POETRY IN LIFE!

N: Hello. How are you doing?
M: I am fine. How about you?
N: I am good. Thanks.
How long have you been here?
M: 4 years
N: what do you surprised when you come here?
M: Too many surprised like the housing, school, and transportation.
N: Can you tell me how different between housing in Vietnam and U.S?
M: You mean housing structure or the way how people lived?
N: Both
M: In Vietnam, the house make of by stone, no carpet, no garage, no air conditioner, and heat. In U.S the house make of wood, more convenient, it includes all of them like carpet, garage, air conditioner, and heat.
N: Yes, it is true because it was built belong to the weather and condition.
How about the way people lived?
M: Most of Vietnamese people live concentrate in a big city. Housing direction is always toward Main Street that is easier to trade and do business. Only poor people live in rural to do farming. Rich people live in cities.
N: Oh, I see. American people enjoy living in quiet areas. It is opposite to Vietnamese. Because they do business, trade in companies or factories, not in their own house as Vietnamese people. Big different in economic between Vietnam and U.S
What is your second surprised?
M: School.
N: How different in the school?
M: Students have to wear uniform from middle school to high school.
N: What are the uniforms they wear?
M: White shirts, blue pants, white Vietnamese dresses for high school students. In U.S clothing is diversity. Students can wear anything they want.
From elementary to high school education in U.S are free, no tuition, fee.
In Vietnam student have to pay for education. Students stay in classroom waiting for the teachers come. They have to learn more than 10 subjects in each semester. Students have to remember all what they study and recite exactly. Teachers punish students by using a big ruler to beat student’s hands. They have to use by their own transportation. There is no school bus.
Students in U.S take only 4 or 5 subjects in each semester. They just understand the lesson they study and do a lot of homework to make sure they get the main point of the lesson. Teachers and students, both have to go to change classes every hour. No beating, have school buses.
N: There are many differences about the school.
This is a different way to learn in school between two countries.
About the transportation, I know people in Vietnam use motorcycles more than cars. What are the other different transportations?
M: In Vietnam, no free way, tunnel, small roadway, people not following the rule that makes the transportation is dangerous. People live in the village use boat often than a motorcycle because there are many rivers in village. Air planes are cost a lot of money, so we did not use it most of the time.
In U.S, we use car, van. Many free ways and tunnels. People have to follow transportation rule. That is good for traffic, using only boat to carry products and goods for trade. Air planes are so popular.
What kind of transportation would you like to use?
N: Motorcycle.

They are many great things that I have to know about the cultures of 2 nations.
I like to know and want to explore some more differences between East and West cultures.
When we have a chance, we will talk about that later.
M: OK. That is good.