Updates (May 29, 2025)
I wonder what the Vietnamese and South Asians are doing in Peterborough.
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I guess that is life … always thinking and talking about alternative work and lifestyles.
I have a friend living in Saskatchewan. He is currently working in sales for the last couple of years.
I spoke with him the other day. He wants to change careers.
I guess what I am doing is right and not bad.
That is the thing about life, you don’t know how good you got it and will always complain and want something better or more relaxing.
Nothing is right, nothing is wrong. This is the thing about life.
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If you socialize enough in life, you realize everyone is going through something and your life is just another life in the haystack.
I had to socialize more and more, but with other Vietnamese born in the West to understand that my life is objective and normal. There is nothing special to anyone. Everyone is either doing a routine job, no job or thinking job. And everyone wishes to change to something else.
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After Vietnam developed in the last 10 years, there are Vietnamese from the West bringing their expertise to Vietnam to work.
They inform the world what it is like to invest and work in Vietnam.
That is the thing.
Now that Vietnam is more than a manufacturing hub, tech and modern culture is shaping Vietnam. There is more money to be made in outsourcing to Vietnam now.
Yes, at my age, I am noticing all this and benefiting from this. I am seeing the development of Vietnam to developed state which benefits me …
It allowed me to think reversal. Instead of thinking Vietnam is a agricultural country, people now see it technological and somewhat developed.
This allows Westerners to treat me different. It tells Westerners that Vietnamese think forward and Western.
And that life in Vietnam is just as hard of a struggle like the West so Westerners don’t think Vietnamese as just factories, farming, tourism.
Like there is no point of moving back to Vietnam as it is just as difficult there but without the American/West direct influence and diversity that benefits the West. Mostly more difficult in Vietnam.
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What it is like living in the West as a Vietnamese man born in Canada?
It took time to sort through life.
I always sought out more. I did not see other Vietnamese born in Canada doing the things I was doing or wanting what I wanted.
When 2017 came along I found the new generation of Vietnamese mostly seeking careers in tech and science at my local college.
I knew my background in basic sciences was something. I knew I had something to offer at my age and experience …
I waited and worked for 7 – 8 years with my team and finally built enough knowledge and skills to connect to other Vietnamese doing stuff I am interested in.
As a first gen Vietnamese, that was my unique struggle.
I had to study, work and get experience and work with Ben and the team and zone our for the last 3 – 4 years until I got the thing that made me.
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That is the thing about being an new immigrant to the West.
Vietnamese have not been here that long in large numbers.
Each of us is growing and are not developed yet like other groups who have been here longer.
But it depends on many factors how each individual adapts.
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Vietnam in the West is behind other groups in time spent in the West.
I think Vietnamese will be normalized in the next 20 years as the new kids popping out forget all about the War and Vietnam develops technologically this the negatives stereotypes will be forgotten.
I am still young. I am doing stuff.
Then after 20 years, the Vietnamese kids will be like every other kid from modern Asian countries. Which is good and bad.
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Why Vietnamese born in Canada was the what I needed.
I needed people who felt like me so I feel what they feel and confirm my longing and feelings were OK and right to feel.
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The thing with me is that I did need to travel to Vietnam 6 times to confirm what to do for life and work.
All my cousins were suffering because of globalization on full swing.
Life was better trying your hardest/best doing thinking jobs according to my cousins.
Life is better in the West because you get everything and the diverse interactions for growth and reason.
Canada is still short on population growth. You can find a wife born in Canada who understands your struggles and will have a family with you because she feels you.
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What life is really like for a Vietnamese guy like me?
I think it is more aligned to what Dmitry Nefedov is doing. He does IT work and refactors and add features to his projects.
I like that life better. But I am older so things are slightly different and I live in Canada.
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Talking to Tammy Nguyen who is Vietnamese born in Canada showed me how to think normalized like her.
Nothing is new to her because she has family in the West. Her 1st and 2nd cousins are here in the West.
Nothing is new. Some of her family is doing normal stuff and some are up there.
Basically new immigrants are supposed to try hard and do stuff. That is the norm. Or else they don’t feel good. I have to feel good or there is no point to doing anything.
I used to think I had to settle. But immigrants to the West are supposed to work hard and move things and introduce new things to make things run. If anyone says otherwise then they don’t understand how the world works.
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Now I live to teach or do services and have to accept that.
I am not in the position to keep doing what I like all the time because it feels off and ends to me being single for the rest of my life.
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It was very important to talk to Vietnamese born in Canada. So important.
I don’t have family here in Canada so that is why I am stunted and live the way I do.
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You go on YouTube and Live 24/7 news streaming channels and all you see is mostly bad stuff.
What do you do?
You live like “keep to yourself” thinkers and doers like my friends Phuoc Sang, An Xuan Phan, Hoang Bao Nguyen and Son Nguyen.
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I understand living in the West since elementary school.
But where you live and the neighborhood can influence it.
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Do you really think coloured or cultured?
Or is someone telling you do or pushes you to? Are they young?
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How does life work in Vietnam compared to Canada?
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One time about 2-4 weeks ago, I was tossed all the negative projections and accusations by another person from another group. I figured my way out of it. It took me socializing with Tammy Nguyen to fight for myself. I guess that is life.
And it allowed me to live healthy without feeling down or negative.
Some people respect the hustle while some groups try to …
It depends on experience and age really to see how to deal with people.
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At the end of the day, people do what they want as it is God given.
Some people forget God and some people forget they are people. Again it depends on age and experience. When you are a kid you want people to live by you?
They also forget people get old and evolve.
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Life is about sympathy really.
Not many people feels sorry for me I think.
As a person like me, only some people feel sorry for me as they have it better. I guess that is life???
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After socializing with Vietnamese born in Canada, I realize …
All men actually think the same really.
But women are all different but still want the same stuff.
Some women understand to the end of time almost. I think most do.
But Vietnamese women born in Canada usually know what is up and how hard and patient you have to be to live in the West. They know that from the first 5 years of life living and born here in Canada.
Vietnamese from overseas expect a life of Hollywood mostly.
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The cool thing about studying hard till 40s …
The old and new generation just know the negative stereotypes of Vietnamese.
But when you understand life like me growing up in East GTA, you knew how to live the best life and that was to study.
Then when you walk into a new room full of young people who grew up with iPads and YouTube watching shock racist humor for entertainment all their lives, you shock them that you know stuff that took few decades to learn.
Everyone knows this pathway. All it took was believing in your gut and intuition to do good things. Don’t fall for the traps.
Well I had to study to live.
The stereotypes were so damning.
And that is how the life is.
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Now that I am old with some white hairs … I guess I will only stay home 90-99% of the time because what is occurring outside is just rustling of feathers.
When you are old you realize zoning out doing your thing is the way that brings 90% of progress and growth.
If I did not learn to realize it was zoning out, I would be stuck in a loop of having fun all the time and never growing to reach that life is being old and mature and evolving.
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Also when you zone out, it is not racist or anything. You are just enjoying yourself.
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When you think about ethical hacking then you start thinking about people and culture and race and needs and wants.
That is a total world of its own and more complex than what I am doing. You get to understand why people play on either side.
My brother-in-law is learning this and it is so big. It delved into the minds and spirits of people into their soul.
I just drink coffee zoning out doing my thing. 1-2-3 layers deep. Just refactoring.
As a Vietnamese person who is born in Canada, I like to think good things. And I am not social …
I am not social enough to understand the complexities of people and the control people have.
But I am neutral really. So it is hard to do this thinking. As I am from the Mekong river region in Vietnam An Giang province, so I don’t have to think so much.