Sharing the addiction, one Christmas tree at a time

Tue my teaching assistant at my smaller campus has been talking with me about the celebration  of Christmas with a meal. He is going back to his home town for our Christmas break and intends to have a “Christmas party” with his family. This is a first for him. Tue is Buddhist and TET is the big highlight on the Vietnamese calendar, on his horizon.  With all the other classes in school getting into the festive spirit and decorating corridors and Christmas trees, we are a British School after all,  the ICT room is sadly lacking. Today Tue asked me about a tree, and offered to get one from our ample resource room and set it up with lights. It’s the first time he’s ever decorated a tree, and it looks great flashing away through the day. Long, the computer tech came in and gave a helping hand. Long has a tree at his house he tells me, for decoration , no gifts underneath,  just a decorative tree.

I am in awe of these people. Their city is simply but effectively decorated and they have taken that attitude and replicated it in school and in their personal life. While they have a different religion, they are  not at all staunch and  closed minded. Christmas aside the Vietnamese people are just that,  open, friendly and adaptive to change in their lives.  For Tue, his Christmas will not be about gift giving, instead a time to celebrate with his extended family over a meal.  He’s taking some of the best bits of Christmas and adapting them to fit his life style. In this very hectic city and in my busy life, standing back and admiring the differences and the similarities is a unique and privileged position.