Foreign lecturers getting ready for Tet

Tet, the largest and most widely-celebrated national holiday in Vietnam, is traditionally a time for family togetherness and the value of everyone and everyone a person may hold dear.  It’s a happy time for all Vietnamese.

Of course, there are always the foreign nationals living and working in Vietnam, and in IS-VNU in particular, who also look forward to the holiday as well.

IS will close for two weeks in 2011 for the Tet holiday, and several foreign nationals working at the university are planning to join in the local festivities by visiting the hometowns and families of their closest colleagues and students.  Many of them will even have the privilege of being the New Year’s first visitor.

Many permanent expatriates, married with children, are also looking forward to a family holiday in Vietnam, putting a comfortable twist of their own on Vietnamese tradition.

Lecturer Mike Beard from IS-VNU said he was planning on celebrating Tet the Vietnamese way: with his wife and three children.  He planned to take them away on a trip for the New Year.

Other teachers, younger and single, were planning trips home to their families and relaxing holidays across Vietnam and to foreign countries.

IS Lecturer Henry Nguyen-Pham laid down plans to do what many Vietnamese do for Tet. 

His immediate family unfortunately far away, Henry planned a trip to a friend’s home in Hung Yen, looking forward to a traditional banh chung meal they will both cook on the eve of Tet.  “I will of course, give out red envelopes to the children the next morning,” he said, “and on the first day of the new year I’ll head off to Hue for some travelling and relaxing for five days.”

Henry, raised as an overseas Vietnamese, expressed pleasure at still taking part in Tet traditions despite his mixed culture, and partakes often in not only Tet, but also other Vietnamese traditions.

Most IS foreign lecturers planned holidays away because few have any extended family in Vietnam, and most of their students and Vietnamese friends leave the city to return to their hometowns throughout the new year.

IS foreign lecturers said they don’t mind spending free time in Hanoi, but because of the new year celebrations, which will mean closed venues and limited public transport, their options can be quite limited when they have to face Tet alone.

Popular IS EFL instructor Naomi Laspona, from the Philippines, said she was planning to take a long trip with her flatmates to Cambodia.

“We’re going to travel across the countryside for two weeks,” she said, smiling. “It will be wonderful to spend Tet in the Cambodian countryside near the Angkor Wat.  We will get to see so much and meet the local people.”

“We aren’t planning to visit the capital city,” she added. “This holiday season just doesn’t seem right for it.”  She said she and her friends were planning to celebrate the Lunar New Year at the world-famous Buddhist monument.

Similarly, Reinoud Wiers , a recent arrival to the school from Holland also revealed his plans for a trip abroad to meet friends in Indonesia.

He went on to explain that, since he was a recent arrival in IS and had been in Vietnam for only two years, he was short on responsibilities during the lunar new year and looking forward to some well-earned holiday time.

“I’m going to meet my friends after I arrive and travel through the country for two weeks,” he said. “It’ll be good to take some time off and enjoy travelling.”

Australian IS lecturer Jim Aspinall wished to visit one of his favorite resort islands in Thailand during the Tet season.  He said he was going to meet several local friends there.

“Of course it’s bound to be quieter and cooler than usual,” he said. “The country celebrates the Lunar New Year too - but then it’ll be a good change from the cool weather and quiet formality of Vietnam during Tet.”

Jim, who has lived on and off in Vietnam since his teenage years, said he enjoyed many Tets in Vietnam, but it was sometimes a lonely time for foreigners, and it was something of a custom amongst expatriates to let Tet be for the Vietnamese first, and themselves second.

“There are always those foreigners who have Vietnamese families and friends,” he said. “And we all envy them the chance to be with them during the new year.  All the same, for us it’s an exciting holiday time whether we stick around or not.”

Foreign lecturers expressed their keen interest in seeing how the Lunar New Year was carried out in other Asian countries as well.

Vietnamese lecturers and staff at IS-VNU are said they were planning to return to their hometowns, or vacations away with their families to welcome the new year.

Tet Nguyen Dan, the traditional lunar new year celebration in Vietnam, has held dominance in the Vietnamese holiday calendar for most of history.  Traditionally, it is a family time when the people of Vietnam return to their hometowns, meet up with their extended families, decorate their homes with red and gold ornaments, and move in the traditional kumquat tree and cherry blossom flower.

Families dine on special foods in a huge family banquet in preparation for the coming year.  Many people also visit the graves of ancestors or worship at a family altar.  Tet is also considered to be the beginning of spring.

Commonly, on the first day of the new year, special attention is also paid to the first guest to the home, and lucky money is usually given to the children in the community.  However, in recent years, Tet has become slightly less formal and more of a relaxed, enjoyable holiday for most people.

Several students and staff at IS even said they were planning less traditional celebrations together with their family and friends, and looking forward to simply enjoying Tet without feeling pressure to observe so many customs.

Foreigners living in Viet Nam commonly observe Tet out of respect for the local people and traditions, particularly if they have been invited to a Vietnamese household for Tet or if they have close Vietnamese relationships.

However, in some cases, foreigners and some Vietnamese locals like to enjoy themselves in their own way.  Markets, public transport and airports can be very crowded at this time of year.

Tet 2011 will observe the year of the cat on the Vietnamese lunar calendar, which is traditionally believed to be the year which is free of stress (which comes as a relief to many of the foreign lecturers).