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Translation
Is My Country that Beautiful?
Born in America, I know nothing about Vietnam to write about. Just know that it is the place where
dad and mom lived and it is my native country. I know I have to learn the Vietnamese language every week.
No matter how hard it is, I must learn. Three years in the 6th grade already. Am I that dumb?
I go to school to learn about my native country. I have never visited my country, but I know I love it dearly.
Hear other people talk about Vietnam and it’s joyous things, I have nothing to talk with them. It seems like I
don’t know anything. Hear other people talk about delicious fruits, majestic sceneries, and shops stock with
cloths and all stuffs only found in Vietnam: inside my heart, I feel like I am missing something. I see my
parents watch home videos of Vietnam’s sights. I don’t know of any of those places or where they are at?
Chua Mot Cot, Vinh Ha Long, and Song Cuu Long are some of the sights everyone see and say are stunning.
Why have I not seen these places? I ask people who have lived or visited Vietnam before. Is Vietnam that beautiful?
Is it as beautiful as I see in videos? Is there an endless amount of fruits?
One day I will buy a plane ticket to Vietnam to visit my grandparents’ graves and my aunts and uncles still
living in my native country. I want to eat the fruits that I only hear people talk about. Eat and judge if
the fruits are really that good. Go and see all the sights of Vietnam. See with my own eyes, the rice fields,
cities, and Vietnamese Cyclo. Wonder out and explore. Got money why not spend it? Back then people went to Vietnam
and buy stuffs for me. Now I will buy stuffs for them. I will choose Vietnamese traditional long dress, woven fabric hat.
I want to visit Vietnam so I can tell my family and friends about what I did in Vietnam and when they talk about Vietnam,
I know what they are talking about. I want to see videos of Vietnam’s sights and say I have visited those places.
I do not know the day or if I will even visit Vietnam. Knowing how to speak, write, and read the Vietnamese language
at a novice level is OK. But I will never forget about my native country. The place where my dad and mom were born
and lived, the place where my grandparents’ graves are, and the place where I don’t understand much but will love forever
and ever…
-Quyen Trinh
Linda visited her grandparents' graves July 2004
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