Essays

You do find some solace in the beautiful craftsmanship of the golden Buddhas. The long fingers, long earlobes, and the nose like a bird beak all ascend into the sharp point at the top of the hair mound.

The proper way to sit is boht cheung, with your legs folded to one side. I think it’s supposed to be more graceful than sitting cross-legged. This forces me to sit with my best posture, while guaranteeing that a leg will fall asleep in due time.

My dad recalled his first supernatural encounter during one of the trips down the dirt-roads-turned-trenches. Surrounded by melaleucas on both sides like the devils' crooked arms doming over in the dark, they were in search of drylands where grass and straw were left untouched by water for the cattle at home.

And perhaps I had seen all of it before, in one way or another, once upon a time in Vietnam.

How do I say “frustrated” in Vietnamese? I’m looking for a word to use in everyday conversation, not a literary or archaic word used in poetry hundreds of years ago.

Will you ever hear tiếng Việt and feel like it welcomes you in a soft embrace, a home entering your heart through your ears?