Living in My Old and New Country

As I begin my life in a new country, it is interesting to reflect on getting more knowledge and experiences. I have had the opportunity to understand more about American culture. At the first onset of my life, I was satisfying with everything that I had, but all of it suddenly changed. Perhaps America and Viet Nam are unlike in many ways, but they also do share some things in common. Two years ago, when my family moved here, I learned that a new place could be as wonderful as my own country.

Most of the time, I used to recall the memories of living in Viet Nam. It is the country where I was born and grew up for years. When I lived there, my family tried to get together as much as possible, and we liked to spend all of our time in the holidays with each other, especially on New Year's day. We usually held a party for all relatives or friends, and gave others the best wishes. When I moved to America, my whole life seemed to be upside down. I'd expected and hoped to have a fun time, but I ended up staying home without doing anything, except spending time with family on weekends. Probably, what Americans often do on weekends are spend time talking on the phone, hanging out at the mall, or going to the movie theatre. Nevertheless, I gradually found new things to do and got interested at it, such as skating and designing . I'll keep a more open mind to discover and figure out a new way of life.

In general, there are numerous things in Viet Nam which are totally dissimilar from America. For instance, the school I attended in Viet Nam was quite different from the one I attended in America. It was small, two connected buildings with about 20 class-rooms and 50 students for each. All students wore uniforms, blue pants, white shirts, with red scarves, and took the same schedule depended on grade level. The atmosphere in the school was always bustling during the time of exams. In America, the schools are big and contain many class-rooms, materials, library, etc... Students are free to wear their own clothes to school. Also, they are able to choose from a long list of classes and take almost any course they want to. After my experiences, I realized that I must accommodate myself to the new way of living.

Not only are schools different, but also the food. Viet Nam is a lovely place to visit and enjoy some delicious foods with cheap prices. The traditional beef noodle soup, "Pho" , is known everywhere. Visitors can savor the different kinds of food and also acknowledge a native land by looking at the famous landscape and see how the farmers harvest rice. However, the most popular place to visit in the world is America, specifically Las Vegas. It is an entertaining world for people to stop-over after many days of hard work. Even so, America is considered as one of the crowded countries with wealth, and prosperity. Nowadays, pizza is becoming America’s most famous food and the foreigners are really enjoying it. America has its own things that aren't the same as my country.

For sure, the weather in both countries seems to be not the same. In Viet Nam, it is hot in nearly all of the seasons. We never had a chance to see the snowflakes falling down or touch snow. In contrast, the weather of America provides interest. Depending on the season of the year, it changes from hot to cold, breezy to windy, and rain to snow. One of my favorite seasons is autumn because it is the time when leaves fall from the trees and gush colors. Though leaves lose their green life, they bloom with beautiful colors day by day. Likewise, the process of seasons keeps changing continuously from year to year.

On the other hand, both of these countries have one thing in common. Lots of merchandise is imported from China to America and also Viet Nam, such as clothes, tools, and other materials. Many of them could be labeled "Made in China" because Chinese produce the higher quality and better products. China is the one that sells the goods fastest and exports at the highest rate.

Of course, choosing a place for a suitable living is hard, but in many cases, I feel comfortable in either my old or new country. The memories in the past are precious as well as the moments in the present. If I have a chance, I hope I can go back to Viet Nam someday and search for some sort of happiness. I'm aware today that at an unexpected time, understanding about the world, its countries, and its differences could be necessary. Two countries, Viet Nam and America are very different, yet under everything still have something in common.