Mapping the City Part II

When we arrived at the sky tower, it became immediately obvious I was in a new environment. The tower seemed to reach up and touch the sky and while the actual building was still under construction, it was nevertheless intimidating. I think the formidable appearance was done purposely as a means to make people aware of its presence while simultaneously ensuring that they kept their distance. Although, the building was right on the corner of the street, its entrance was tucked away from the street and also it had a gate that enclosed it, accompanied by security. The tower contained primarily office spaces and residential units. For me, I felt as if I was in New York in front of a higher-end apartment complex that I was not privy to enter and should turn away from immediately. It had that kind of a presence to the building and when we entered we were immediately met by security and a front desk, which asked us our business for entering the building and that a clearance pass was required. I find this quite amusing and was moderately shocked when the building was not even really occupied yet.

My expectation for the second more modern space was that it would be much more difficult to find traditional things like uncooked rice or fresh meet. I had the image of a space that resembled a very western developed urban area like San Francisco or Seattle with plenty of cafes and moderately taller buildings and in fact the surrounding area did match my description. Subsequently, I thought the mapping would take a great deal of work and time to find all the places, but to my surprise the mapping took much less time than the first one. After walking along the main street and discovering several of the objectives immediately like an oil change place, a Sinh Tố café, and a Sim card vendor, I was immediately relieved. However, after about 20 minutes we got rather frustrated walking down the street so we started to head back toward the Sky Tower and then we turned down a smaller street fairly close to the building. It was there that we begin to find the rest of the places we were searching for, such as the fresh meat, vegetables, and even people playing badminton. At that point we begin to find things a lot easier and in no time we were done.

The thing that was most notable about this mapping project was the close proximity between the Sky Tower and the more traditional space where we found traditional activities such as the selling of fresh meats. This proves my previous point in another blog that the distinction between a modern and traditional space has become obscure and it is difficult to say that this one area is modern while the other is traditional. I feel that it is impossible to draw a distinct line between modern and traditional even though sky tower was closed off by a gate. The future residence of the building will ultimately utilize the surrounding neighborhoods and thus the area must be included as one whole. Subsequently, I feel that the space is very much in transition and that it cannot be labeled as either traditional or modern. This is important because this is how I see Vietnam developing in terms of what the space will look like as it continues to develop. I see large buildings and modern infrastructure, like car dealerships and cafes being incorporated into “traditional spaces,” however, I don’t know if this is the greatest route for Vietnam’s development. For me, it seems as if it is trying to force the issue and trying to appease this sense of wanting to keep culture and tradition while moving forward. I would rather have more distinctive areas of modern and tradition, but I still recognize that the integration is necessary because the residence of modern infrastructure like Sky Tower need it. Nevertheless, I find it tacky and I feel that modernization and development should be something that is carefully plan something I did not feel while mapping. While I, myself don’t have the formula, I hope that a resolution can be reached.

A rhyming pace for a mapping space

The most notable observation and perhaps the essence of my experience is the conflict or dilemma I sense in Vietnam’s current transition. This was suppose to be a traditional space we were mapping, however, with the motorbike shops, liquor store, and other imitations of “Western symbols” it is highly difficult to distinguish this space as traditional. My observation compels me to question whether there are truly traditional spaces left in urban Vietnam and if these new transitioning spaces that obscures the idea of traditional and modern has replace the “old.” I wonder if Vietnam can continue on its path of development while simultaneously preserving its tradition and traditional spaces. Unfortunately, it seems the byproduct of development and modernization is the destruction of tradition, making the two mutually exclusive. To sum up my experience, I would have to say it was bittersweet. Bitter because I don’t have the opportunity to appreciate the Vietnam in which my grandmother lived and knowing this country will move further away from tradition. Sweet in a sense because development offers the possibility of a better living condition for some of the Vietnamese people.



Disclaimer: The following is a rhyming piece I wrote about my experience in the space we mapped. Everything I described was actually things that were experienced by the group and was in no way fabricated. Hope you enjoy!


Walking down Trần Xuân Xoạn street
It’s hurting my feet and I can’t begin to describe the unbearable heat
But to ride a motorbike along is to cheat
Making this whole experience… bittersweet
So where do we start?
We look to the left: lo and behold, there is Hôm mart
A market with plenty of things to buy
So to escape the heat, we decided to go inside
We find fresh meats, veggies, and fruits to try
But no where do we see shoes being shined
Look there’s cooking oil and nước măm too
But again we see no little boys shinning other people’s shoes

Next we exit the market and continue on our way
Hoping that this project doesn’t take up too much of our day
Mai says to the group: “lets finish this in two hours”
Instantly, the group feels immensely empowered
So we all begin to frantically scour
Knowing if we don’t oblige, her face will quickly turn sour
Where can we eat phở bò or drink some sinh tố
We ask some of the locals and they all seem to know
Go here. It’s there.
Perhaps my brain is impaired, but I swear, these people seem to be pointing everywhere

But we trust in the people for this is their home
They live on the streets… this is where their children roam
No longer on the mean streets near Hanu University, I am in a new space
A new fragrance, a new feel, and a different new taste.
Despite our race against time.. it seems we’re being chased
We sit down to drink some tra da and enjoy the nice change of pace
Under a tree and next to an elementary
The 2000 we pay seems like such a nominal fee
An hour has past there’s still plenty of things on the list
So I look to my left, and Mai is looking awfully pissed

Giang leads the troop with five of us in toll
And we quickly knock out… one, two, three…. tasks in a roll
We’re almost done
But we can’t find badminton
Wait. Here’s bia hoa. A favorite of Thầy Gerard.
And a place to buy envelopes and pens, a pagoda, the troop marches onward
We finally near the end of our 3 hour journey, an adventure indeed
And despite the lack of speed, I must concede
That in our goal of mapping a space we did succeed
But that is superseded by our ultimate goal to understand the concept of space in Vietnam
Which begin to finally understand as we ride away down Ngô Thì Nhâm.

when life gives you lemon

When you’re young, the opportunities are infinite because everything and anything seems possible. Flying doesn’t seem all that outrageous, travelling in a circus seems so much fun, and owning your own personal amusement park is quite feasible when you get a little bit older. We call it being young and naïve, but what we fail to see and appreciate is the imagination and enthusiasm so prevalent in our younger years. Somewhere along the way we lose this zest to the mundane routine of everyday life and the world suddenly isn’t so exciting. This applies to all aspects of life and I can somewhat relate to this notion. For this reason, the gig entry that resonated with me was the two cousins’ story about starting a lemonade stand.


From a young age, I also harbored the entrepreneurial spirit which compelled me to start my own businesses. Like the lemonade salesmen, Chris and Isaac Mauro, I started fairly young and the ideas I had were also unconventional. During the fifth grade, I began buying bulk packages of snacks and candies and started selling and trading with my peers. Although, it does not seem like a novel idea it was innovative at the time considering our only source of food was lunch from the cafeteria. Similarly, Chris and Isaac took a very traditional idea, made a few adjustments, and made their business a big hit. Soon the school caught on and disallowed my business due to my competition with the cafeteria, however, I was able to convince the school to allow my class to sell ice cream and raise money. Subsequently, I shifted my business to trading cards, which were a hit back in the days. In slang terms, I was a little hustler, finding niches, and capitalizing.

I took this mantra of “anything is possible” with me and in particular, put it to good use when I became a senior in high school. When I became class president, my class was nearly five thousand dollars in debt and the prospect of having events such as boat cruise and senior ball was very bleak. While car washes and other fundraisers were efficient, they were not going to be able to raise the tens of thousands of dollars we needed, so I was forced to use my imagination and thing outside of the box. Through local-business sponsors, city-wide fundraisers, and other tactics, we were able to have a great senior year.

As I grew older, I kept my innovative thinking and branched out into other business ventures. At 18, I was able to process loans as an independent contractor due to my certification as a notary public. I was working for several lenders and did fairly well. However, soon the real estate market came crashing down and instead of leaving it I shifted my focus towards purchasing foreclosed homes in places like Cleveland, Atlanta, and Buffalo. I strongly feel that my strong reliance on my innovation and imagination that I developed younger truly helped me. As I entered college, I saw a niche for tax preparation, so I became certified and started a small business preparing taxes for college students. I coupled that with my real estate enterprise and created JT Solutions LLC, which is still functioning today.

Unfortunately, in recent years I gave into the traditional working for companies instead of continuing my entrepreneurial ambitions and I have witnessed the youthful innovation and imagination slowly slip away. So while this gig entry is very refreshing and uplifting I understand that the future is not so bright considering that I have been down that path before. I really enjoyed the dialogue between Chris and Isaac and how their business became something that they enjoyed. This entry really inspires me to break awhile from mundane life and dare to venture off on my own. I want to recapture my youth and have the freedom to do as I please.

My Life

On March 25, 1989, Lindzey Dau was experiencing difficulty as she attempted to give birth to her first child. Like many others, she had made the long, grueling trip across the Pacific Ocean nearly 12 years ago to escape the aftermath of war in Vietnam and here she sat enduring an equally terrifying experience. The already long, complicated process took a turn for the worse as doctors realized the umbilical cord was wrapped several times around the child’s neck cutting off air circulation. They rushed to extract the baby and after critical minutes passed, John Hung Tran graced the world with his presence. From that point forward, the world would never be the same.

Contrary to the chaos of my birth, my early childhood was relatively ordinary having grown up in Sacramento, California. According to others, I was always a very outgoing, loving, and very curious child, always valuing opportunities to engage with others and explore the world. However, I certainly got into some trouble for being too talkative and overzealous about wanting to touch and feel everything. Overall, I was a very good child so perhaps somewhere along the way past adolescence, something went wrong. haha

One significant event that occurred in my childhood and completely changed my life around was the divorce of parents. I was about eleven years old and finishing the final year of my elementary school when my normal, comfortable world came crashing down. With puberty on the horizon and so many other developments occurring, this was surely the most inopportune time. The divorce was very hard on me due to the unstable nature of my father. Apparently, he wanted to recapture his youth so he turned to partying, drugs, and alcohol. It is the most difficult thing to do, to watch a person you admire so much begin to slowly deteriorate and eventually he was gone. For a year I stayed with my grandmother as the nasty divorce continued, an experience that ultimately opened my eyes. As an immigrant from Vietnam, my grandmother did not have much money, so naturally she lived in a bad neighborhood where drugs, violence, and death were very common. My curiosity compelled me to wander the streets where I saw things that shocked and completely disrupted my thought process and my whole being. The essence of my stay with my grandmother can be represented by the fact that I witness my friend being shot nearly an arm length in front me. At that very moment, I realize that I could easily assimilate and become a victim or rise above the turmoil and hardship. Certainly, people have seen and experience far worse things, but for me these memories made me who I am today and I share them because they are very important to me.

Eventually, my mother gained full custody and she was able to move my brother and I to the Bay Area where she believed we could have a better life. In regards to my father, I found out months later that he conceded custody and was content on seeing us once a week. His bitterness towards my mother blinded him and the weekly visits soon turned to once a month and within a year, it ceased altogether. I had to go to therapy to recover but it was truly a long healing process that I still attempt to deal with today.

My brother and I excelled in our new environments doing well in school and becoming very active. I myself in particular worked exceptionally hard wanting to prove to my father I was worth his time. In addition to doing well academically, in high school I was very active, becoming Senior class president and prom king, captain of the basketball team, singing in choirs, commissioner on the city council and many other activities. In regards to working, I did wide array of jobs from commercial and residential real estate, nail salon, manager at Extreme Pizza, construction, bank teller, interning at Merrill Lynch, and even starting my own business, JT Solutions LLC. This was all partially motivated by the fact that I wanted to gain the affection and approval of my father so badly. Unfortunately, while it helped me excel and motivated me to do well, my goal of earning my father’s recognition was in vain, having seen or talk with him only twice in the last 10 years. Nevertheless, it made me who I am today, for better or worse, and having been raised by such a loving, caring, and extraordinary mother even without the financial support of my father surely compensated for the absence of my father.

Having closed that chapter of my life, I look forward to the future and Vietnam is essentially a big part of it. People often ask me why I chose Vietnam as the location to study abroad and the truth of the matter is I did not choose Vietnam but Vietnam chose me. Growing up my grandmother often told me stories about her homeland, which gave me a strange feeling of nostalgia. It was as if I had been before and everything she described felt so familiar. I knew all my life that I had to visit Vietnam and with the study abroad program I knew it was a perfect opportunity to fully experience the country. Subsequently, this upcoming semester I hope to take a very light class schedule so I can have the opportunity to explore and volunteer in the community. My goal is to learn anything and everything about Vietnam from the language to the customs to how to efficiently bargain. I am really spontaneous and I feel that making plans restricts an individual and so the truth of the matter is, I have no actual plans or expectation. I have a very open mind, which will aid me on my quest to discover the goals I hope to accomplish while in Vietnam. This is experience is dedicated to my family and especially my mom. =)