Tet Nghe with foreigners far from home

Indian guy married Thanh Chuong

Anurag Sharma recently had a small celebration to mark 6 years of living and working in Vietnam. Sharing on his personal page, Anurag Sharma sent his thanks to his Vietnamese friends who have accompanied him during this special time.

6 years ago, Anurag Sharma left the small city of Jharkhand, India at the age of 21 and fate brought Anurag Sharma to Nghe An, becomingteacherand is an inspiration for the subjectYogafor many students. After 6 years, Anurag Shama also called Nghe An his hometown, because here he has a wife from Nhut - Thanh Chuong, has 2 beautiful children and a small house in Vinh city. Although life is still very difficult, Anurag Sharma feels that he has had a perfect start...

Teacher Anurag's online teaching session. Photo: MH

When coming to Vietnam, Anurag Sharma chose Vinh instead of other big cities, because he thought Vinh would have a more peaceful and quiet pace of life. However, in the first days here, Vinh street made Anurag Sharma "surprised" because there were too many high-rise buildings and a bustling pace of life. However, after the initial confusion, living in Vinh for a long time and especially having many new students... made him love Vinh more every day. In 6 years in Nghe An, although his work mainly took place in the gym with students who shared the same passion for yoga, he felt a miniature world.

Here, he is called teacher by the students, and every day he hears students share many stories, both joys and sorrows. In 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the world and the epicenter was India, he received many messages from friends asking about the situation of their families and hometowns every day. Sharing with the teacher during the pandemic, his online class has been open regularly throughout the year even though teachers and students can only see each other through the phone screen. On the occasion of November 20, fresh bouquets of flowers were still sent to the teacher by students with many good and sincere wishes.

Anurag Sharma's family goes on a spring outing. Photo: MH

Because of his love for this land, Anurag Sharma was determined to learn Vietnamese even though "Vietnamese has many accents and different ways of calling". But with perseverance, after only 2 years of self-study, Anurag Sharma can speak Vietnamese fluently like a Vietnamese person and can also use "chi, mo, rang, rua" of Nghe people. More than that, thanks to Vietnamese, Anurag Sharma got to know a colleague at the training center and later the two got married and became husband and wife. After 4 years of marriage, although both of them have only had one trip back to India to introduce and hold a wedding ceremony, there are still many unfinished plans because of the long distance, because of the outbreak of the epidemic...

However, Anurag Sharma has overcome his homesickness because he always has his wife, children and his "maternal" family who love him very much... That is also the reason why, on holidays, instead of going out or traveling, Anurag Sharma chooses the simple joy of returning to Thanh Chuong, gathering with his family and being treated by his father-in-law to many delicious dishes, especially the charcoal-grilled chicken that is "much tastier than in restaurants".

After nearly 6 years in Vietnam, Anurag Sharma has a wife, children and a stable life. Photo: MH

Celebrating many traditional Tet holidays in Vietnam, Anurag Sharma has also begun to love the faint scent of incense every Tet holiday, and the cool air of the 30th of Tet nights sitting awake next to the pot of banh chung. With sincerity, Anurag Sharma also cherishes Vietnamese Tet like the important holidays in his homeland because he feels that Vietnamese Tet has a special meaning to the local people and is the only occasion of the year when everyone in the family can gather and reunite...

Love Vietnamese Tet for its simple things

2021 is a very special year for Michael Olaha because after 2 years playing for Happoel Kfar Shalem Club (Israel), he returned to Song Lam football team - the team where he left many impressions with the titles "quiet hero", "the one who made the pitch bare".

This return of Michael Olaha is not as difficult as before because he met his old teammates, got used to the cold weather of the Central region and quickly got into the rhythm of training. After nearly half a year of returning to Song Lam Nghe An, Michael Olaha is also full of hope to be associated with the team for a long time. Michael Olaha also believes in his choice and he is happy to come to Vietnam because he believes that most professional players want to find a place to play football and earn money. Meanwhile, he determined that his football career is still long and Vietnam is the right place and gives him a lot of potential to develop.

Olaha and his teammates' training session. Photo: Duc Anh

Michael Olaha's affection for the team and his former teammates also brought him back to the team.Lam River Nghe An2nd time. Talking about this, Michael Olaha shared more: Nghe An people are very friendly and hospitable. Especially at Song Lam Nghe An, I feel everything is very good, my teammates are very united and everyone sees each other as family members. And, that is the reason I am here, coming back here".

Having been in Vietnam for a long time, Michael Olaha also feels that Lunar New Year here is very special and "like Christmas in Nigeria". Michael Olaha's impression after 4 years of celebrating Vietnamese Tet is also because "there are many flowers, including very typical flowers such as apricot blossoms and peach blossoms". During Tet, Michael Olaha is often invited by his friends to come home to enjoy delicious food and talk to each other after a year of work. Another thing that Michael Olaha finds very interesting is that people give each other lucky money on every New Year's occasion and Michael Olaha also often prepares many lucky money envelopes to give to children and his friends.

Michaela Olaha has joined Song Lam Nghe An football team for the second time. Photo: SLNA

This Tet, due to the pandemic, Michael Olaha may have to postpone many plans, no more long-distance trips. At the moment of New Year's Eve, entering the new year, he will also miss home, miss his homeland. However, as a "hardworking person", Michael Olaha knows that this is the time when he and his teammates need to prepare for the upcoming important matches and Tet is a meaningful time for him to rest, relax and feel the simple happiness with the local people. Michael Olaha also "loves the Tet atmosphere in Vietnam" just because of those very ordinary things.