The atmosphere of Tet in the spring has filled everywhere, but perhaps Tet has abandoned poor neighborhoods, whose children cannot return to their hometown because of economic conditions.
In 2022, the Covid pandemic was no longer raging as before, the economy had made initial steps of recovery. However, somewhere out there, there are people who cannot have a complete Tet.
Celebrate Tet in another land
Thousands of miles away, on a different land, there are Vietnamese people who are still grieving about their homeland Tet.
This year is the first year Thanh Uyen (21 years old, a Korean student) has a New Year away from home. Talking about the reason why she decided to stay, Uyen shared: “I have just moved here, and now I have just found a part-time job, regretting my job, want to earn a little more to cover living expenses and school money to pay for my studies. Parents are less stressed.”
Flight tickets can be cheap tickets, Covid is no longer as scary as 2021, so returning is also simple. This year, Korean students also returned quite a lot. Those who decide to stay like Uyen are those who want to earn extra income, because the job will not give you a long break to be able to return to your hometown. This New Year, Uyen will still work until the end of the 30th New Year and will start working again on the 2nd.
Uyen shared on New Year’s Eve Uyen will “eat Tet with my family, but online”: “At 0:00 at night, I will call to celebrate Tet online with my parents and younger brother. Of course it’s according to Vietnamese time. In Vietnam, I only have 2 hours and I can only get off work at 1 am on the 1st of the day, so I probably won’t be able to celebrate the Korean New Year.”
With no parents or family around, this year, Uyen and her roommates decided to cook their own year-end rice to celebrate together.
“If mom can’t send it to me, the whole room will probably pool money to buy it. At this side, it must be 2-3 times more expensive than the Vietnamese side, buying fruits and buying nuts. We will cook chicken vermicelli together,” Uyen shared.
“There is a piece of pork belly, with mother and daughter, that’s Tet”
During Tet 2023, the working people in the poor village of Phuc Xa (Ba Dinh, Hanoi) decided to go home to celebrate Tet. But perhaps the aftermath of the epidemic affecting the economy still prevents them from having a full Tet.
Tet is coming, but Phuc Dan (Ba Dinh) inn has no Tet atmosphere
At noon on a day near Tet, the whole hostel was quiet, only Ms. Nguyen Thi Duoc (30 years old, from Phu Tho) was still taking advantage of washing clothes so that in the afternoon she would continue to work as an assistant to cover living expenses. .
This year, Ms. Duoc went back to her hometown to celebrate Tet. She shared: “Some years I go to my hometown, some years I don’t. My sister sent her daughter to her hometown. Brothers and sisters stay to earn more income, people will pay more for Tet.”
Nguyen Thi Duoc still takes advantage of her nap time to take care of her family
She said that in the years when people don’t go home to celebrate Tet, this inn also won’t have Tet, people will not organize anything together, just like normal days, everyone does their own thing. On days like this, homesickness covers her again.
This year, she decided to go back to her hometown to celebrate Tet, but she also did not plan to return soon. Stick to the city, earn more income, get any money or that.
This year, she decided to go back to her hometown to celebrate Tet. She thought that this year’s economy would be somewhat better, but before the reporter’s question, she hesitated to speak.
Unlike Ms. Duoc, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dau (61 years old, from Hung Yen) always returns to her hometown to celebrate Tet.
She shared: “In the countryside, the doctors loved it, so they built the house for the house. When Tet buys a bundle of spring rolls, mother and daughter eat it and have Tet”.
Mrs. Dau next to her inn door
Carrying the burden of renting fruit for the shops in Long Bien market, Mrs. Dau also shouldered the additional pressure of raising a child with congenital heart disease.
To take care of her children, Mrs. Dau has been in the city for decades. Earning only a few silver coins, she still did not return to her hometown to work in the fields. According to her, when she transplanted a few poles, she only had enough to eat, when she came here to work, she still had money to buy medicine for her children, and every penny she spent on treatment.
She said: “He can’t even blow his own rice. That year, his father knew, his father abandoned him, if I didn’t take care of him, I would give it to someone else.”
Coming Tet. But in Mrs. Dau’s eyes, there was no joy and excitement. Perhaps, in her eyes, there is only concern about food, money, and the illness of her daughter.