I came from a big and busy town called Thu Dau Mot in Vietnam. It is the biggest city in Binh Duong province. It is about 1 hour of driving to the North of Ho Chi Minh City. It is a very beautiful city, just like Ho Chi MInh but less traffic and better housing. It is on the other side of the Sai Gon river.
A part of Binh Duong
Old Fish Market
This hometown of mine, Thu Dau Mot was established in 1869, under the name of Emperor Duc Tong. My hometown back then was just a small settlement. As it was being developed, many people come there and live. The population rocketed from just a few dozen to 6700 people. Over the course of history, through the French Indochina war, and America war, Thu Dau Mot and Binh Duong has been through many hardship to become a beautiful city as we see it today.
VSIP II Industrial Park
Phu Cuong Church
Thu Dau Mot is a city with booming industry. You can find a very big Industrial Park like Vietnam-Singapore, Song Than I, Song Than II (“song than” literally mean tsunami, It’s weird, but oh well, that’s what she said). They attract many of the companies not only from VIetnam but also from other foreign countries like Japan, Korea, USA,… Thu Dau Mot is also a place where culture meet, beside Ho Chi MInh City. Thu Dau Mot is one of the best place for foreigners to come and work. In fact, a lot of teachers in my old school is from Europe, America, Canada, Australia,… etc. Thu Dau Mot is also famous for it’s many pagoda like the Chua Mau Khanh, Mieu Ba Thien Mau… etc, Phu Cuong church, or the historical prison Phu Loi built by the French to imprison the Vietnamese political prisoners are also some of the most popular destination. So, that is, my home town.
Author Info: Brian Fawcett (1944 – present) , is a writer and cultural analyst. He is now 75 years old and living in Toronto, Ontario. (According to Wikipedia).
Plot Summary:
Exposition: The protagonist is introduced as the youngest boy in the family, he has 2 older sister and a brother.
Conflict: The pair of sisters keep treating him and his brother as horses to play with. He tries to act as other animal like cat, dog, chicken and cow, even whining but to no avail. His sisters keep treating him like a “stallion”.
Climax: As they grew older, the older brother fight back as he doesn’t want to be treated like an animal.
Falling Action: The sisters lose interest in their little brothers. They started going out, looking for their “other stallions”. The boy is left behind, confuse, alone. He begin to hate the other “stallions” that his sisters love.
Denouement: The protagonist feels lonely, as his sister aren’t interested in him anymore.
Setting: The story take place in the past, according to the memory of the author.
Character:
Protagonist: He is the youngest brother in the family. He is kind of a flat character, very submissive.
Antagonist: The opposing force in the story is the twin sisters who were nearly seven years older than the main character. In their town, all young girls seem to love horses, and there are at least a hundred theories about why. Those girls love horses from book like Black Beauty and had a passionate but unrequited love for real horses due to they poor, only a few daughters of really wealthy people actually owned horses. However, the twin sisters weren’t like any of those kinds of girls because they created their own horses, rode them, made up stories about them , cured them when they were injured or sick, and generally made life miserable for them. They thought the main character and the older brother (who was just a year younger than the twins) were two of the horses.
Narrator & P.O.V: The narrator in this story has the first person Point-of-view. The Narrator is also the protagonist. We know this as the narrator uses “I” and “me”.
Conflict: The type of conflict is Person V.S. Person as known as external. In the story, the conflict is the twin sisters look down on the main character and they constantly treat him like a horse even he is theirs young brother.
Theme: In the short story “Wild Horses”, Brian Fawcett presents the idea that “sibling rivalry” is hurtful and can break the relationship between family no matter which side you stand.
Figurative Language:
Irony:
-My twin sisters were nearly seven years older than I was and they were the most normal sisters I ever knew. (pg.27)
-I may have whinnied before I spoke human language. (pg.29)
Simile:
-I would meow and bark, cluck like a chicken, or moo like a cow. (pg.30)
-The more I tried to escape, the more they thought of me as a horse they were trying to train. (pg.27)
Key Terms:
galloped: ran fast and rather boisterously.
stallion: adult male horse.
Personal Connection: I remember there was one time, my sister came back home from Singapore. We were on the car and not waiting until fifteen minutes later, we broke into a childish fight. But afterward, I am still her younger brother, and we were back to normal pretty quick. How nostalgic…
Three weeks, I have been in Vancouver for three weeks. Long time? Could be, but for me, it is not long enough to explore this city. There are only a few places that I have been to, but Vancouver Public Library is the place stood out the most for me.
The first time I went to the Vancouver Public Library was on the third day of orientation at Columbia College, or, my second day in Vancouver. Appear in front of me, a large colossal structure resemblance The Colosseum in Rome. It was built by an Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie.
The reason why it was built to resemblance the Rome Colosseum? The Colosseum is associated with power, strength. And the Vancouver Public Library by imitating the Colosseum may link the books, or knowledge to the power, the strength. It reminds me of a famous saying of the famous Soviet leader Lenin: “He who has the knowledge, he who has the power.”
I have been there for about 5 times to study. Every time I go there, it gives me a kind of different feeling. Socializing, calmness, peaceful, amazement, goodness…. The place I like the most perhaps are the 8th and 9th floors. That is where the garden and the study place, where you can talk freely without being reminded that this is a library.
Every time I go there, I feel a little bit smarter. The view from the library is so nice that sometime I forget that I have a homework to do.
So, that’s it. The most fascinating place I ever been to.
What is my hobby, you ask? It’s Gunpla. And what is that, you ask? It is short for “Gundam plastic models” make by Japanese company Bandai. The model kits are based on the vehicles, robots or spaceships in the Gundam franchise.
RX-78-2 Gundam
“Mobile Suit Gundam” or “Kidou Senshi Gandamu” is a anime mecha franchise started in 1979 by the company Sunrise. The first series, know as Gundam 79, or Gundam 0079 or just simple First Gundam as we know it today, is settled in year UC 0079 (short for Universal Century, in the gundam universe, the Anno Domini ended with the launch of the first space colony into space). It follow the main character Amuro Ray, who is piloting the iconic RX-78-2 Gundam built by his father in the conflict between Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon, or Duchy of Zeon.
In the real world, Gundam may just be a model kit for many. But for some, especially me, it is craftmanship, it is passionate, it is more than just a hobby. It is the reason why the franchise has been surviving and still going strong for more than 30 year.
Gunpla has many size, shapes and variants. But the thing that all gunpla builders should know to decide which kit is suitable for you are the scale of the kits, or “grades”. As of 2019, we have about 6 scales or “grades”, they are:
Size Comparison
SD, SDCS (about 8 cm tall): short for super-deformed, cross silhouette. They are very simple model kits, suitable for young children (age 8 and up) and beginner.
HG (High Grade, scale 1/144, about 13 cm tall): They are the basic gunpla kits, this grade has all model kits from the movie, as they are cheap and easy to produce. The simplicity is depended on the kit. This is the recommended grade for beginner.
RG (Real Grade, scale 1/144, about 13 cm tall): The revolutionary is here! Combined with the MG frame, and the 1/144 scale we all know and love! Extremely detailed, freely articulated with a high range of movement. It’s pricey, and only recommended for skilled builders.
MG (Master Grade, scale 1/100, about 18 cm tall): Once regarded as the best line of gunpla, they have the full, complete and complicated frame, imitate that of the human, they are even more detailed than RG, has a lot of gimmicks. And of course, they are expensive, skilled builder favorite.
PG (Perfect Grade, scale 1/60, about 30 cm tall): The pinnacle of Gunpla, a step up from master grade. Not the biggest, but the best line of Gunpla Bandai has to offer. Extremely pricey, requiring skill and patience.
Mega Size (scale 1/48, about 48-60 cm tall): Basically an enlarged HG with more gimmick, pricey but not that awesome. But hey, we cannot have everything, eh?
A typical high grade kit out of the box
For Gunpla, the one of the most important thing required is patience, the skill, (James’ joke: and a very large pocket). Then why patience? Well, unlike Transformer, or those G.I.Joe toys, a gunpla must be built, they are not already assembled. This can take time, depending on which kit, which “Grade” you are building, are you cleaning the cut mark or not, are you painting the kit or not. As I said, depending on the effort, the kit that you build, it can take like just 30 minutes, or maybe months even.
Then, why skill? Well, we will take the recently introduced MG Gundam Dynames for example. You will have to follow the instruction, cut the part out, clean up the cut mark,… etc. You also have to be gentle as if you press to hard, the part may be broke. So, if you want your gunpla to look great, skill is important. And sometime, you want to modify your gunpla, making it unique. You can paint them, “kitbash” them, etc. You cannot do that without your skill.
But, whether you put a lot of effort into your gunpla or not, your gunpla will be uniquely your. As Heraclitus said: “No man ever step in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”, the way you build your gunpla will left it mark on the gunpla itself, whether you are a beginner or a skilled builder. Even if you build the same kit twice, there will still be differences between the two. So, that is why I love building Gunpla.
I am in Vancouver now. Actually, I am in Vancouver Public Library, looking outside of the window. This place is yet unfamiliar and yet weirdly familiar. Everybody is friendly and yet everybody is stranger to me. I am doing some works, and looking at my phone, I realize: tomorrow is Mother’s day. I don’t know why, but I feel… some sort of sadness.
This morning, I woke up to the sound of the alarm.I made my bed, I prepped myself, the grab the bag and get out of the house. On my way, I bought a sandwich and a cup of coffee for my breakfast. And, I started the day. As it’s becoming my life from now on, it feel just like everyday, but remind me of something… very dearly to me.
I still remember, everyday, you wake me up, you make my bed, you make my breakfast, and, you… care for me. I miss that. Could that be the reason the sadness is lingering inside me… . Or, perhaps, I, just miss you… so much, as you say, I am a mama’s boy.
Mother, I still remember every time I raised my voice when argue with you. What a brat am I, right? I am asking myself: why, why did you do that? I still remember, every night that you wake, so that I sleep sound.
Dear Mother, I am sorry, for every moment that i make you sad. Dear Mother, I am thankful for everything that you gave me, you
sacrificed for me, and more importantly, brought me to this world. Thank you,
Mother, and happy Mother’s Day.
James' Blog 