Update (May 25, 2025)
Life after having people who understand and grow with you and support you …
Vietnamese born in Canada.
I finally understand their thinking and the way they live.
They aren’t really in a rush.
They aren’t vying for things on the frontal lobe.
I was in a rush all the time growing up alone in Durham Region.
When I finally met Tammy Nguyen she showed me how she lived.
She did what she liked, stuck to it and doesn’t make it a ‘situation’ about things.
Similar to Tony. He takes his time.
I think if you socialized with enough Vietnamese born in Canada, you get humbled realizing everything takes time and your passions will give you that time and peace.
This is unlike other people and groups I met in life as they think biased and ask why aren’t you a millionaire by age 26 and solved all your problems and your group problems too? Subconsciously knowing they are part of the problem …
…
Reverse culture …
I was raised in the West and learned all the Vietnamese negative stereotypes from the major groups in Canada.
But when I am with Vietnamese from either Vietnam or Canada, everything is fine. We eat, work and chill and grow.
So what is going on???
That is why it is important to have your close family and extended family and the same people born in Canada with you to support your life forever.
…
Support …
What do you do in Canada to have health and feeling good?
You are supposed to grow and do stuff and take care of your yourself.
You are supposed to do what you like so you got a life of work. You are supposed to grow with merit.
Tammy and Tony supported me over the years.
You are supposed to just do your passions.
…
What happened when I grew up learning the negative stereotypes of Vietnamese from the major groups?
I tried to fix them.
…
How do you change, and then change so much?
For me, you have the support from Canadians and fellow Vietnamese born in Canada and do your passions for a long time until you get something like being recognized. You got to zone out for years and years enjoying doing your thing.
…
It is normal for a person like me to improve my standing.
I see this done by groups prior and groups after 1975.
That is just life.
Everyone is improving because of the current levels of education and attainment are not that good.
It just happens.
…
Do you really care about what people think when your people have negative stereotypes?
…
You are not supposed to care about the general socializations in society because 99.9999% of conversations are biased and talk negative.
They don’t see change and growth and evolving.
…
Vietnam is improving with investments. And things are changing.
That is life.
If Vietnam improves, the negative stereotypes go away.
Then you see who is investing in Vietnam?
…
The thing about growing up in Canada as a Vietnamese born in Canada …
As a boy, you have to support and develop yourself as a Vietnamese person.
If you don’t develop yourself as a man with accomplishments like specialization, specialization with support like Tammy Nguyen supported me, you get negatively treated like the negative Vietnamese stereotypes you all hear about when you show intelligence and skills above the negative stereotype they hold.
That is the truth.
You got to believe in yourself and zone out doing stuff until you reach thinking above what the general young public who are full of negativity because they are growing up trying to reach maturity.
Only when you see 75-80+ years old Canadians, they help you and understand what you had to go through growing up in the world and tell you just to do what you like and educate yourself till the end.
Allan and Ben showed me just concentrate on what you like and ignore people because you have to live with things to do and merit.
…
How did living in Canada/West and with Western culture influence my behaviour?
It is black and white sometimes here in the West.
But when I am doing my passions nothing matter and I am happy.
…
When you go out in Durham Region, as Vietnamese guy like me, you get called every negative stereotypes under the sun and moon.
What happens after?
You hole up in your room doing your own thing.
…
What is it like to live in Mississauga?
I been to Mississauga around other Vietnamese.
I act like myself like I am in Vietnam in the Pho restaurants. I get treated normal with Western influences that reach like Westerners, unlimited.
That is when I with Chien Nguyen (also named David).
In Mississauga, there are still Canadians around. Therefore, you have 2-3 viewpoints.
- Canadian.
- Vietnamese in Vietnam acting to feel relaxed and at home with other Vietnamese especially in Vietnamese restaurants
- Vietnamese aware and coexisting and blending with Canadians.
But because I am old, I act pretty mature.
…
I did not know there are Vietnamese clique and subdivisions within it for the Vietnamese born in the West.
As I am socializing with more Vietnamese born in the West, I find that there is a group and divisions within that group of Vietnamese born in Canada kind of. This is when you further socialize and build relationships and have done stuff that require extensive work and study.
That is the thing. When you really go off studying and doing your own thing (mainly because you are old and experienced) then Vietnamese in the West are divided somewhat for the first and second generation I think?
But this is blended as we are still quite new to the West.
I did not know this.
…
The thing with Vietnamese in the West is that we are doing stuff but also there are the old ones like me and my brother who waited till late 30s to mature and do stuff. Which is natural and normal for groups prior.
…
The Vietnamese from Vietnam who come to the West and achieve success are brining their culture and work ethic to the West.
…
The life of a Westerner … from the perspective of a Vietnamese born in Canada.
There is more to do and climb.
Because I was born and grew up in Canada in Durham Region, I think there is a limit???
But when you get up there in skills and zoning out of the blue get recognized for your doings … then you meet people who are more brainy, more busy and more critical.
The solution? It was always keeping busy. Keeping busy with your passion as a Vietnamese person.
That is all I can do and with the people on my frequency …
The people who criticize are just people who do a lot and are busy and then they have opportunity.
There is just young people being overly busy then there is Allan who just says just keep busy and busy for life. That is all life is in the Western world.
The real secret to maintaining life that is all good and sweet in the West is to be like Allan really.
He not only runs his company but also teaching and is connected with the education system to provide coop opportunities to students in the area.
Because I am an old person … I understood everything really. It is just day-in and day-out of working a business like that which maintains you and gives you things to work on and learn. You need things to do. Keep sharp, work hard which gives you a competitive edge the Western way.
…
What I realize socializing with Vietnamese born in Canada, we are all busy trying to have a life working in Canada. We have to reach to the majority culture for work and life.
That is life as a coloured person in the West.
Always busy and always reaching. Reach like the Westerners.
If you think otherwise then you are doomed.
…
The thing with school …
When you are in it, you are still just studying and young.
That is nothing wrong.
It literally takes a lifetime of experience and/or from learning from others to develop your own solutions.
Because you live in Canada and the West, all you can do is take your time really to think like Westerners who do these things.
You go with your passion at 9 years old or start right after university at 22.
…
The thing about life in the West that some people emphasize is that it takes decades of conscious and subconscious effort to develop stuff. That is what other Asians did in the past in the West with the Western culture and supports. You can not forget that.