Foreign students celebrate Tet in Vietnam

KIM QUYEN - NGUYEN NHUNG

As the 2019 Year of the Pig Tet approaches, Vietnamese students away from home are all eager to buy bus tickets to quickly return to their hometowns to reunite with their families. But how do international students who are unable to return home celebrate Tet in Vietnam?

* Ryuta Yamada - exchange student, Faculty of Business Administration, International University:

Traditional Tet is no longer celebrated in Japan

Back in Japan, I heard my friends talk a lot about Vietnam, a country with a long-standing culture in Southeast Asia. Having experienced many different cultures such as New Zealand, Malaysia, and Thailand, I hoped to visit Vietnam one day. And at the end of 2017, my wish came true. I came to Vietnam as an exchange student.

Thanks to this, I was able to experience the Lunar New Year of the Vietnamese people. In Japan, people have long since stopped celebrating it as a national holiday.

The new year in Japan starts on the 30th and lasts for 4 days. Japanese people only get about 4 to 7 days off for the solar New Year because Japanese companies do not allow employees to take more time off. In Vietnam, people get a quite long Tet holiday. It seems this is the most important holiday for the Vietnamese. Just as the Vietnamese visit pagodas at the beginning of the year to pick lucky buds, the Japanese go to shrines to pray for luck. People often visit each other, meet and talk about the past year, and exchange lucky money. The Japanese also throw coins and ring bells to pray for luck in the new year. Another quite special point is that in Japan, they also give lucky money in a small envelope, but it is simple and not as distinctive as in Vietnam. Lucky envelopes here have more sizes and are decorated more colorfully.

During the last Tet, a Vietnamese friend invited me to their house for dinner. There was braised pork, spring rolls... I cannot remember the names of all the dishes, there were quite a lot of them. But they were all very delicious. I haven't had the chance to eat Banh Chung during Tet, but I often hear my Vietnamese friends tell stories about it. I think it's quite similar to the Japanese Mochi cake. That is quite a pity.

If I had to use one word to describe my year, it would be "busy". With only two weeks left in the year, I have to finish my work at the company and finish my graduation thesis to conclude the semester in Vietnam. Therefore, I will likely miss celebrating Tet with my family in Japan.

* Emelie Hong - exchange student, Faculty of Business Administration - International University:

Lunar New Year is about trips

I was already familiar with Vietnamese culture through my Vietnamese friends in Sweden, so I chose Vietnam as my destination to explore the country and its local culture.

Actually, I am also very familiar with the Lunar New Year because my parents are of Asian descent. Relatives from Vietnam also often visit my family in Sweden. During Tet, my family only makes Vietnamese food like spring rolls and salads. The rest are Thai dishes and many other international dishes; they certainly aren't as special as Tet in Vietnam. Tet is an important holiday in Vietnam, but in Sweden, only my family celebrates it together.

Last Tet, I spent my entire time with friends. I had a long trip to Da Lat and Mui Ne with other exchange students. That was a very memorable experience. Because in Sweden, Lunar New Year is a time for family, while the solar New Year is for friends.

It's a pity that I have to return to Sweden next month. Therefore, this 2019 Lunar New Year, I will be celebrating it alone in Sweden. I really like receiving lucky money during this occasion. Now that I live independently and no longer live with my family, receiving lucky money is difficult.

* Song Hyun Seung - second-year student, Faculty of Vietnamese Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities:

Preparing to celebrate the sixth Tet in Vietnam

My father came to work in Vietnam in 2008. Therefore, I stayed here with my family until 2012. After that, I returned to Korea, and only returned in 2016. It can be said that I have celebrated the Vietnamese traditional Tet five times. Next year will be my sixth spring in Vietnam.

Vietnamese and Korean people have quite a lot of similarities in celebrating Tet. Both spend a lot of time with their families. However, in Vietnam, it is not only adults who give lucky money to children, but friends or younger people also give lucky money to older people. Meanwhile, Koreans believe that only when they start working and earn a salary should they give lucky money to younger ones. For me, I only receive lucky money from my parents every year, and haven't given it to anyone yet.

I really like eating meals with my family during Tet because I feel warm and united. As long as I have my family, whether in Vietnam or Korea, I still feel that Tet is complete. In addition to Vietnamese cylindrical sticky rice cake (Banh Tet), my mother also prepares Jeon - a traditional Korean dish for the new year.

For the upcoming Tet, I will travel to Phu Quoc with my family for 3 days.

* Jung Joo Hee - second-year student, Faculty of Vietnamese Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities:

Determined to lose weight... to wear Ao Dai

My mother and I both want to live in Vietnam because our family does not like the rigid education system in Korea. My mother wants my sister and me to study freely according to our interests without being under too much pressure. Competing for university entrance in Korea is much more intense than in Vietnam.

This is my third year celebrating Tet in Vietnam. I have been invited by Vietnamese friends to eat Banh Chung. It is very delicious, with meat and bean filling inside and sticky rice outside; the flavor is very special. Unlike the Vietnamese who wear Ao Dai when celebrating Tet, Koreans now rarely wear Hanbok because it is quite complicated and the cost of this outfit is very expensive. I will definitely lose weight to wear a Vietnamese Ao Dai more comfortably during Tet.

I have a Vietnamese friend who is 4 years older than me, named Trang, who is studying in the Korean Studies department. She is very friendly and lovely. Trang gave me 50,000 VND as lucky money at the beginning of the year. She was also the one who introduced me to many things about Vietnamese Tet culture during the first three days of the new year. The first day is for family reunions. The second day is to visit teachers. And finally, the day for gathering with friends. Vietnamese people often drink a lot of alcohol on Tet. I think this is not very good. During Tet, Ho Chi Minh City is usually quiet, unlike the crowded Seoul, so I rarely go out, I just stay at home for family gatherings.

I extremely enjoy watching fireworks in Ho Chi Minh City. At midnight, from the window of my apartment in District 7, I could clearly see the brilliant sky full of fireworks. Perhaps, this is what I am most impressed with about spring in Vietnam.