In the crowd jostling on Nguyen Hue pedestrian street on New Year's Eve, Olga Garkusha, a Russian girl of Uzbekistani origin, silently looked up at the bright fireworks. The Mathematics and Mechanics student of Moscow State University, who has been associated with dry numbers and principles for many years, chose Vietnam to study literature and Han Nom script.
Medieval verses, New Vietnamese Poetry inspired her to find the S-shaped country with a new direction. That decision made Olga's journey different, both surprising and rich in humanity.
This is the first year Olga Garkusha celebrates Vietnamese traditional Tet. If in Russia, the New Year is often associated with the late Christmas scene: Christmas trees, white snow, shimmering lights, then Vietnam appears in her eyes with red, yellow apricot blossoms, and bustling Tet markets. "Vietnam is warm and colorful, completely different from the quiet, cold Moscow," Olga Garkusha said. That contrast made her even more impressed with the festive atmosphere here.
Celebrating Tet away from home alone, Olga Garkusha does not feel lost at all. Four years of practicing Vietnamese helps her easily integrate, make friends and enjoy the "easy to breathe, easy to live" pace of Ho Chi Minh City. The bustling scenes at Ben Thanh market, Nguyen Hue pedestrian street, and the friendliness of Vietnamese friends have left a deep impression in the young girl's heart. In Vietnam, Olga Garkusha also shows openness and likes to socialize, something that she rarely shows in her hometown.
Even so, the nostalgia for her homeland Uzbekistan is still present: traditional dishes such as naryn, familiar mosque scenery. But that difference makes Olga Garkusha even more cherish the new experience. On New Year's Eve, when fireworks lit up in the Nguyen Hue sky, she expressed her desire to be attached to Vietnam for a long time, not only as a student abroad, but as a global citizen who finds her second homeland.
Olga Garkusha's story shows the special attraction of Vietnamese Tet. Not only is it a gathering occasion for Vietnamese people, Tet also opens its arms to welcome international friends, so that everyone can feel the warmth of their homeland.
