Job Discussion Forums

parvastella22 · Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Posts: 10

I am guessing this might be an exhausted topic but I don't see any threads pertaining to this exactly. I was born in America and especially near Little Saigon here. I've always had trouble speaking Vietnamese and being able to communicate myself to the community, and I want to become more involved here.

Unfortunately my Vietnamese is lacking and I want to become a cultural bridge. I really want to help both Vietnamese in Vietnam and Vietnamese in America to come to a quiet peace or some kind of closure. I can't exactly say that they hate each other but I want to do some small step towards better relations. I really want to improve my Vietnamese to talk to my grandparents who can't speak English and chronicle their experiences during the war and be a proper speaker and mediator for them. I really want to write these experiences someday and publish them so that future Americans understand the Vietnamese diaspora story.

So I thought, if I'm an English major and I have a lot of confidence in my English, and if I want to improve my Vietnamese as well, why not go to Vietnam and totally submerse myself? The problem is that a Viet Kieu is seen very differently in Vietnam and I wanted to hear other's opinions and especially experiences about the issue.

Is teaching English to Vietnamese a noble desire? Or am I just being overly romantic about the realities of being a VK there? Thanks guys for any future responses.

ChuckECheese · Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 216

Here's another thread related to Viet Kieu wanting to teach in Vietnam so read on.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=48250

Good luck!

jennjenn · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 32 Location: San Diego, CA, USA

That's my thread that Chuck pointed you towards. It sounds like you want to go to VN for the same reasons I do, including the grandparents and war chronicling thing. I visited them yesterday and had much I wanted to say, but couldn't say it. Good luck.

slug93 · Joined: 07 Jan 2006 Posts: 38

If you want to live in VN for a year to gain life experience of living in another country/culture, to relearn vn, and/or to reconnect with vn culture. Then teaching english will pay the bill(you wont get rich) and afford you a decent lifestyle. After a year or two in VN, you can go back to the US, apply for grad school or job, knowing that you have good experience under your belt.

Teaching english in VN is like any other job, it's not that glamorous, but it could be satisfying. If you really want to experience the country/people/culture, then a good compromise is to teach half-week and use the other half-week to travel around the country. It's a great experience and you'll gain different prespective. But if you teach full time(25-30 hrs/week), you'll probably be working 5 days a week. So you'll be immerse in the culture but opp't to travel freely outside of HCM is restrict. Ideal situation is to teach 10/hrs a week in school and 10-15 hrs private. 10/hrs in school is about 3 days teaching, while privates you can line up at your AND the student's convenience. Plus it's easier to change private student's schedule than at a school.

I think it's a WONDERFUL idea to live/work overseas for a few years right after college. You'll gain tremenduos experience and maybe uncover great opportunities. Unless you get your dream job RIGHT after graduation, most likely you'll be working entry-level jobs in corporate america. So one year overseas doesnt put you back that far anyway AND depend on your field and what your career path is, that year overseas may get you a foot in the door at a company that wants to do international business.

My VK friend in college went to VN after grad school on a grant to write his book. He spent 6 weeks in vn and came back with stories/ideas for his first book of poetry, which he got published. He used that to propel himself in his field(creative writing) and from his books, he was able to get other jobs more fullfiling.

parvastella22 · Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Posts: 10

Thanks for the responses guys. I talked it over with my parents and my husband and they are more than happy to hear this from me. They basically told me it'll really help me grow more independent and wiser as a person. I'm really not there for the money, although it'd be great to pay off my undergrad loans. I'm really there because grad school is something I don't feel ready for ATM, and that I need to grow up in a way. I think going overseas will do the trick.

But my initial question was posted because the last time I went to Vietnam was about 6 years ago, so things might have changed. I stayed with my great-grandfather, aunts, uncles, etc. I am really concerned about the treatment of VKs now because while I was riding on a taxi van my window was down and I was hit in the face with a rock-hard loaf of bread.

Needless to say the man who threw it was cursing in Vietnamese, telling me something along the lines of, "Born from a dog VK!" (I guess "bitch VK" is the English equivilent?)

I don't know about you but I'll probably never return to that particular neighborhood ever again. Maybe it's just a singular bad experience and it's true that they do treat VKs different from foreigners. They tend to cop us out and demand us to pay them cigarettes, perfumes, and other smuggled junk as well as more dollar bills to try to soothe their greed.

I really don't know if I should even attempt speaking or acting Vietnamese when it sounds like it'll put me in uncomfortable situations. I just need sound advice to avoid those kinds of situations if they are, in any way, avoidable.

I'm hoping Americans are more welcomed in Vietnam now. It sounds like the country is beginning to open up but there is still bad blood between Vietnamese and the VK. Has anyone been there recently? And tips? Advice? Many thanks again!

parvastella22 · Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Posts: 10

Oh, and I forgot to add...

That bread attack didn't just happen once. The next time I made sure my window was up and we'd hear a distinct "thud" followed by some screaming curses everytime we passed through.

In a way when I think of it now I laugh about it because replaying the scene can be kind of comical. But it makes me a little apprehensive...Is this normal treatment?

Tanker · Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 72

slug93 · Joined: 07 Jan 2006 Posts: 38

sorry to hear about your experience.. but i have to say.. that it's definitely NOT the norm.. I've heard even worse.. my older brother's father-n-law, came to US in 75.. supported his siblings left in VN(buying a house for him BUT he let them live rent free).. and everything.. then when he(the father n law) went back to vn to visit. he was happy for his family and he saw that they use his help wisely to get ahead. Instead of appreciating it, his younger brother hired couple of thugs to beat him up badly. He found out his brother paid the thugs from a neighbor(in vn.. people know each other's business) and was warn not to come back.

Or another VK customer of my family went back to vn.. and got extorted money by locals, including spend a few days in jail.. Now all these stories were not recent.. more than 10 yrs ago.. So VN i think has come quite a way.. I've been here off and on for over 9 months.. and LOOK VK. I've never had any problem(and i'm staying in a very poor neighborhood, dist 4).. all the xe om driver go out of their way to get my business, the neighbor are cordial.. etc., MOST local VN, view VK in a positive light.. They know we(VK) bring money/gift back to the families, and that get trickled down to economy.

I've talked with lots of VK that are LIVING in VN, and they never had negative experience OUTSIDE of dealing with govt bureaucracy or getting a bigger traffic fine by cops.. It helps that the VK that live here have connection or their family has connection with the local govt. Even if it's only at the neighborhood level.

The worst most VK endure is the jacked up price that VK get. Example, xe om driver will drive my aunt(local) to the market for 5000 dong. BUT they REFUSE to drive me for anything LESS than 10,000 dong.. FOR THE SAME DISTANCE! they were blatant about it, told me straight.. that my price is 10k, my aunt is 5k..

mlomker · Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 378

nkminh · Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Posts: 27 Location: HCM City

I've got first hand exprerience living and working in SG for the last two years and nothing like that happen to me (but I'm a VK bloke). I got away with arguing with Customs at the airport when they wanted to tax my presents for my friends(mobile phones) and tried to confiscate my TV decoder. I even intervened to stop the traffic police from ripping off motorcyclists in a middle of a traffic jam (I took photos of them taking money and threatened to take them to the newspapers). But then I had my bike taken away for 20 days, because I refused to pay bribe.
The trick is, do not act differently to show you are a VK. There are a lot of Vk just went home to do that, but then they only got themselves to blame when charges are jacked up.
cheers
M

ChuckECheese · Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 216

If you're connected with at least Vietnamese Police Senior Colonel, you pretty much gotta free pass for just about any traffic violation and any run-ins with police matters.

So if you're gonna bride someone, make sure he/she is equal of higher than Senior Colonel. Don't even mess with anything less because it's waste of your money.

mlomker · Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 378