Knowing when to walk away from a relationship

Viet Nam News By Phùng Kim Trọng The stormy season came late this year. Not until the 7th lunar month did the news incessantly broadcast forecasts about the first storm of the year heading in from the East Sea. Since the night before, the air had been deadly still and sweltering. Everybody prepared for the wind and rain that was about to lash down any moment. Fortunately, professor Hà ĐạiThịnh’s children had all returned in time for his funeral.  Hoàng Thu Thảo leaned back on an armchair with her arms spread and resting on the arm pads. Her two hands knitted against each other across a belly which was as big as a pregnant woman’s. Her head bent down on her fat neck, her eyes closed slightly, as if she was dozing. For several days straight, she had been sitting in this posture, making no movements even if somebody came to inquire after her. She was waiting for the moment when her beloved husband would leave her forever. … [Read more...] about Dust

Viet Nam News Hà Thị Vân Anh is a Vietnamese national living in a country in eastern Europe called Ukraine. She is teaching Ukrainians how to speak Vietnamese. Her students love the language. One of them once told her: “It feels like I was born in Việt Nam. I love the Vietnamese language so much.” By Ngân Bình, for Việt Nam News from Kiev, Ukraine One autumn day, a Vietnamese teacher at a university in Kiev asked me to go for a walk. “I have just completed writing a new curriculum to teach Vietnamese to Ukrainian students. I need some fresh air and time to relax because it’s taken me two months,” said Hà Thị Vân Anh. Walking through the large park under the shadow of big trees and breathing in the fresh air, Anh happily told me the story of her journey as a bank official in Việt Nam to becoming a teacher in the Ukraine. She’d been longing for a breakthrough and had finally … [Read more...] about Love of a language

Poster mash-up: ODDO made a propaganda look-a-like poster for turning Banana Island into a public park. — Photo courtesy of ODDO Architects Viet Nam News by Nguyễn Mỹ Hà We drive to Long Biên Bridge to get to Bãi Giữa, more commonly known as Banana Island, a 24ha stretch of land in the middle of the Red River. Running down from the centre of the bridge is a steel staircase leading to an island covered by a green canopy of banana, papaya and guava trees, interspersed with the cloudy-white flowers of the wild reeds. The area is vast with no roads, just beaten paths zigzagging behind gardens and trees. It’s a world away from the hustle and bustle of the vibrant city we left behind. "It’s very quiet down here," says Marek Obtulovic from ODDO Architects, as his colleague Nguyễn Hoàng Long nods in agreement. As we walk under the shade of numerous banana leaves, Obtulovic stops and says: “This is where our … [Read more...] about Nostalgic Future: Turning Banana Island into Green Lungs of Hà Nội

Viet Nam News “So your aunt and I will be gone for a few weeks. You’ll take care of the shop. In the evening Vân will be home and review the day’s trade. Don’t worry about business. You’re better off here anyway, because you don’t have anything else to do while waiting for a job offer other than wandering around inhaling traffic smoke or sitting at cafes ogling unemployed girls in short skirts and high heels. It wouldn’t be fun. You’d better look after the shop for us, or else we’ll have to close it and lose customers. Look, we can’t let customers walk away. Is there any house on the street in this whole city that isn’t used as a shop? We have to sell things. Everything. This big market which is our city is perhaps one of a kind in the world. In other cities people set aside a little land for gardens and lawns and green trees. They sell things in separate zones. But here we’re filled with shops. Which is very … [Read more...] about Crossing the street alone

Viet Nam News By Phan Triều Hải Ever since her 32nd birthday last year, Vy had been afraid of gaining belly fat. So instead of eating cheese and drinking lots of beer before sleeping, the couple only drank two small glasses of beer at dinner. The weather in Sài Gòn encouraged beer consumption. Cao thought Sài Gòn was the best place to drink. This city had all sorts of problems: crowdedness, noise, heat, suffocation, traffic, lack of hygiene, pollution and beer was the solution that could dissolve all these issues in the fastest way. A gulp of beer enabled people to endure and relax, and made them irritable but energetic enough to do unexpected things. Beer lovers would never feel tired of Sài Gòn. Nor was there a better place for beer to show off its ability to excite, relieve stress, connect friends or accompany a solitary person. Nevertheless, Cao rarely went out to drink. He wasn’t social. Cao always wanted to be alone. His world … [Read more...] about Cold Beer