Studious beauty talks Tet and life

Miss Vietnam Global 2009 Alex Tran shares with Tuoitrenews her New Year resolution and her thoughts on life as a socially–involved Vietnamese–American graduate student in the US.

What did the year 2011 mean to you? Are there any special things you want to share with readers?

2011 was a big year of learning for me. I started my Masters in Finance degree, and I am set to finish it this May 2012. 2011 was also a busy year because I started wedding planning! My fiancé and I are doing most of the work ourselves in order to have more meaning in everything with the wedding. Overall 2011 was a beautiful year with no regrets!

What is your 2012 resolution?

My resolution in 2012 is to better manage my stress since I have school, wedding planning and home life. I started doing yoga in 2011, and I will probably do more in 2012 for both fitness and stress management.

What do you and your Vietnamese relatives usually do for the Lunar New Year (Tet) in the US?

Every year I go to a “cho hoa” (flower market) and “hoi cho tet” (Tet festival) with my family and friends. At the “cho hoa” I try to buy a new pot of “bong cuc vang” (yellow daisies) to bring in the new year. Especially since my cousins are getting older, I try to take them to the festivals so they can learn more about Vietnamese culture. One of my favorite traditions since I was a child is going to different people’s homes to “chuc tet” (offer New Year wishes).

Young people nowadays seem too busy with work and their social lives to spend time with their family, even for traditional festivals like Tet. What about you?

Family has increasingly become more important to me as I get older. Now that I have my fiancé’s family to call my own, I feel very blessed. Growing up, I was very close to my parents, even when I was away for college. Now that I’m a bit older, I realize that it’s ok to be far away or not in constant contact with your family…as long as everyone still genuinely cares for one another. Most importantly, it key to remember during the holidays to reserve time for family… which means no cell phones or emails during family gatherings.

Young Vietnamese seem to me more practical and materialistic than their parents’ generations. Appearance rather than their soul or studying seems to be more important. As a person who graduated from prestigious Rice university with 2 majors while working in showbiz, how do you feel about this?

I would encourage everyone to work on their degree and career above everything else. Things in showbiz are up one day, and down another. It’s so unpredictable that it is nice to have something stable and strong like your education to hold you up.

I would say I respected myself a lot more after completing my 4 year degree at Rice University, and I continue to build that strength and respect for myself with my Master’s work. My motto in living has always been to have stories to share with my children and grandchildren later. I’m very lucky to have experienced such great things in Vietnam and the US to share.

A busy schedule of working and studying cannot stop you from joining social activities. How can you manage the time? Could you list some of your latest social activities?

Everyone deals with time management in some way. I think technology helps to better manage activities with the use of calendars and emails on your cell phone and laptop. I get energy to do all my activities by starting the day with a big cup of coffee, and I take vitamins.

My latest community activity was to help coordinate the Miss Vietnam Texas Pageant (held on Jan. 15, 2012). This is the first year of the pageant, and it will be held in the Dallas area, where I am from. Since I won Miss Vietnam Dallas/ Fort Worth in 2008, I have wanted to contribute and create a great pageant experience for all the contestants (since I have experience in bigger pageants such as Miss Vietnam Global).

As we know, you speak perfect Vietnamese and the way you act is just like any girl who is born and raised in Vietnam. How could you manage this when you grew up in the States?

It is honestly hard to retain the Vietnamese culture in the U.S. Even if I don’t speak Vietnamese for a while, I do feel that I forget some words! That’s why I feel it’s so important to have constant exposure to Vietnamese things such as music, film, friends, or church/temple.

Especially for kids growing up in the US, who might not have an interest in Vietnamese things while growing up, but later when they are older and interested…at least they will have memory of such things. Lucky for me, I love Vietnamese music and I’ve learned and kept a lot of my Vietnamese by listening to this music. Some of my other friends hate Vietnamese music but love Vietnamese films. Others love Vietnamese food and have learned Vietnamese from watching cooking shows!

Keeping the Vietnamese language and culture in the U.S. is not impossible; it just requires work and creativity.

In 5 years, which position in society do you aim to be in?

After completing my Master’s in Finance this May, I will start a Master’s in Education. I am looking forward to teaching either 7th or 8th grade math or science in public schools. I’ve always been involved in education and working with children during my time at Rice University and when I volunteered overseas in India & Cambodia.

The teacher-student respect in the Vietnamese classrooms does not exist here in the U.S. My fiancé’s mom was a high school teacher in Da Nang, and her students still call her “thay” and invite her to student reunions. This type of respect is something I would treasure in the school system here in the U.S.

I think society is getting too loose, too fast…and what we can do is to improve the education system to prevent future generations from adopting wrong values.