It’s been almost a year since I last posted on here. I’ve decided to start a blog of my own more of a journal than anything to try and keep track of what’s going on in my life. The past few days have been a bit difficult between work and personal life.

My sister just left to go to study abroad in Vietnam which I’m really proud of. There were many advice and secrets of Ha Noi that I wanted to share with her but after talking to another friend, Eric Park, who will be studying in North Korea in a few weeks, I’ve decided to let her experience it her way and not mine.

However I do wish to share with her the wonderful places and moments I’ve had in Ha Noi. Below are photos of some of these places and there’s a video from my buddy Kim Anh (UC Berkeley) who is teaching English in South Korea. She will definitely go on to do big things one day.

Very cool video link:

On the way to Downtown Ha Noi

University of California, Irvine - Student Center Computer Lab

I’m starting this entry at 9:30pm tonight. I’ve been working on just some homework and group project stuff for Management 151 (Marketing Research) with Kolay, Management 174 (Database Management and Applications)  VeeCee and International Studies 189 (Global Entrepreneurship) with Gluck, Chow, Schoessler. The two management course are very rigorous and detailed and have probably been some of the best classes I’ve taken at UCI.

This is the first entry of many to come. I will be working and studying abroad in Vietnam in 11 days for a period of 8 months. Throughout this time, I would like to document my impressions about going back home to my native country. I don’t know who might want to read this but if it helps encourage anyone to leave the comfort status of their life to travel abroad to understand or learn more about a culture, I feel the purpose of the blog will be satisfied.

My name is Scott and I am a Vietnamese American. What does that mean? I’m not really sure.  How does one define their ethnic background? Is it by the dominant culture in which the person was raised it? Is it greatly affected by the the history of the person’s heritage. Is based on the values in which the parents beared the child?

I guess there is no correct answer.

The purpose of me going back and spending so much time in Vietnam is because I’m a journey. A journey with no ultimate end. However a journey that will knowledge about the global economy, about the Vietnamese culture, the heritage that surrounds the Vietnamese in Vietnamese American.

I know we as a generation, the Vietnamese American generation, define who we are by what we do, as actions are more powerful than words. We are still new to American culture and how we define ourselves in the next decade will have a great impact on the distant future of kind. I seek to find what our generation has been by living in Vietnam, to better understand our heritage, the values it imposes, the morals standards that it has set, the history of our people.

I’m seeking to find the roots of the word Vietnamese in Vietnamese American.

I woke up at 5am this morning and didn’t want to go back to sleep because I was afraid I would miss orientation at 8am. Its about 6:30am right now and I’ve been trying to learn some Mandarin from a CD that Czarin, former co-worker at the Paul Merage school of business, gave me. I’m feeling a bit disappointed right now because I don’t know any Chinese at all. There are some Caucasians and Middle Eastern students that speak Mandarin perfectly with the staff here at the university. I feel like I’m missing out on so many potential conversations because I don’t know the language. However, I will be working my but off for sure these next few days to master the Mandarin CD and be able to understand every word in it.

The Scott Nguyen before China

I think I last left off when I was at the airport which was about 1 ½ days ago. A lot has happened since, met cool new people, actually met some UCI Paul Merage Executive MBA students, watched a lot of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean movies (my favorite), got lost at the airport, toured Hong Kong, moved into the dormitory, among all other things.

The place where my flight awaits.

I mentioned earlier that my flight from Cathy Pacific was delayed by 2 hours from LAX and so I missed my connection flight when I arrived in Hong Kong, something I had hoped for. So the airline gave me a room at Regal International Airport, the hotels where all the flight attendants and pilots stay at.

The flight was about 14 hours from LAX to HK but was very enjoyable because I got a window seat and there wasn’t anyone directly next to me so I had a lot of legroom. The food was actually pretty good. Don’t think there was much to talk about with the flight except for the great selection of movies and music that’s offered by Cathay Pacific. I watched 4 movies I think and listened to like 10 Chinese albums, which I thought really help me get more comfortable with the fact that I don’t understand the language. Here are some pictures below at home, at the LAX, and in the plane.

My mom and I

My Sister, Mom, and me

My uncle who drove me to Del Taco + LAX

The counter I waited at for 4 hours since I was so early.

Taking pictures at the airport

I was really really bored

People watching @ LAX

In flight Dinner - Yummy

There was an older gentleman, around the age of 60, that was in the same row as me but there was that empty seat between us. I was reading the Los Angeles Times and saw him look at it so being the nice person I am, I asked him if he wanted to take a look at it and he said, “No thanks. I can’t read English.” We started cracking some jokes about languages and got into a conversation about ourselves. I found out later that he was a Vietnamese businessman who went back to Monterey Park to visit his mother. Little did I know that Mr. Thanh San was a multi-millionaire. He comes from an affluent family that works in either trading or construction in Asia and America. I mentioned that my flight from Cathy Pacific was delayed by 2 hours from LAX and so I missed my connection flight when I arrived in Hong Kong, something I had hoped for. So the airline gave me a room at Regal International Airport, the hotels where all the flight attendants and pilots stay at. Mr. Thanh San owns two condominiums in Hong Kong worth over $1,000,000 each and asked me if I wanted to stay over in Hong Kong to visit his family instead of staying at the hotel. I was a bit scared because I barely met this guy but I really wanted to see Hong Kong even if it was for a couple of hours. It’s a 30min drive with no traffic from Hong Kong to the airport so we decided that it wasn’t a good idea to stay over in Hong Kong because my new flight was in 7:30am the following day.

Mr. San and I waiting at the airport subway in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is such a great place. It so busy and even at 11:00pm when I got there, the shopping areas and stores were open and people where still crowding the streets. I didn’t really know what was going on so I’ll let the photos explain themselves.

Hong Kong from above

Different parts of Hong Kong Airport

Hong Kong Bus Stop outside of Airport

Inside a Hong Kong bus

Left to right: HK Tunnel, Random Bridge, Bridge from airport to downtown HK, 1 of 10,000 condo buildings in HK.

]]> http://www.nguyenscott.com/?feed=rss2&p=40 http://www.nguyenscott.com/?p=41 http://www.nguyenscott.com/?p=41#comments Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:27:50 +0000 Scott http://www.nguyenscott.com/?p=41 Just woke up from my first night here at Fudan University’s International Students Dormitory. I have a single which includes a twin size bed, a closet, large computer desk, TV/TV counter, and a personal A/C. It’s actually a lot nicer then I had expected.

I woke up at 5am this morning and didn’t want to go back to sleep because I was afraid I would miss orientation at 8am. Its about 6:30am right now and I’ve been trying to learn some Mandarin from a CD that Czarin, former co-worker at the Paul Merage school of business, gave me. I’m feeling a bit disappointed right now because I don’t know any Chinese at all. There are some Caucasians and Middle Eastern students that speak Mandarin perfectly with the staff here at the university. I feel like I’m missing out on so many potential conversations because I don’t know the language. However, I will be working my but off for sure these next few days to master the Mandarin CD and be able to understand every word in it.

I think I last left off when I was at the airport which was about 1 ½ days ago. A lot has happened since, met cool new people, actually met some UCI Paul Merage Executive MBA students, watched a lot of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean movies (my favorite), got lost at the airport, toured Hong Kong, moved into the dormitory, among all other things.

I mentioned earlier that my flight from Cathy Pacific was delayed by 2 hours from LAX and so I missed my connection flight when I arrived in Hong Kong, something I had hoped for. So the airline gave me a room at Regal International Airport, the hotels where all the flight attendants and pilots stay at.

The flight was about 14 hours from LAX to HK but was very enjoyable because I got a window seat and there wasn’t anyone directly next to me so I had a lot of legroom. The food was actually pretty good. Don’t think there was much to talk about with the flight except for the great selection of movies and music that’s offered by Cathay Pacific. I watched 4 movies I think and listened to like 10 Chinese albums, which I thought really help me get more comfortable with the fact that I don’t understand the language. Here are some pictures below at home, at the LAX, and in the plane.

There was an older gentleman, around the age of 60, that was in the same row as me but there was that empty seat between us. I was reading the Los Angeles Times and saw him look at it so being the nice person I am, I asked him if he wanted to take a look at it and he said, “No thanks. I can’t read English.” We started cracking some jokes about languages and got into a conversation about ourselves. I found out later that he was a Vietnamese businessman who went back to Monterey Park to visit his mother. Little did I know that Mr. Thanh San was a multi-millionaire. He comes from an affluent family that works in either trading or construction in Asia and America. I mentioned that my flight from Cathy Pacific was delayed by 2 hours from LAX and so I missed my connection flight when I arrived in Hong Kong, something I had hoped for. So the airline gave me a room at Regal International Airport, the hotels where all the flight attendants and pilots stay at. Mr. Thanh San own two condominiums in Hong Kong worth and asked me if I wanted to stay over in Hong Kong to visit his family instead of staying at the hotel. I was a bit scared because I barely met this guy but I really wanted to see Hong Kong even if it was for a couple of hours. It’s a 30min drive with no traffic from Hong Kong to the airport so we decided that it wasn’t a good idea to stay over in Hong Kong because my new flight was in 7:30am the following day.

Hong Kong is such a great place. It so busy and even at 11:00pm when I got there, the shopping areas and stores were open and people where still crowding the streets. I didn’t really know what was going on so I’ll let the photos explain themselves.

<HK photos>

I came to the airport after getting some Big Fat Tacos from Del Taco with my uncle who drove me here. I walked to the counter and apparently they didn’t open until 10:30. It was 8:30 when I got there. So I went to the line and stood there then this random dude comes up and tells me he’s irritated because there was no one at the counter to help the passengers who arrived early and because the only flight they had leaving was delayed by 4 hours. Yipppeee… I was on the same flight.

Tony, a business man from Orange owns a Thai restaurant in Orange on Katella and Tustin. Forgot what it’s called, think it’s Royal Thai Orchid, but here the address if you guys want to check it out : 1315 N. Tustin Ave, Orange, CA. Let me know what you guys think of it when you check it out.

While we were having our conversation, we met another passenger who arrived early too. I forgot her name but she was from the East Coast, went to Boston University, majored in CS, went to grad school for CS, but got a Ph. D. in electrical engineering. Whoa… what a bright person. I wish I had as much ambition to study like she did. However, I make it up with my business and problem solving skills. =)

Anyways, I’m just hanging out in the boarding area because I still have another 3 hours before my flight leaves. Wanted to kill sometime with a journal entry. I also made a quick video blog just right now about my new “THE NORTH FACE” backpack I got from everyone at the real estate office I work at. Freaking awesome!!! It was the same backpack I wanted to buy when I was at “The Camp” in Costa Mesa, dropping off my scuba tanks. Adventure 16, a high end outdoors shop, was having a sale and the backpack was marked 10%. I went inside thinking I would get it at a bargain. BAM!!! turns out that 10% off of $149.99 plus 7.75% tax is still around $150 for a backpack. I ended up not getting it. Went to work the following week, had a quick conversation with Brian, my cool coworker, about it. I thought he had needed a backpack for himself and told him about it. So my day (it was my last) went on I did my usual thing, typing up new listings and writing up offers. I decided to go to the men’s room and when I get back, my boss is wearing a backpack and holding up a package of Surfsling (the other company i work for) gum. She said, “You should put this gum in your new bag.” I said to myself new bag? Vuala!! They got me the backpack I wanted!!!! Thanks guys.

Also my dad wrote me a letter this morning and stuffed it under my door that made my heart really warm up. If don’t know, my dad didn’t appreciate me leaving for China and it really changed my mood for the trip. i didn’t want to go anymore because I felt I was leaving my family behind and starting something without them. It was like this the whole week. I’ll probably write another entry about it sometime in the future but just wanted to say “Thank you Dad for trusting me and allowing me to have this experience.”

Age: 20 years young

Location: Orange County, CA

Purpose of blog: To publish my personal experiences and self actuations to the world… or to get attention?

Current goals:

1) Get my wedding planning, audio/video event production, real estate businesses up and running before the end of my time at the University of California, Irvine.

2) Have fun, enjoy life, appreciate family and friends as much as possible.

Life goals:

1) Understand and appreciate the Chinese culture through my study abroad program in Shanghai, China.

2) Have an open mind and embrace the world for what it is and make a positive change for the human race.

3) Be a sucessful role model for other Asian American students.

Current Blog Song: Justin Nozuka - After Tonight

I don’t know who is going to read this blog but I will try to be as clear as I can with the context of what I am speaking about. I’ve thrown the URL for this site everywhere because I planned on making the homepage of my real estate company which is nonexistent at this point (I have a CA real estate salesperson license).

Hello world. How are you doing today? Good? Cool… today has been a hectic day at work… starting to already miss home even though I havn’t left for China yet. I’ll try to make this blog like a timeline of my day.

1) Woke up this morning worked on my Midterm for my Branding and Advertising course here at the University of California, Irvine. The course is a very interesting one as it provokes you to think about our society and where we are going. It’s taught by Erind Pajo, who is an anthropological researcher by training. Anyhow, after I finished my 2 page midterm about the media. It was titled Advertising: Mediums for the Modern Consumer.

2) I drove off to work where I work as a commercial real estate agent for a business brokerage firm. It’s a great place to work and I really enjoy it because its such a small office, and since I’m a tech guru, I get to do almost everything there. Great place for me to try out my business/marketing skills. Of course I’ve had my fair share of mistakes at the company. Just yesterday I forgot to type up a $250,000 offer for a business for a doctor and he got really pissed off. Doesn’t matter to me that he was pissed off but I really sucks to disappoint my boss. Sometimes I wonder if I work for money or for just gratitude.

3) Back to my day… I went to Liburdi’s Scuba Center to drop off the gear I used in my Catalina dive yesterday. It was a lot longer that I had expected. 6am till 6pm full of fun. Probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. To make a long story short, my dive buddy and I helped save another diver in our group because his tank came loose. I saw his tank floating higher then his head and thought to myself what the? I swam over to him and grabbed his tank so that it would get away and then I grabbed his neck and pushed his entire body so that the tank would get strapped on again. We were in 40′ deep water and he would drown if he lost his tank. He was an older gentlemen probably around his 50-60’s. Made me feel really good about myself. I didn’t feel good about scuba diving in the first place because it was my first time diving off of a boat and because my parents are mad at me. Actually they weren’t mad. I guess they were more disappointed than anything. That for sure doesn’t feel good, especially for me a guy who works for gratitude right?

4) I still didn’t feel that good about leaving for China after going to confession and church last night. Kinda of a depressing day… I kinda almost got too emotional. Haven’t been to confession for over 5 months. I’m typing this as the thoughts come into my head and there are so many things that i do want to write or share but I just don’t have enough time to express it all. If you guys do want any more details or anything just go ahead and ask. I probably won’t pour my heart out (because I’m not that type of guy). but I will think about the question and try to blog about it.