celebrating the traditional Vietnamese New Year, Ms. Choe Yeongja and Mr. Hwang Kyoungmin, volunteers from the Vietnam - Korea Industrial Vocational College (abbreviated as Vietnam - Korea School), both exclaimed with bright smiles: "Oh! It was so much fun, we were really impressed when celebrating Tet in Vietnam!".

The story begins with Ms. Choe Yeongja - born in 1956, a Korean language teacher. Since 2012, her husband has been working at Thai Nguyen University - Vietnam as an expert of KOICA. Ms. Choe said: “In phone conversations and every time I visit home, my husband talks a lot about the hospitality, the warm and warm feelings that Vietnamese friends have for him. I myself have been to Vietnam 5 times for tourism, so I also feel that clearly and am very eager to go to Vietnam to work. Therefore, at the end of 2013, after retiring, I registered with KOICA to volunteer to work in Vietnam...”.

In February 2014, Ms. Choe celebrated the first Vietnamese New Year in Ho Chi Minh City. She was really impressed with the cultural features of the Vietnamese people, especially the traditional Banh Chung. "The traditional Vietnamese New Year has many similarities with the traditional Korean New Year, so I feel close and warm like at home." In 2015, she welcomed her two sons from Korea to Vietnam so that the whole family could celebrate the New Year in Nghe An, the hometown of President Ho Chi Minh. "If we can do that, we will have the most interesting New Year ever..." - Ms. Choe excitedly shared.

Ms. Choe and Mr. Hwang talk to reporters. Photo: MQ

As for Mr. Hwang Kyoungmin, born in 1985, a teacher of the Faculty of Mechanics at the Vietnam - Korea School, who spent time celebrating the Year of the Horse 2014 in Nghe An, shared: "I am very impressed with the way Vietnamese people celebrate the New Year. Especially the way they play with peach and kumquat trees. Last Tet, my colleagues in Nghe An gave me a peach tree and a small kumquat tree... Everywhere I went, people warmly welcomed me with many traditional dishes." Like Ms. Choe, Mr. Hwang was especially impressed with banh chung. "My colleagues gave me a lot of banh chung. Many people were worried that I wouldn't be able to finish it, but I ate this dish every day without getting bored, to the point that after 2 weeks of Tet holiday, I gained more than 1.5 kg" - Mr. Hwang smiled. During the Lunar New Year, Mr. Hwang said: “Some Korean volunteers in other provinces contacted me to travel together, but my friends in Nghe An all invited me to celebrate Tet with their families, so I decided to stay in Vinh City to have more beautiful memories. This Tet, I will definitely practice wrapping Chung cakes and making some traditional Vietnamese cakes so that when I return to Korea, I can make them for my friends to enjoy...”.

In recent years, English centers in Vinh City often have foreign teachers teaching, and Mr. Dustin Gerding - an American, 29 years old, is one of them. Born and raised in New York, after graduating from university with a major in foreign affairs and culture, Dustin mainly worked as a volunteer abroad. Before coming to Vietnam, Dustin had worked in 18 countries. Since17/2/2014, he came to Vinh and his work schedule was until the summer of 2015. According to this American teacher, almost everything in Vinh is pleasant, from the weather to the people. “Here, winter is warmer and summer is cooler than in New York. People are very hospitable. Only traffic is a bit complicated, but I gradually got used to it and now I can confidently ride a motorbike on the road.”

Dustin said that before coming to Vietnam, he had read many books and newspapers about the traditional Tet holiday of the Vietnamese people. “Because this is my first Tet in Vietnam, I am very excited and eagerly waiting. It will probably be very different from the Tet of us Americans. Last year, although I arrived in Vietnam after Tet, I was lucky enough to see the remaining peach blossoms and enjoy banh chung. It was great! This year, many friends have invited me to their homes to celebrate Tet with their families, and it is very difficult for me to refuse anyone…”- Dustin shared.

The traditional Tet holiday of the Vietnamese people has a special meaning, increasingly attracting international friends. It is always warm about reunion, solidarity and cultural features rich in national identity promoted in the new era...

Minh Quan