Stuff Vietnamese people like

Vietnamese people love to sing. At least once in their lives, they have grabbed a mic and sung a song. Most people choose a karaoke club where they can monopolize the audience’s attention.

Of course, singing karaoke in the Vietnamese way is different. People sit still in the sofa, choose a heartbroken song (Don’t worry, most Vietnamese songs are about broken hearts), sing along the lyrics, and wait for the score. The score is an important factor. In some clubs, they even give awards to those who score 100 for a song.

That’s the reason why many Vietnamese buy DVD midi karaoke players to practice singing at home, though they will bother their neighbors a great deal. Another reason is that they will be embarrassed if the score is too low. In their opinion, scoring low means singing bad.

A foreigner may recognize a song by the singer or the band who’s made it famous. In Vietnam, a songwriter will be honored if her/his songs are sung by many singers, plus karaoke singers.

If you’re invited to a karaoke club, pick a strange song most people don’t know of, so if you score low, nobody will comment on it. If you’re confident, pick a fun song with fast rhythm. If you don’t sing at all, ask somebody to duet a song and murmur when she/he actually sings for you. Don’t decline to sing. It’s rude.

If you’re in Vietnam, better practice singing now.

Vietnamese students have to study in the evening because their parents force them to. They also study some hard skills they aren’t taught in school because they wanna find a good job after graduation. If they didn’t go to evening classes, they wouldn’t keep up with their classmates.

Vietnamese workers study whatever their boss asks them to because they want a promotion. Some girls study things like dancing, cooking, massage, makeup, etc. to prepare for marriage; while guys prefer to study to play sports.

Some go to evening classes because everybody does. They would feel like they’re missing something in their life if they didn’t do it.

Most people go to evening class to really further their study. But there are exceptions. While some parents think their “princesses” and/or “princes” are studying hard, these overprotected children actually hang out with friends in a coffee shop, a karaoke club, a fashion store, or an internet cafe spending their money.

Of course, English is the most popular subject for the evening study. Speaking periods are good opportunities for Vietnamese people to know more about Western cultures and to talk with their native teachers.

Leisure and studying/working time in Vietnam can’t be separated as easily as we unbutton halves of a shirtfront. If they bring sort of a heavy bag, they may not be ready to hang out. If you’re lucky, maybe you could persuade them to skip the formalities and go with you.

You’re riding in the middle of a street in Vietnam and hearing a loud hooter from behind, you rapidly change the line and find out it is from neither a bus nor a car. Wonder how a motorbike that small could produce so much noise? Because Vietnamese people have modified the original horn with a truck hooter. And that’s just 1 of 7 types of horning in Vietnam that a foreigner has categorized before.

Making noise is as important as breathing in Vietnam. Vietnamese people try their best to prove that the human being is the only creature that has language. “Silence is golden, but noise is platinum.”

On airplanes where the noise is loud enough, they try to shout, yell, scream, cry as loud as possible. As if they were on the roller-coaster. Flying is never that fun anywhere else in the world!

Vietnamese people don’t aware that noise is a kind of pollution. In order to keep face, they don’t like to admit that they are wrong. When there’s an accident, often you will see people stop their bikes to find out who has to compensate by quarreling, or even fighting.

Vietnamese people break things at home when they have a row. But if the matter is not yet resolved, they will bring it to the neighborhood by yelling as loud as possible, even if it’s 11 PM or midnight.

Don’t complain when your neighbors suddenly decide to sing karaoke at midnight. You’d better sleep off your tiredness somewhere else.

Blackout is a chance for inspiration, from procrastination. Slackers appreciate blackout as the genesis for their creativity, outside the confines of the office.

For Vietnamese students, blackout is their most favorite thing on earth. Even if some evening classes use generators to provide substitute power, a student will complain that the weak light affect their eyesight badly and call it a night. Another one will get up and follow her/him. Others will copy them immediately.

Many Vietnamese people like noise, but there is an exception. There are people who like blackout just because there’s no sound of the neighborhood karaoke singers, machines running at maximum capacity (including TV sets, computers, fans, etc.) It’s no better time to get the stress out and enjoy a real silent night.

For people who think they are romantic, a blackout night is perfect for a candlelit dinner. What a feel of European aristocracy in Vietnam! For real romantic people, it’s time they reminisce their childhood when blackout happened almost everyday, rain or shine, hell or high water. Back then, people gathered around a candle in the garden/terrace/balcony enjoying a juicy chit chat and natural wind. Kids managed to squeeze into a single bed singing a song together, telling a ghost story, or giggling with the animal shadows they playfully made on the wall.

If you’re a foreigner, you may like the last paragraph I’ve just written the best. If you’re stuck in the dark with Vietnamese people and don’t wanna go home to sleep, ask about their experience in their childhood. Don’t ask what they intend to do, because you may see them see you next time.

Days off work are not holidays. Of course, people don’t go to work on public holidays, but in Vietnam, people observe only 9 a year. For sure, the number is among the lowest in the world. So it’s not so surprising that Vietnamese people love days off work.

There are 12 to 16 annual leaves with full pay, or even days without pay. But the best days off work are the days when there’s a blackout day. For some people, blackout is a pain; for Vietnamese people, anything but. Even though most people will have to work some other day to compensate the day off work due to blackout, they don’t mind. It’s never better to relax a bit, especially when there’s a stressful meeting or deadline coming.

Vietnamese people enjoy the days off work to the fullest. They go singing karaoke when it’s cheaper (on weekday mornings and afternoons), go shopping when the supermarkets are not crowded, sleep off their extreme tiredness or chat with their friends–from the comfort of their beds. If they take a few consecutive days off, they’ll pick some place to travel alone.

If they come to you saying that they have a day off work, be nice. Don’t criticize that they’re not productive. They’re not at work. They don’t love money that much. They have the right to have more holidays. They have no control over blackout. They have more reasons why they need those days off work. You envy them. Blah blah blah!