Vegetable Donation during lockdown!
2021/09/07 Ms. Nobuko Otsuki
Many cities and provinces of Vietnam are currently under the "strongest lockdown” due to the spread of COVID-19, especially in Ho Chi Minh City and its neighbor provinces. Central and Northern parts of Vietnam such as Da Nang City and Hanoi City are no exception. During the lockdown, the most difficult thing is to secure daily food and daily necessities because we have to stay home. Under the "soft lockdown", shopping and delivery of daily necessities such as food and medicine were still permitted. However, under the "hard lockdown", people cannot leave their homes to go out to buy food and daily necessities.
Even in this situation, there was an action that made us love Vietnam more! The action was “People from rural areas donated vegetables to people living in the cities”. Surprisingly, both Vietnamese and foreigners received the vegetable donation.
Last week, through local government officials, we received a lot of vegetables such as cabbages and tomatoes which were sent from the rural. When we received the email from our landlord saying "Take any vegetables which you like! These are from rural areas!", we are extremely excited.
Of course, the number of vegetables is limited, and we have to share with other people. However, we were very touched by the messages and support from people in rural areas. This is perhaps the greatest strength that Vietnam has, “the power of unity”.
Tet Holiday
2021/02/17 Ms. Duong Thi Thu Lan
Chúc mừng năm mới! (Happy Lunar New Year!)
Welcome to Vietnam to join in one of the biggest and most important festivals during the year – Lunar New Year or Tet (in Vietnamese).
Tet is the special occasion when family members gather in their hometowns, travel back from across the country to spend the time with each other, look back what we have done in the past year and give all the wish, expectations and hopes for another year ahead.
Colorful decoration
Tet is a great time to see Vietnam at its most colorful where houses are dyed with national flags, major streets are lit up with thousands of multicolored lights, public places are decorated with banners and flower markets are full of freshest blooms.
Special food that represents for Tet
Banh chung (square sticky rice cake) and banh tet (round glutinous rice cake) are indispensable parts of traditional Tet celebration to show descendants’ deep gratitude for our ancestors. The ingredients to make these 2 cakes are sticky rice, green beans, pork, etc and they are wrapped by banana leaves before being boiled for hours. You will definitely see these cakes on the altars of Vietnamese houses this time.
Activities during Tet
Traditionally, Vietnamese people will visit Paternal side on the first day, Maternal side on the second day and Teachers on the third day to show our respect and gratitude to those who have nurtured us. During this occasion, going to pagodas and temples to pray for good health, happiness and fortune for family, relatives and friends in the year ahead has also become an activity that can’t be crossed out in most of families.
In some cities with UNESCO-recognized heritages, including relics, ancient palaces, etc such as Hue and Hoi An, local people and visitors can enjoy free entry to relic sites and a range of spring activities there.