Oh no, out of toilet paper?
It's okay. I have a bum gun.
But I don't know how to use it.
Even though I use it all the time when I was a kid.
I was shocked to by its lighting speed.
And I was doubting myself.
If I'm even Vietnamese
Or I'm too Americanized.
Nope! It's not about bum gun commercial.
It's a Reverse Culture Shock video.
Hi everyone! It's Van. Well come back to my channel.
I am so happy to be back home after 7 years living abroad.
But once in a while,
I feel so out of place in my own culture.
The places, the people, the thing that I was very familiar with.
All sudden became so foreign.
And those feelings, those reactions called "Reverse Culture Shock".
I didn't know reverse culture shock was the thing.
Until I was struggling to speak Vietnamese.
Didn't know how to use chopsticks probably.
And, I didn't know how to use the bum-gun.
Like you can see at the beginning of the video.
But I found it very interesting.
Because I get to see things in different cultural lenses.
And especially, I'm Vietnamese.
So I understand why Vietnamese people behave specific way.
So today, I'm gonna share with you
10 Reverse Culture Shock that I'm dealing with right now.
So in this video, you're gonna learn so much about Vietnamese culture.
Please! Keep watching until the end.
And if you want to learn more about Vietnamese culture, food and travel.
Don't forget to follow my channel right now.
And follow my Instagram and my Facebook
At VanvufromVietnam
Alright. Without further ado,
LET'S GET STARTED!
I know in America people drive on the right.
In England, people drive on the left.
But in Vietnam,...
ROAD IS ROAD!!!
People will find every possibility
To drive where they need to be.
To be honest, I was so scared of crossing the street,
For the first couple months.
But I learned 3 rules.
ONE: It's to have your hands up like this before you cross the street.
TWO: Cross with steady speed.
So people know when to avoid you.
THREE: Don't stop suddenly.
Because people here are trained to know when to swerve around you.
After getting out of the airport in Vietnam,
I feel like all my senses were being awaken.
Especially, my sense of hearing.
I can hear the noise from the traffic,
The constructions,
You guys hear that?
This is probably Vietnam.
They have constructions everywhere.
People fixes their houses everyday.
And the worst noise is honking.
Honking is ubiquitous in Vietnam.
But it has a unique meaning behind it.
Unlike The U.S, when you honking someone,
That means you're so mad at that person.
And you want it that person to know about it, right?
But in Vietnam,
Honking serves as more of a notice.
Similar to....
"Excuse me! I'm gonna pass on the site and don't want to hit you".
So, watch out!
If you hear the honking sounds like this,
And the driver sound like this,
You don't even need to learn Vietnamese to know they're madding you.
In America, everything is big.
Houses are far away from each other.
People keep certain distance when they interact with each other.
But in Vietnam,
There are no such thing as personal space.
Houses here are so close together.
And you can hear your neighbors singing karaoke.
And when you go shopping, people stand so close to you in line.
And the traffic is always congested.
Yeah, I'm not trying to complain here.
I just want it to make some points.
And try to explain it to you as a Vietnamese person.
Because I understand why we have such a small personal space.
It's because 96 million of us been in 331.000 Km2
And we are raised in communal places.
With a lot of room activities.
So that's why it creates a collectivist culture.
Meanings family and group are more important than an individual.
However, the advantage of having a small personal space
Is that everyone is so close and helpful to each other.
So for example,
I was so shocked seeing a waiter
Holding and playing with the customer's baby,
While the whole family was having dinner.
You know, like...
And thing seems very happy and didn't concern at all.
I guess every country has pros and cons.
And we just need to perceive them in the most unbiased way.
In Vietnam, people don't greet me with "How are you?"
Instead, they ask me bunch of personal questions.
Like "How old are you?",
"Are you married yet?",
"What do you do for a living?"
I was quite shocked receiving all those personal questions,
Which are considered intrusive and rude according to American culture.
Luckily, I'm Vietnamese.
So I understand why they ask me those questions.
Vietnamese people ask about age,
Because they want to know how to call you probably.
Because we have so many pronouns to call person,
Base on how old that person is.
And his/ her hierarchy and the person gender.
People ask about your job,
To determine how prestigious your job is.
Vietnamese people value social status and money
Which are the out come of the Saving Face culture.
Last but not least,
They ask if you're single or not,
Because they want to set you up with either their son or their daughter.
That's the way Vietnamese people welcome you to their family.
Last time, when I went to my relative house.
I was so shocked to when one of the kids said
He was allergic to peanuts.
And people didn't take it seriously.
Allergy to peanuts or tree nuts,
Are the most common causes of food induce anaphylaxis.
And death in children from Western countries.
However, I found out why Vietnamese people react that way.
According to a study of the world allergy organization journal,
So, before coming to Asia, especially Vietnam,
Please! Make sure you do a research
To know what ingredients or what food you're allergic to.
So, you can avoid those food.
I got pretty uncomfortable being stare at in public.
Because,... I get it.
A girl with a backpack on and talking in English in front of the camera,
And eating Vietnamese food like she has never had Vietnamese food before.
"Guys, so good!"
"So good!!!"
Of course, people are curious to know what I'm doing, right?
But one thing about Vietnamese people that I know and absorb,
Because I'm Vietnamese too.
It's because Vietnamese people are SUPER, DOUBLE curious.
But they're just very shy.
Sometimes, people want to come and talk to you.
But because they just don't have the confident
To initiate the conversation.
That's why they just keep looking or staring at you.
As long as I approach those people and talk to them in Vietnamese.
They asked about my YouTube channel.
They gave me compliments on my make up, my English accent.
And,... they followed me.
Really, Vietnamese people are very kind and helpful.
They're just very shy.
And if a stare happens to you when you come to Vietnam,
Just remember that you're beautiful and you're unique.
That's why people can keep their eyes off you.
And maybe just stare and smile back
Even approach them and initiate the conversation.
You'll be surprised the next thing they do
Is to invite you to their house.
Talk about Vietnamese culture,
And they might teach you some swear-words in Vietnamese.
I had a hard time finding regular lotions here in Vietnam.
Because there are a lot of whitening lotions.
Vietnamese people prefer lighter skin.
Because they think having a tan means a person is from lower class,
Working outdoor and doing physical labor.
But time has changed,
A lot of people nowadays prefer tan skin.
Because it's considered Beautiful - Healthy - and Sexy.
In many public restrooms,
Especially in the ru....
A RURAL...
I can't even say that word.
Rural area in Vietnam,
People still use squat toilet.
I personal hate those.
And I feel bad for people who don't know how to do Asian squat.
I feel like the position is so awkward.
And it's so unhygienic.
But people still use those.
Maybe, before coming to Vietnam,
You better practice your Asian squat.
Because you might have to use one of those when traveling here.
Vietnamese people love taking nap.
And they even have one and a half hour lunch break
To take a nap.
I did a whole video why Vietnamese people love taking nap.
And you can check it out right here.
I moved back to Vietnamese in the middle of the pandemic.
And I was surprised by how well Vietnamese people use multimedia.
To communicate, keep people up to date and prevent Covid-19.
There are speakers at intersections reminding people to wear a mask.
They use text messages and social media platform like Zalo and Facebook,
To update the latest news to people,
Like, the location that infected people have gone.
Or the areas are being under lock downed.
So I've learned that 66% of Vietnamese people use the Internet.
YouTube and Facebook are the most common used social media by Vietnamese people.
Couple years ago, I remember Vietnam still rely heavily on
Traditional pay methods.
But now, we have so many options like,
Zalo Pay, Air Pay, Momo, etc.
I was super low-tech when I first move back.
But you know what? It's a good pressure.
Because it forces me to improve my technical skills.
I'm pretty happy being back home.
And see Vietnam is developing everyday.
Okay, so we talk a lot about Reverse Culture Shock
When I move back to Vietnam.
In the next video, I'm gonna talk about
Culture shock that I had to deal with
When I went to The U.S to study abroad.
I'm gonna talk about the American things
That confused me the most when I was there.
So, don't forget to Subscribe to my channel and turn on the bell.
So, you'll be notified for that video.
Okay, I hope you guys have a great day, great night.
And I'll see you guys next week.
BYEEE <3