Picture above: A flower-dance performance at a Youth Conference, the Republic of Vietnam flag and the banner of Lone Star College University Park Student Life's "Culture Shock"
*Some "living with an Ao Dai" info from my mother are found at the bottom of this blog!
11/14-15/12: University Park had an "International Week" type of thing and everyday, Vietnamese people who are on the Republic of Vietnam side have to see the "current" Vietnam Flag in the Den. I decided that I would participate in the Student Life event so that I can still represent Vietnam but in a special way. I made a tag that closely resemble the "old" Vietnam Flag because I refused to represent the "current" (ahem, "communist") nation. This dress originated from before the time of the "Vietnam war" and it's interesting that this dress was temporarily banned after the Fall of Saigon.
Back when the communists took over Vietnam in 1975, the American military helped Vietnamese boat-escapees to get to America. People who did not get out to see at the time of the communists' Vietnam-takeover were unable to receive aid to escape. From the time of '76 to '85, several groups of Vietnamese people in Vietnam gathered money together to prepare their own boats to escape Vietnam because the communists were torturing and killing people all throughout Vietnam (after the war). On these boats, people and babies starved and died. The surviving people survived by eating from the dead bodies.
GOING BACK TO UNIVERSITY PARK OF 2012:
Culture Shock was an all-week event but the main event day was on Wednesday. I changed into my dress on Wednesday after I ate lunch after my morning class so that I can join the event in the Den at 12pm (and because I had to eat before wearing the dress since I can't eat without having food getting all over the place). When I walked out the restroom by the bookstore to go back to my sisters in the cafeteria while wearing my dress, I felt awkward because the dress stood out... a lot. A lot of people stared as I walked past them. A Vietnamese guy in my next class who sits behind me (-cough- Vernon) said "Troi Oi, Dep Qua" (Translation: "Wow, so pretty.") A Vietnamese girl who was with a group of Viets on Thursday screamed"Troi Oi! Con be do mac ao dai trang!" (Translation: Wow! That girl's wearing a white ao dai). I actually met up with a few people I know and I probably made them felt awkward but... HAHAHAH... ._.
Random story: On the main Culture Shock day (the day the picture above was taken), a very popular Korean song that came out during the summer of 2012 came on the stereo in the student activity room that the event was held at ("the Den"). I was involved in a dance group that danced to that song at the Korean Festival in downtown less than two weeks before Culture Shock. I ended up dancing to "Gangnam Style" with my white dress and my hat on... I would say to some people, that must have looked very, very interesting.
Here's a video of a Vietnamese group in Vietnam doing a cover music video of the South Korean singer's (PSY's) song, "Gangnam Style"
SKIP TO 2:15!!!
Another random story: When I wore the dress on Thursday, a Vietnamese Study-Abroad student saw me then said, "Why are you wearing that Vietnam flag? If you wear that in Vietnam, you'll get shot."
My reply to that was: "I know. But in Houston, it's the other way around."
You literally do not see the current Vietnam flag anywhere in the Vietnamese areas of Houston. There are many only two places you would actually see the current Vietnam flag posted up in Houston. The first is if schools would put the flag up like what LSC-University Park and LSC-Tomball did. A cool story was that students at a high school in Cy-Fair ISD a few years ago (4?) actually protested to take the current flag down and to put the old flag up, then it happened. Vietnamese TV channels were all over that high school after that incident. The other time you would see the current flag posted up is if a business representative or some kind of "official" representative from Vietnam comes over to America for official business. However, even though they have the current flag up in the company, officials from Vietnam who tour Houston would still have to take tourist pictures with the old Vietnam flag... meaning if they show those tourist pictures to people in Vietnam, they could be arrested for treason.
A scenario a lot of people came up with in Houston is a scene were a business-owner in Houston would post up the current Vietnam flag in front of their store in the "Bellaire area." We're all thinking that there could be some crazy Viets in Houston who would burn the business down for putting that flag up...
So yea... No Stars. We're Stripes.
My reply to that was: "I know. But in Houston, it's the other way around."
You literally do not see the current Vietnam flag anywhere in the Vietnamese areas of Houston. There are many only two places you would actually see the current Vietnam flag posted up in Houston. The first is if schools would put the flag up like what LSC-University Park and LSC-Tomball did. A cool story was that students at a high school in Cy-Fair ISD a few years ago (4?) actually protested to take the current flag down and to put the old flag up, then it happened. Vietnamese TV channels were all over that high school after that incident. The other time you would see the current flag posted up is if a business representative or some kind of "official" representative from Vietnam comes over to America for official business. However, even though they have the current flag up in the company, officials from Vietnam who tour Houston would still have to take tourist pictures with the old Vietnam flag... meaning if they show those tourist pictures to people in Vietnam, they could be arrested for treason.
A scenario a lot of people came up with in Houston is a scene were a business-owner in Houston would post up the current Vietnam flag in front of their store in the "Bellaire area." We're all thinking that there could be some crazy Viets in Houston who would burn the business down for putting that flag up...
So yea... No Stars. We're Stripes.
My Motherland's flag,
The Republic of Vietnam flag, The South Vietnam flag, The old flag. |
The "current" Vietnam flag,
The Chinese Vietnam flag, The North Vietnam flag, The communist flag. |
The Motherland's Flag
The stripes on this Vietnam flag represented the three regions that Vietnam had (and still currently have): the Northern region (Mien Bac), the Central region (Mien Trung), and the Southern region (Mien Nam). 13 states in the United States have adopted the idea of recognizing this flag as the "Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom" flag, the official flag of the Vietnamese Americans. The Vietnamese people who live in America, Canada, Germany, Australia, France, Norway, and the Netherlands continue to use this old flag.
Three Vietnamese Regions, Three Vietnamese Accents
Vietnam had always had three separated regions, even back when North Vietnam and South Vietnam were one country (before the Vietnam war the resulted in the Fall of Saigon). Each region had a different accent because each region was influenced by their surrounding countries or villages. Vietnamese people actually do call the accents as the "Northern accent" ("Tieng Bac"), the "Central accent" ("Tieng Trung"), and the "Southern accent" ("Tieng Nam"). Both sides of my family were originated from the North side of Vietnam but moved to the South side of Vietnam when the Vietnam war began. My mother's and my father's families kept the Northern accent even after they moved to the Southern region. This was very common in Vietnam since a lot of Northern people moved out of the communist region right when this war started. This was how certain traditions (such as special words, food or clothes) from the North side spread to the South side of Vietnam.
Now, certain Vietnamese people in America can speak Vietnamese with the accent that their family has carried over from Vietnam. Some people can "understand" the different Vietnamese accents when they hear it, but others can't. My sisters and I speak with the Northern accent so there are many times when the people who don't speak or understand the Northern accent would tell us that we "can't speak Vietnamese" or that our "Vietnamese accent sucks." I say SHAME ON YOU if you do not know about your own country's numerous accents.
However I will say this: I get really, really excited when I hear people speak in Vietnamese with the northern accent. It's as if I don't have to take any extra efforts to understand what they're saying since it's the accent my family always talk with.
The funny thing about these accents, though, is how the Northern-accent speaking people and the Southern-accent speaking people can agree to one thing: It's hard and almost impossible for us to understand the Central-accent speaking people. Their accent is COMPLETELY different than the other two accents. The words are, indeed, Vietnamese, but their flow and stress-marks and way of speaking is just too different...
The downside to speaking with the Northern accent is when other people know that it's the Northern accent and would (for some reason) assume that our family is a communist family since we were from the north... ignorant people...
Now, certain Vietnamese people in America can speak Vietnamese with the accent that their family has carried over from Vietnam. Some people can "understand" the different Vietnamese accents when they hear it, but others can't. My sisters and I speak with the Northern accent so there are many times when the people who don't speak or understand the Northern accent would tell us that we "can't speak Vietnamese" or that our "Vietnamese accent sucks." I say SHAME ON YOU if you do not know about your own country's numerous accents.
However I will say this: I get really, really excited when I hear people speak in Vietnamese with the northern accent. It's as if I don't have to take any extra efforts to understand what they're saying since it's the accent my family always talk with.
The funny thing about these accents, though, is how the Northern-accent speaking people and the Southern-accent speaking people can agree to one thing: It's hard and almost impossible for us to understand the Central-accent speaking people. Their accent is COMPLETELY different than the other two accents. The words are, indeed, Vietnamese, but their flow and stress-marks and way of speaking is just too different...
The downside to speaking with the Northern accent is when other people know that it's the Northern accent and would (for some reason) assume that our family is a communist family since we were from the north... ignorant people...
The Current Flag
Many Vietnamese people find the current Vietnam flag as offensive... because it's a communist country's flag. Some also calls it the "Chinese flag" because of how it resembles the Chinese flag (but it probably wasn't done intentionally since people actually wrote their reasons for the design of this Vietnam flag).
From the banner above...
This picture was taken in July 2012 when I participated in a flower dance and a historical reenactment of the story of "Our Lady of La Vang." This story was a story of an apparition of the Virgin Mary in Vietnam at a time when Vietnamese Catholics were being persecuted by Emperor Canh Trinh. It was said that Mary was wearing an Ao Dai when she appeared to refugees in the forest that many were hiding in. From what I know, many Catholic churches include "flower dancing" as a way of paying homage to Mary and God. Other religions (such as Buddhists) also use these traditional dances (dancing with flowers, hats, fans, candles, or sometimes bowls of... interesting things) in their religious celebrations.
Here's a link to the song we used for the "Our Lady of La Vang" dance:
[Click here]
Here's a link to the song we used for the "Our Lady of La Vang" dance:
[Click here]
And speaking of "Our Lady of La Vang," the Girl Scout troop I use to be in belongs to a church in Houston with the name "Our Lady of La Vang," therefore, we were known as "Lien Doan La Vang" (Translation: "La Vang Scout Troop") when we went to an international Vietnamese scouting jamboree in California during the summer of 2009.
Here's a Vietnamese semi-traditional dance from a group from the La Vang Scout Troop that included another traditional Vietnamese dress called "ao tu than":
Here's a Vietnamese semi-traditional dance from a group from the La Vang Scout Troop that included another traditional Vietnamese dress called "ao tu than":
The song used in the video is called "Con Rong Chau Tien" which is a Vietnamese myth about the ancestors of Vietnam: A Dragon king named Lac Long Quan and a Phoenix (or Fairy) queen named Au Co who each took fifty children to the seas and mountains.
Life with an Ao Dai
The reason why most schools require Ao Dai Uniforms to be white is because of the Asian tradition cherishing virgin females. In many Asian countries, virgin females are pure, unstained and innocent like a pearl or a diamond. White represents "purity" in many cultures.
The required school Ao Dai uniforms for Vietnamese middle schools and high schools would have a patch with school name sewed onto Ao Dai. The Ao Dai is not provided in “school shops,” therefore, families must sew an Ao Dai from scratch by using an old-fashioned sewing machines or by using hand sewing.
Female students normally do not eat in their Ao Dai at school because school is only from 8am until 12pm (6 days a week). Girls would go home to change before eating lunch. Otherwise, if females are required to eat while wearing an Ao Dai, they would just be very, very careful... this is something most people would make habit of doing in case they wear the Ao Dai dresses for events such as weddings.
Girls are able play and run in these Ao Dai dressed by tying flaps to the side or by tucking the flaps into their pants. Black pants were normally worn for the rainy months and days where as white pants are worn to look “pretty.” Hats were worn for sunny day. The shoes they would wear were either wooden heels or leather heels. The standard pair of shoes to wear would have heels because girls back in Vietnam at my mom's time were short.
RANDOM: Girl fights!
Girl fights in Vietnam usually involved the pulling of long hair. Major girl fights would involve the girls taking their heels off and slamming the heels into each other's faces... these heels are all thick and hard so you can imagine the blood and broken bones.
The required school Ao Dai uniforms for Vietnamese middle schools and high schools would have a patch with school name sewed onto Ao Dai. The Ao Dai is not provided in “school shops,” therefore, families must sew an Ao Dai from scratch by using an old-fashioned sewing machines or by using hand sewing.
Female students normally do not eat in their Ao Dai at school because school is only from 8am until 12pm (6 days a week). Girls would go home to change before eating lunch. Otherwise, if females are required to eat while wearing an Ao Dai, they would just be very, very careful... this is something most people would make habit of doing in case they wear the Ao Dai dresses for events such as weddings.
Girls are able play and run in these Ao Dai dressed by tying flaps to the side or by tucking the flaps into their pants. Black pants were normally worn for the rainy months and days where as white pants are worn to look “pretty.” Hats were worn for sunny day. The shoes they would wear were either wooden heels or leather heels. The standard pair of shoes to wear would have heels because girls back in Vietnam at my mom's time were short.
RANDOM: Girl fights!
Girl fights in Vietnam usually involved the pulling of long hair. Major girl fights would involve the girls taking their heels off and slamming the heels into each other's faces... these heels are all thick and hard so you can imagine the blood and broken bones.
12/6/12: The day of the second set of presentations in Mrs. Q's class
(The last entry for Fall 2012)
The focus of my presentation was on this portion of my Living History Journal. I decided to wear my older sister's old qipao-looking shirt along with loose black pants and black sandals with white socks (I was hoping to go for the "typical Asian look"). I brought my white Ao Dai, my mom's harvest-looking Ao Dai, my straw hat, and the Republic of Vietnam tag that I made. When I took my hoodie jacket off to reveal my qipao shirt, I looked at everyone then said, "Let me tell you this right now, I know nothing about this shirt... so yea!" I guessed the class thought that was funny... good. haha
I told the class about the two flags of Vietnam and how the Vietnamese who escaped from Vietnam completely hate the communists in order to explain the tag that I wore during Culture Shock week. I mentioned how I danced to "Gangnam Style" in my Ao Dai, then I brought up how Ao Dai and the other traditional dressed are incorporated in religious practices. Before I showed the class the Seniors '09 "Con Rong Chau Tien" video, I told them what the song title meant. The class watched the video until after the fighting-scene then I cut it off since we were running out of class-time.
I told the class about the two flags of Vietnam and how the Vietnamese who escaped from Vietnam completely hate the communists in order to explain the tag that I wore during Culture Shock week. I mentioned how I danced to "Gangnam Style" in my Ao Dai, then I brought up how Ao Dai and the other traditional dressed are incorporated in religious practices. Before I showed the class the Seniors '09 "Con Rong Chau Tien" video, I told them what the song title meant. The class watched the video until after the fighting-scene then I cut it off since we were running out of class-time.
I think I liked Angela's and Elizabeth's presentations more than mine. I started thinking about the excitement that their projects had compared to mine. Maybe I should've made some of my "fried rice" to bring to class... oh well.
That's the end of this chapter of my Living History Journal. Perhaps a new chapter would begin during Winter Break after Finals are done with.
I am planning to add more blogs in the future if I participate in more of these History-related activities. Those entries will be like a bunch of diary-entries.
Time to wait for a new HIST 1302 section that's taught by Mrs. Q!