Vietnamese city girl learns about nature in Kansas
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
Khanh Do is a foreign exchange student from Vietnam at Centre High School. She lives with Marcus and Peggy Carlson and daughter Brooke of rural Lincolnville and is enrolled as a junior.
Khanh (pronounced "can") is the sixth exchange student the Carlsons have hosted. She hails from the capital of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, a metropolis of seven to eight million people. Living in the country, she is learning a lot about nature.
Both of Khanh's parents are pharmacists. She has a 10-year-old brother.
She has studied French since elementary school, and took evening and summer classes to learn English.
"My school is so different," Khanh said.
It has 2,000 students who are in school from 7 to 11:30 a.m. six days a week. Three days a week, Khahn also takes classes from 2 to 5:30 p.m.
She is assigned to a homeroom of 30 students. Teachers come to them except for chemistry lab. All subjects are assigned. In high school, grades 10-12, everyone takes 11 subjects including mathematics, literature, physics, chemistry, biology, French or English, Civics, PE, and technical class.
A new subject Khahn is taking at Centre is accounting. She said she enjoys the experience of attending a small school where she can learn to know everybody.
She also enjoys being in close contact with nature. She gets a thrill out of spotting a deer, turkey, or other wildlife. She said her host parents are teaching her a lot about nature.
Khahn also enjoys learning about American holidays.
"We have no Thanksgiving or Easter in Vietnam," she said, "and only Christians celebrate Christmas."
Buddhism is the major religion, but Christianity and other religions exist.
The new year is the biggest holiday in Vietnam. The country follows a lunar calendar, which puts the new year at the end of January.
Watermelon is to the Vietnamese New Year as pumpkin pie is to America's Thanksgiving.
Students get a two-week holiday from school. On the first day of the year, Khahn's family goes to her grandparents' home to eat and visit. Grownups give children coins called "lucky money" placed in red envelopes. Children and adults wish each other a good new year.
"We hope you have a good year in school," the adults tell the children.
People also give gifts to friends at this time.
During vacation, Khahn meets with friends to go shopping, see a movie, or visit teachers. The motorcycle is the most common form of transportation.
Her father's parents live in the country, and the family often goes to stay with them for one or two days. Her grandparents live in a group of houses that are far away from the fields. They walk or ride motorcycles to work.
Her grandfather produces rice, the main crop in Vietnam. Rice is served at every meal.
Vietnam has a tropical climate. The temperature never falls below 60 degrees. Six months of the year are a rainy season, the other six months are dry.
Khahn saw snow for the first time in America, an experience she enjoyed.
When she returns to Vietnam in spring, Khahn will have to make up her junior year before graduating from high school. She plans to pursue higher education in America and wants to become a pharmacist, like her parents.
