First draft

Everything changes with time. A person, a market place, a country, etc, can change in years, in days, or even in minutes. A person changes his personalities and his hobbies. A market place always has new employments and new products. A country changes its system and develops daily. My home country, Vietnam, is a developing country. It has changes a lot in the past ten years. Vietnamese people, Vietnamese culture and Vietnamese society are now totally different than they used to be years and years ago.

As an international student in the United States of America, I come back to my home country every summer to visit my friends and family. Summer 2012 was the third time that I came home. I can clearly see the change in Vietnamese people, culture, and society. I have always surprised about the change and also happy about it at the same time. Each summer when I came back home, there are new kinds of food, new delicious restaurants, new trends of fashion, new buildings, new shopping malls, new laws made by the government, and so on.

The first and also the best change in Vietnam days by days is the food. Vietnamese used to just eat traditional food all the time. People eat noodles such as Pho, for breakfast. Lunch and dinner are served with white rice and some main dishes such as tofu with tomatoes, stir-fry, vegetables and meat. There are only a few restaurants and street-side stores opened at that time since there are not many kinds of food to available. Nowadays, there are foreign foods and foreign restaurants everywhere, especially in my city, Hanoi. There are varieties of food from many different countries such as Italian food, Chinese food, Korean food, Japanese food, Thailand food, and American food. Fast food such as Pizza Hut, cheese sticks, and hamburgers, French fries, cheesecakes, milk shakes, smoothies, brownies are famous and preferred by a lot of teenagers or young generations. However, some famous fast food brands in the world have not existed in Vietnam yet. According to Vietnam Online Channel, “Although the two biggest names in the world of fast food –McDonald’s and Burger King –are currently absent in Vietnam, one still has the choices of KFC, Pizza Hut, Lotteria, Carl’s Junior… among others. There is also one brand new Subway in Ho Chi Minh City which already excited diners.” Life becomes busier and rusher, people then prefer to eat fast food than to cook or eat Vietnamese traditional food. This is a reason why you hardly see any old generations in a fast food store. Old generations like to stick with the traditional healthy food. Beside American food, Sushi (Japanese food), Kimchi, Bibimbap, and Bulgogi (Korean food) are well known also.

            Secondly, fashion is another main-change in Vietnam, comparing between the past and present. Ten years ago, Vietnam remained as a poor country; it was not developed as nowadays. People did not make good money; they used their money for food, for their children’s education so no one really cares about fashion. In the last three years, Vietnamese economy has developed rapidly. People are making a lot more money than they used to in the past. Everyone now cares about fashion, especially the females. Young generations wear mini dresses, treggings, and leggings with jumpers, shorts, skinny jeans, and boots instead of just T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. About fashion in school, Vietnamese students, from primary school to high school, have to wear uniforms. They could not wear what they wanted like American students. Vietnamese teacher had to wear traditional dress to school ten years ago; but not anymore. Nowadays, they can wear normal and appropriate clothes to school. Anyway, in any traditional or special events, all Vietnamese females still wear Ao dai- the Vietnamese traditional dress. A lot of people all over the world know and love our traditional dress. According to Viet Nam Online, “Unlike many other traditional costumes, Ao dai still remained popular and influencial in the modern day Vietnamese culture. Although Ao dai is no longer worn by men, nor do women on a daily basis, in special occasions, they are still used widely. Ao dai is still women favorite dress in traditional festivities or occasions such as Tet, wedding or graduation. In some high school and universities in Vietnam, the white Ao Dai is considered school uniform for female students.”

            Thirdly, the relationship between parents and their children have changed. In tradition, Vietnamese children have to listen to whatever their parents tell them to do. They cannot make their own decisions. Their parents would tell them what should they do for the futures, who would they get married with. Sons and daughter could not go to the school that they wanted nor married the one that they loved. Back in the days, parents made money and paid everything for their child; so that is understandable for them to do that. Nowadays, parents are much more open to their sons and daughters. Although some parents still control their children, most parents respects their children decisions. They spend time to talk to their children, help them make decisions, encourage them to do what they want.
 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.     <!--[endif]-->http://www.vietnamfood.org/overview/fast-food.html

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.     <!--[endif]-->http://www.vietnamonline.com/culture/ao-dai.html

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