James' Blog

I made it. This is my sixth month in Vancouver. Throughout my time living and studying here, I realize that there are many differences between the two cities in my heart.

The first thing about Vancouver that is so much different from my own city is the aesthetic. Each city is beautiful in its own way. While Vancouver appeals in my eyes as a modern and fast-paced city, Saigon in my heart is beautiful because of it’s historical mixed with dots of future. Beside tomorrow look of it, Vancouver has many yesteryear gems that are well hidden in the heart of the city. The iconic Gas Town and the steam clock near it, or the Dr. Sun Yat-sen classical Chinese Garden are just two of many examples of those hidden gems. When you walk down the streets of the city, you will see the city planners don’t just blindly put skyscrapers around town. Instead, they mix the city in with nature. This provides the place with a not so overwhelming look and gives Vancouverites a beautiful and balanced living space. On the other hand, Saigon is history and nature mix with dots of modern architecture. Walking around Saigon, you will see a lot of houses that have been standing for decades, some houses even have their history go back to the French Colonial time. Independent Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon and Cu Chi Tunnels bear the story of how Saigon become what it is today. On top of that, the tallest building in Vietnam and Southeast Asia as a whole, the Landmark 81, is also located in Saigon as the prove of Vietnam development. The aesthetic is the thing that really make the different between the two cities.

The second difference is the traffic in the two cities. In Saigon, most people use small and fast motorcycles for transportation, as the streets in the city are commonly smaller than the streets in Vancouver. For that, whenever you go out in rush hour, the street is flooded with motorcycles. It may overwhelm the newcomers, but it is one of Saigon’s signature. On the other hand, Vancouver’s road is bigger and more organized than Saigon’s streets. There are more people walking on the road and more public transportation. The best thing that I love about Vancouver is public transportation. I can use the Skytrain to go to almost everywhere I need and use the bus to reach anywhere that is not in the walking distance. And with the opportunities, I begin to travel around the city and realize that there are more common points between the two cities than I thought.

People from both cities are very friendly and helpful. From my past experience of living in Vancouver and Saigon, I can say that Vancouver gives me the feeling of being home. Both cities welcome and accept newcomers very warmly. In Saigon, I am comfortable because I am in my hometown, among my kins who I know very well. On the other hand, Vancouverites are so easy to get along with. Once, I was lost in the middle of Broadway, while the place I wanted to go was the Central Public Library. I just went right up and asked one person. The person that I was with showed me the way and even walked with me to the station. Vancouver now has a special place in my heart next to Saigon, for the people’s friendliness.

However, as I walking around, discovering the treasures lie within Vancouver, I begin to realize that there are many things that Saigon has in common with Vancouver. Multiculturalism is one of the things I can see, even though, you may have to look harder in Saigon. Being the cities that welcome newcomers, it’s normal to see people from many corners of the world come and live in Vancouver and Saigon. As I walk down the street, I can say hello to not just Canadian but also Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Iranians and so on and so on. I can even say “how are you?” in my own language on some occasions. In short, Saigon and Vancouver are comprised of not just one, but many cultures.

Vancouver and Saigon have one more point in common, and that is the love for seafood! Located next to the sea, Vancouver and Saigon are blessed with the abundance of seafood. Walking around both cities will give you plenty of destinations to enjoy a dish of flavorful seafood. My favorite are always the oysters and various types of shellfish. Of course, the ways the chefs in Saigon prepare the seafood will a bit different from the way Vancouver’s seafood is. However, we can’t deny that both cities love seafood.

From the two seemingly different cultures, Vancouver and Saigon still manage to have a lot of similarities. If you haven’t traveled to Saigon or Vancouver, I highly suggest you do so, because, the cities will give their newcomers a lot of pleasant surprises.

Christmas is not about the materialistic value of gifts and presents, but it’s about the bond between family members and friends, this is clearly demonstrated in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) by Dr. Seuss. In the movie, the Grinch is a green creature, live far away from the Whos in Whoville. He has a head not screwed right, a too tight off a pair of shoes, and a heart that is two size too small. He has long hated Christmas, for all the noise, the singing, and the feasting that irritated him. One Christmas, he decides to take Christmas away from the Whos in Whoville! He takes away the stockings, the presents, the “roast beast” for the Christmas dinner, the candy from the children, and the Christmas tree! What does he expect in the next morning? The Whos in Whoville will cry “boo-hoo” when they wake up, for the Grinch has taken the Christmas away from them. However, as he stood there with his dog Max, he hears them sing. They warmly sing the Christmas song and happily stand and hold the hands of each other. And as the story tell, the Grinch heart became three size larger! He prevents all of which he has stolen from the Whos from falling down to the deep and dark valley, and returned them back to their . Why, you ask? Because he realize that Christmas is not about the materialistic value of the gifts, of the food for the feasting, but Christmas is about the being able to gather and show the love for each other in the family, between friends, or even between neighbors. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Source Cited

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” IMDb, IMDb.com, 18 Dec. 1966, https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0060345/.

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas! 1966 Quotes at FinestQuotes.com.” FinestQuotes, http://www.finestquotes.com/movie_quotes/movie/How the Grinch Stole Christmas! 1966/page/0.htm.

When I turn on the television, and tune to the news, I always see the news anchors and various experts, politician saying the general idea: Consumerism is good, because it helps the economy expanding. And in the spirit of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I went shopping for some… stuff. However, I saw an article from CTW news, “Made-in-Canada Buy Nothing Day takes aim at Black Friday consumer excess” and the video “The High Price of Materialism” in my Composition 11 class. The names talk for themselves. Consumerism is the idea of, according to Cambrigde Dictionary, the situation in with a society advance it’s economy and itself through constant buying and selling good. However, when I was first shown the pictures of containers of trashes from Canada in my Social 10 class, left over in a harbour of Philippines, I began to ask one thing: Is it worth it, for our environment and our society? I began to think. Everytime I buy something. Everytime that I show my friends that I have something. On the scale of 1-10, I would rate myself… 6.5. I particularly not really care about the fashion world, or anything that is outside my range of interest. On the other hand, if I wanted something I interest about, I will save up and get that item. I also only buy anything that is essential. I admit that I desire to shop, and I sometime waste money on stuff that I really don’t need at all. As it turn out, I am quite materialistic, eh?

Source Cited

MacLeod, Meredith. “Made-in-Canada Buy Nothing Day Takes Aim at Black Friday Consumer Excess.” CTVNews, CTV News, 29 Nov. 2019, https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/made-in-canada-buy-nothing-day-takes-aim-at-black-friday-consumer-excess-1.4708081.

Last week, I had a chance to see the movie 3 Idiots in my Composition 11 class. It was quite an experience, for it was my first time seeing a movie from India, and for the satire that made my class dies of laughter. The 3 Idiots is a 2009 movie starting Armir Khan as Ranchoddas “Rancho” Shamaldas Chanchad / Chhote / Phunsukh Wangdu , and produceđ by Vidhu Vinod Chopra production in India. According to Cambrigde Dictionary, satire is a humorous way to criticize a idea, or a person, to make a political statement. The movie 3 Idiots makes a perfect satire out of every unjust things in India education and society.

The first thing I can see is the outdated practice in education. In the movie, Dr. Viru Sahastrabuddhe, or “Virus”, represent the India’s education. Virus in the movie is the strict director of the college that Rancho, Raju and Farhan study in. He is a hard line doctrinist and stubbornly stick so much to his saying, ” life is a race, if you don’t run fast you’ll get trampled.” On top of that, every end of semester, everybody score is giving out to public to view. The rank of everybody also determines the seat in the end of semester picture like caste system in Hindus. This system treat students based on their score, not their talent. In the movie, two people had died because of this caste system. The first one we see is Joy, for not able to complete his project on time, and get not getting pass the semester. The second one, who we will learn later in the movie, died, as he couldn’t become the writer he wanted, instead, he had to become an engineer. The 3 Idiots perfectly shows us how outdated the India’s education is, by only focusing one’s the grade, not one’s talent.

The next thing I see is the old-fashioned tradition that children have to study to become what parents want them to be. This is a problem that is still plaguing the education system in many Asian country. We can see this in “Dr. Virus” family: boys will become engineers, girls will become doctors, and in Farhan’s family, as Farhan has to give up his dream to become a wildlife photographer. This shouldn’t be happening in a modern democratic society. People should have the right to follow their excellency and do what they love. In the movie, a person had taken his own life, for his dad denying him his dream. The 3 Idiots shows us that, parents should not pressure the children to study what they dont like, in stead, they should encourage the youth to follow what they love.

The last thing that is making fun of, but not as prominent as the first two thing, is the inefficient healthcare system. It takes a lot of time for ambulance to get to the patients. Raju’s mother when his father had a stroke used to say: “Ajeeb desh hai hamara, pizza tees minute mein pahuchne ki guarantee hai … lekin ambulance?” ( Our country is strange, pizza delivery is guaranteed within 30 minutes … but ambulance?) Please notice that it has been two hours at that moment in the movie since she called an ambulance for her husband. In the end, Rancho and Pia have to ride Raju’s father to the hospital. The second time is when Rancho has to ride Pia’s motorcycle in front of the ambulance to force other cars out of ambulance’s way. The time is when Mona (Pia’s sister) deliver her baby. The ambulance couldn’t get there because the city is flooded, forcing Rancho, Farhan, Raju and the whole campus together to help Mona’s delivery. The movie clearly show the healthcare system of India is antiquated, and could affect life of patient in a bad ways.

The movie 3 Idiots show us many antiquated tradition in the life of not only student, but also people in India. From the caste system in education, to pressuring children to study the profession that parents like, to the ambulance are satirized. We should abandon the outdated way of thinking, antiquated tradition and fix the problem in the society to make success chase you. “Follow your excellency, and success will chase you… pants down” – Rancho.

Source Cited

IMDb, IMDb.com, 24 Dec. 2009, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1187043/.

Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/satire.

Filmy Quotes, https://www.filmyquotes.com/movies/36

Either you have pho, or you dont. There is not, absolutely no substitute for pho. For its uniqueness, pho has became the signature dish of Vietnam, that you can say: “you haven’t came to Vietnam if you didn’t eat a bow of pho there.”

When you come to pho, you will be suprise to find out that pho is relatively new for a country with more than 4000 years of history. Pho actually became popular in the 1880s in the French Colonial era of Vietnam, but before that, pho wasn’t make from beef, and the famous flattened-rice noddle did not exist. It was called “xáo trâu” (water buffalo and rice noddle).

However through the time, the version make with beef became more popular, as vendors then know how to remove the distinct smell that people dont like, and that became “xáo bò” (beef with rice noddle). At that time, a lot of the vendors in the local area were Vietnamese-Cantoneses, so they called them “ngưu nhục phấn”, and began to flatten the normal round-shaped rice noddle, and use the scrap beef like bones, and the part that the French don’t use.

With hot broth, smooth texture of noddle, delicious beef and fresh herb, the dish won out Vietnameses, Chineses and even the Frenchs who lived and worked in big cities like Hanoi.

So, how did “ngưu nhục phấn” became “phở”? For the sake of being competitive, vendor started to abbreviate the name from “ngưu nhục phấn đây” (beef and rice noddle here) to “ngưu phấn a”. However, it’s still too long. So, people keep shorten the name to “phấn a” or “phốn ơ” before settled in the name that we all know and love: PHỞ.

Despite all of that Vietnamese – Chinese debate, the dish could even be associated with the French, as in “Pot-a-feu” (broiled beef dinner). Although many see the resemblances of the two are slim, as we don’t put vegetable into the broth and cook it together like the French, but it’s still plausible for a Vietnamese-French variation of the dish to became the pho we known and loved.

The name “phở”, does not only refer to “phở” itself. It also used to talk about the noddle, or what we call: “bánh phở” (phở noddle). For it’s uniqueness, it’s rewarded with an unique fitting name. The texture… you will have to try it yourself.

As time when on, variations of pho became more popular. Like “phở gà” (chiken with phở). The beef in the original phở is replaced with chicken. The broth instead of using beef bones to slow cook, the chef uses whole chickens to make them.

Another version is “phở xào giòn/dòn” (pan-fried phở), where you cook both “bánh phở” and all of it’s components is, as the name said, pan-fried and serve with hot sauce, and black bean sauce.

Even between the two largest cities of Vietnam (Hanoi and Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City), there are many differences between Hanoi’s phở and Saigon’s phở. Some even step out of the normal boundaries and give Phở a different look, like using seafood instead of beef and chicken.

For it’s uniqueness and it’s many variation, phở has always had a special place in the Vietnamese culture. Everytime you eat a bow of Phở, remember that it’s a dish that carry three seemingly different cultures in it. And that’s why, you have never truely been too Vietnam, if you don’t at least try a bow of phở there.

Source Cited:

Nguyen, Andrea, et al. “The History of Pho.” Viet World Kitchen, 18 May 2018, https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2018/03/the-history-of-pho.html.

Adam, Barbara. “The Many Faces of Pho.” Medium, Invironment, 12 Apr. 2016, https://medium.com/invironment/the-many-faces-of-pho-2b778ed04c7d.

The story “We’ll Take the White One” by Dawn Dumont seemlessly portrays its negative effect on the First Nation people. According to the website of Anti-Defamation League ( https://www.adl.org/racism ), racism “Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. Racial separatism is the belief, most of the time based on racism, that different races should remain segregated and apart from one another.” In the story, the church and the government of Canada thought that they could “beat the Indian out of” the children (page 269) by forbidding their language and culture, forcing them to learn English and Christianity, and punishing them severely for the lightest of the mistake. We can see that from reading the story on page 268: “A year after he was enrolled at the school, the nuns and priests at the school decided that my dad’s last name, “Day Walker,” was too Native-sounding and changed it to “Walker.” Dumont’s mother also watched two girls being beaten with a strap for attempting to escape from the residential school (Dumont 268). Additionally, the Residential schools did not care for their students. They neglected and abused the students, creating generations of failing and low self-esteemed children. Dumont’s mother says, “When I started junior high, there had been at least fifteen reserve-raised girls in my class. By the time i graduated, there were none left. The others had transferred to city schools where they fit better, where there were more Native students…” (Dumont 273). Lastly, the white people had no regards for the First Nation people’s feelings. From the story, on page 266, there was a couple of white people came to meet Dumont’s grandfather. The couple straightforwardly said that they wanted to “take a child”. They even said they “could also take one more.” That was absurdity at its best, for they to said those words out. How could they adopt a child when their parents are still alive and well? From all of the point above, we can see that racism had negative effect on people of the First Nation, and we should do more to reconcile and restore their culture.

WORK CITED

Dumont, Dawn. Nobody Cries at Bingo. Tbistledown Press, 2011.

War

Chaos, Violent

Killing, Fighting, Dying

Soldiers, Immorality, Future, Life

Loving, Nurturing, Living

Tranquil, Serene

Peace

James Vo

As a survey from Mrs. Tara happened in the class, I found myself as a part of the Negative Side (or the Dark Side, if you like Star Wars, and the original trilogy is the best, not for debating) of the class. Turn out the way I call my haft-empty cup of that hot delicious cup of caffeine is deemed… negative.

In the essay “Attitude Is Everything” by Francie Baltazar-Schwartz, from the book Reading Matters 3, we have Jerry, the German guy that the author says “you love to hate” him, as he is always positive, and having a good mood. The Schwartz once says to Jerry that a person couldn’t be positive all the time, and “I don’t get it.” Jerry replies to the author: “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

So… for Jerry, life is all about choice. the same thing applies to me. Its just about your choice. You can be negative and force yourself to have a terrible life… or, you can make a terrible thing a joke, laugh if of, and learn from it. It is like choosing between watching the dreadful news the make the world seem to be awful. On the other hand, you can watch political satire, which make me happy and hopeful. I sure love to watch Stephen Colbert makes joke about what is happening in Capitol Hill and around the world. A truely politically funny show for not so politically savvy people.

So, back to the haft-full and haft-empty debate. It is true that I can be very dime sometime, but, when you look at me, I can crack a joke or two that can make you smile. Because: “This coffee is so good that I make it haft-empty in no time!” When you enjoy and you are happy, even negative thing will make you smile. Cheers! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Work Cited,

Schwartz, Francie Baltazar-. “Attitude Is Everything.” Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work, Jack Canfield. Reprinted on Reading Matters 3, Heinle, Cengage Learning, 2007, [p. 270-271].

I love my family. I my sister. I love my father. I love my mother, and my relatives.

I love my pet, and all the sound they make.

I love Vancouver, and the rainy days to come.

I love Canada, for poutine and the overly politeness.

I love Vietnam, because that’s the country I came from.

Whether you like it or not, changes will come, and it will make present the past. The climate is one of the thing is changing, and its changing in a bad way because of human’s action. However, the youths of the world are changing in a good way.

In the recent years, the frequency of extreme weather phenomenal is on the rise. This is the result of years of indiscriminately releasing pollution from our industries. The affect of this can be felt all over the world from the recent devastating hurricane Dorian, to the flooding cause by heavy rain, or drought soil salinization in Vietnam. Yet, our leaders, despite knowing this fact, refuse to take action. This is the time when the younger generation is noticing at what’s happening and taking the initiative.

On Friday, September 27, 2019, more than 500000 people went down to the street in Montreal to make a statement. They together with many more people who when on the climate strike all over the world, were there to send the message to the governments: “you are not doing enough to combat climate change.”

And yet, they were not just environmentalists, activists, or concerned adults, they were led by a 16 years old student from Sweden. Her name is Greta Thunberg, she is also an autistic patient.

“We are not in school today, you are not at work today, because this is an emergency, and we will not be bystanders,” said Greta Thunberg.

We, as the future of the world, should not just standing by either, because there is now plan B, or a replacement planet for us. We must act and reduce our carbon footprint to save the future.

In the end, whether you like it or not, changes will come, and it will make present the past.

Source Cited:

“Swedish Climate Activist Thunberg to Join Rally in Vancouver on Friday | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 22 Oct. 2019, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/greta-thunberg-vancouver-1.5330353.