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Vietnamese tea in Canada
Date: 6/21/2006
Ms. Dinh Kim Nguyet and her husband, Yukon's Finance Minister, Mr. Peter Laight, become volunteers to spread Vietnamese culture to Whitehorse, a small city in the Yukon Territory in the far northern of Canada. She tells her story:
In 2003, I had an undreamed-of opportunity to visit Canada. One August
afternoon I left the heat wave that was engulfing Europe at the time
and upon arriving in Whitehorse, a small city of 25,000 people situated
in the Yukon Territory in the far northern region of Canada, about
1,500 km north of Vancouver, Canada, found myself in a vast green field
that was decorated with profusion of unfamiliar flowers. I was
impressed with the abundance of nature, even in this far northern
region.
Naturally, I wanted to try to meet some of the Vietnamese immigrants
that settled here, with the hope of being able to satisfy my curiosity
about the mysterious “Viet Kieu” (Vietnamese emigrants) who are very
confusing to the young people in Viet Nam today.
Most of the Vietnamese immigrants now in Canada left Viet Nam 20 to 30
years ago and so many have mixed feelings about their country. Until
recently, not many Viet Kieu were not able to return to visit Viet Nam
to find out what it is like now. Now that Viet Kieu are beginning
to visit Viet Nam again, a lot of curiosity has been generated on both
sides about the life of the Viet Kieu and about life in Viet Nam today.
I was very lucky because nearly all the Vietnamese families in
Whitehorse opened their doors wide and received me warmly. We
shared some nice meals and had some very animated discussions about
life in Viet Nam today.
My main purpose for staying in Canada now is to take a Business and
Tourism program, and to find tourists who want to come to Viet Nam. I
therefore am trying to develop contacts with all the local
people. I have made good contacts through the local francophone
community and through teachers at the local college. The local
francophone community is well organized and it is a good way to make
contact with a lot of people.
I had an unexpected contact from a charitable organization that wanted
to display some Vietnamese culture at a dinner they were organizing to
raise money for land mine victims. Initially, they only wanted to
borrow some of my ao dai (Vietnamese traditional dresses) to display on
the wall of the dining room, to create an atmosphere of Vietnam.
After thinking about it overnight, I decided to be bold and suggest
that we find some girls my size who could wear my ao dai, instead of
just hanging them on the wall.
And do I went to the dinner wearing an ao dai. The event, with ao
dai on display and the Vietnamese food being served, helped me to make
many new contacts among the people of Whitehorse in the context of my
Vietnamese culture.
One thought that came to my mind was: why do none of the local
Vietnamese women take part in social activities like this? I did invite
them, but they were not interested. In the end, I supported the dinner
alone.
My next activity was to organize a tea ceremony – one of the great
passions in my life. My Canadian friends had complete confidence
in me. Immediately I was offered an ideal room and other essentials for
my traditional tea ceremony. The first time I had 10 guests, and
the second time I had 30 guests, and so it went.
Through my tea ceremony I was able to spread information about
Vietnamese culture and interest people in traveling in Viet Nam. My tea
ceremony is a good way to demonstrate to everyone the pleasure in the
Vietnamese way of serving tea. In Viet Nam we are lucky to be
able to produce two types of tea that are of a high grade by world
standards: the green hook tea of the north, and the white hair tea of
the south.
Since I have only performed the tea ceremony a few times, I cannot yet
say what the results will be. If, by means of Vietnamese food and
drink, I can persuade my friends to understand the fine features of
Asian culture, I am sure that they will appreciate my efforts. The
people in Whitehorse are very interested in learning about Vietnamese
culture because they recognize the tremendous contrast between a
country like Vietnam, with 4000 years of culture and history, and an
region like Yukon where little is known about its culture beyond a few
hundred years ago.
Right now, I have returned to Viet Nam for a while. I am sitting
here writing these words in the hectic atmosphere of the Spring, when
the tropical spring flowers are showing off their colorful petals every
where in central Saigon. I would like to recommend to all my Viet
Kieu friends in Canada and elsewhere my very personal feeling that we
all must firmly believe in the beauty of our national spirit and
culture of Viet Nam. Viet Nam has a magnificant history and
established its identity as a country over a thousand years ago.
We have at hand something special and everyone could easily recognize
what distinguishes us from the rest of the world. My dear
friends, please be proud to be Vietnamese.
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