As we all recover from the New Year celebrations... Festivities start to pick up again as we celebrate Tet (Vietnamese New Year) & Chinese New Year. 2012 welcomes the year of the Dragon.
The largest Tet Festival in Melbourne will be held on the 4th & 5th of February at Sandown Race Course.
What you can expect at the Sandown Tet Festival: - Delicious food such as bot chien, pho, barbeque food, sugar cane drink - Live entertainment. Usually there is an international singer that fronts the performance show. It hasn't been announced who this is yet - I will keep you posted. Previous performers have included Don Ho, Diem Lien, Tommy Ngo. - Fun carnival rides such as the boat, the spinning planes - You can try you luck with the cool games! See if you can take home a huge soft toy.
Past Tet festivals have attracted over 35,000 people. It is expected a bigger crowd will attend this year's Sandown Tet festival.
What does the year of the Dragon mean? It is considered the year of good luck. In Chinese mythology, the dragon represents good fortune in health, wealth and longevity. The dragon is also a protector and is well respected and beloved by the Chinese people.
Starting this Sunday at 8:30 on SBS, the documentary - 'Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta'
This in-depth 3 part documentary series explores the history of the Vietnamese community in Cabramatta, Sydney.
Here is the synopsis on the SBS website:
"Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta is the never before told story of Australia's first significant influx of migrants post White Australia policy. This groundbreaking documentary takes you behind the headlines of turbulent Cabramatta in the 80's and 90's as the Vietnamese people finally find their voice – speaking up to claim their rightful, democratic place in Australia against all odds.
Told by politicians, social historians, police and for the first time from the Vietnamese people themselves, these are the stories of a period that changed Australian migration forever."
For the past couple of years, several hundred people have been meeting up in a public park in Ha Noi to do a unique kind of exercise – Laughing Yoga.
Laughing Yoga, combines exercise and laughing – 2 essential ingredients for a happy life. People that practice laughing yoga have said they have better health: a stronger immune system and improved body strength. It helps them feel younger and allows them to forget their worries.
Laughing Yoga classes run for 45 minutes. People can expect to laugh non-stop during these lessons. When I watch the video of the class, it looks so much fun! You can see everyone is enjoying themselves. When you laugh and exercise, your brain releases endorphins which results in a feel-good feeling.
Laughing Yoga was launched in 1995 by Dr Madam Kataria, now there are more than 6,000 clubs in 60 countries.
My name Tam is quite a common Vietnamese name. It’s a unisex name, its equally common for boys and girls.
I attended Vietnamese School for a large proportion of my life. I remember in my year 7 class there were 3 people (including myself) with the name Tam. I was the only girl Tam in the class. When the teacher did roll call, he had to differentiate between us by calling our middle name and then our first name.
Sometimes when the teacher picked on students to answer the question, he’ll say Tam. All 3 of us would go – who? It’s quite funny. It happened in like most classes.
A lot of people have asked if my name was short for anything like Tamara, Tammy, Tamato… But no my name is just Tam, short and plain in the English Language.
My name in Vietnamese isn’t fancy either. The girls in my Vietnamese class had really pretty Vietnamese names. They were named after flowers like blossom (dao), rose (hong), Chrysanthemum (cuc), even the word flower (Hoa). Other popular names are seasons: Autumn (Thu), Spring (Xuan). And then there are a lot of girls named Angel (Tien).
Back to my name Tam, I wouldn’t describe it as a pretty name in Vietnamese. But it has a deep meaning. My name is a bit hard to explain, it’s a bit of a layered name. That’s how I see it. My name means heart and mind – it has a spiritual essence.
I looked up the definition on a web dictionary vdict.com, this is what it said: Man’s good heart mind centre, heart. It’s a bit abstract.
While a lot of Vietnamese girls were named after flowers, heavenly beings, seasons. I was named after 2 body organs. The upside is, they are important organs. One is the control centre, the other is the engine. That’s the meaning of my name.
Let’s get in to the sound of my name. If I pronounced my name in Vietnamese it is Tam. It sounds like the word ‘dumb’ in English. My name has a soft ‘t’ sound. So Tam. My siblings tease me and call me ‘dumb’. Hey ‘dumb’. You’re ‘dumb’.
When I was I think 7 years old. My uncle asked me, do you know what your name means? I had no idea, so I shook my head. My mum hadn’t explained to me what my named meant yet. So my uncle points to a toothpick and says “That’s what your name means toothpick.
I’m like “toothpick?”
I go running to my mum and asked her, “does my name really mean toothpick?”
She goes “NO! The two words sound the same but they are spelt differently. Your name has a hat accent on the a; and toothpick has a wok accent on the a.”
Then she went on to explain what my name meant.
I can make a whole stand up routine about the meaning of my name name. Aren’t languages fascinating?
Happy Tet Everyone!! Hope you are enjoying all the New Year celebrations with your family and friends!
The largest TET festival in Melbourne held @Sandown Racecourse is on this weekend!! I went yesterday with my gal pal Skye and we had a blast!!
What I love about Tet Festivals is the lively and fun atmosphere! There were carnival games, rides, delicious Vietnamese food, exhibitions and Live entertainment!
Singer Y Phuong, entertaining the audience
One of the main attractions @ the festival is the live entertainment show! I thought it was cancelled this year because we couldn't find the stage. However, through the night we found it hidden on the other side of the grounds. Due to the heavy storms on Friday (which caused flooding in many areas in Melbourne), the organisers decided to move the show undercover! Usually the stage is in the main part of the grounds and the audience can sit in the stadium. When we got to the entertainment area we found out the main act was the beautiful Vietnamese singer Y Phuong. She is from Asia Productions. She wore this sparkly gold dress that really lit up the stage. The crowd absolutely love her!! They sung along with her and cheered loudly after every song.
Skye and I went on the carnival ride Skydiver, it looked pretty fun! Small children seemed to love the ride. So we went on, and it was frightening! It spun really fast and started to elevate really high! I was like practically crying! I was so scared and screaming like a maniac! haha. I was pretty disoriented after but it was pretty fun!
Here are pictures of other rides at the Tet festival
I love Tet festival food! This type of food you do not get in Vietnamese restaurants. So at festivals I eat a lot of food!! I was too busy eating and forgot to take photos of the food available! Well the food I ate included bot chien, banh khoc, nuoc mia hahaha mmmm...
Here are some of the cool displays at the TET festival! Quite amazing stuff
The Festival is also held on Sunday 6th February! It's worth checking out!! Have fun and Happy Tet!!
'Tears of Heaven' is a stage musical about a heartbreaking love story between a Korean soldier during the Vietnam war who fell in love with a Vietnamese singer. It stars Kpop singer Junsu from JYJ and Yoon Gong Joo.
Tickets have been selling out in record time (4,500 seats were sold in 2.5 minutes). Audiences have been moved deeply by the performances of the 2 leading stars. Due to the success of the musical, it may be possible that it be made in to a film.
Tears of Heaven will run at the National Theater and the Hae Oh Reum Theater from February 1st until March 19th.
Movie action star Maggie Q made her TV debut in the US overnight in the much anticipated TV show ‘Nikita’. There is a lot of twitter buzz about the show, so many Maggie Q fans can’t wait for the show.
Maggie Q is a huge star movie star in Asia! But she is relatively unknown in the West even though she has starred in huge action pack blockbuster movies in the US; Mission Impossible III, Live Free or Die Hard. Maggie Q was born and raised in Hawaii by a Polish-Irish father and Vietnamese mother; that accounts for her exotic and unique beauty. She started modelling at the age of 17. In an interview she gave to NY mag, she said that it was really hard getting jobs because of her unique look.
“At the time, they wanted blond hair and blue eyes. Or Asian celebrities”
After rounds of rejections she eventually went to Hong Kong hoping for better luck. Her fate changed when Jackie Chan recruited her and trained her to become the next generation of Hong Kong action stars. Next thing you know, she is one of the biggest movie stars in Hong Kong and she was getting hounded by the paps.
She felt like she was ‘suffocating’ she had no anonymity in Hong Kong.
“you’re incredibly recognisable wherever you go, I could never have a boyfriend. I couldn’t grocery shop for myself. I got very depressed by it.”
Maggie has more freedom in the west. Currently she is filming Nikita in Toronto and here she can do her own laundry, go to the market, drive to work.
This TV show is based on a French film called La Femme Nikita, it’s about a crook junkie that ends up being trained to be a killer by a nefarious organisation. This is the third interpretation of the film. In the 90’s, Aussie actress Peta Wilson starred in the TV show La Femme Nikita. I was a fan of that version, what I thought cool about that show was Peta Wilson had an Aussie accent in it.
Casting Maggie Q in this latest remake is a huge drawcard for the show. Being trained under one of the biggest action stars Jackie Chan, fans can sure expect lots of stunts carried out by the star herself.
“I owe it to my audience. And I’m not 70, so I might as well while I can.”
She’s one tough chick and I love watching girls kick butt on screen. I can’t wait for the show to come to Australia! It’ll air on Channel Go! No debut date has been announced yet. Keep an eye for it.
