I was born and grew up in a beautiful sea town in central Vietnam called Nhatrang. My childhood was the early mornings when I went swimming with the kids in my neighborhood, was the moments when we enjoyed the amazing sunrise, was the afternoons when we rode along the beach on Tran Phu Street, was the evenings when we played hide and seek in the community yard not far from my house, was the flooded days when we could row the wooden rafts made by ourselves. Those beautiful things together with the knowledge I learned at school built up a pride about my country in me.
Vietnam was a country of independence, freedom and happiness. That was what I learned at school! I can never forget the slogan we said proudly every Monday morning under the national red flag with yellow star waving in the air: “For The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, for the ideals of our Great Uncle Ho, Be Ready!” I was so proud of my country that I could never think there would be any Vietnamese person who did not love my country.
I would never doubt what I learned at school until the day I met a gentle man who later became my husband.
It was the year 2004 when I was twenty-four years old. I moved to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) for my master degree in language teaching methodology as my hometown was too small to have post-graduate education.........
