In 2017, like many other international students returning to Vietnam after many years abroad, I also experienced a period of “reverse culture shock”, “reintegration into the community” or simply put, this was the time when I had to establish a new lifestyle & work, so that it was suitable for the “local” culture. In addition, there was the pressure of finding a job, starting to enter the path of bread-and-butter of an “adult”. Not only that, what I was good at was photography, but I seemed to be clueless about doing business/making money from photography in the Vietnamese market.
With a confused mind, full of worries and plans, I only knew how to relieve myself by taking a camera and wandering around, taking pictures of everything I could. But it seemed like it couldn’t fill the void in my mind and of course, wandering around taking pictures was also expensive, and I wasn’t making any money at that time.
I suddenly thought about going back to my maternal hometown Xa La, although it is located in Ha Dong, now part of Hanoi, Xa La village still retains the rustic, simple features of Vietnamese village life. I chose to take a photo of my grandmother, to follow her around like the time when I was small, to observe her activities.
Granny Vien, my maternal grandmother, is one of the elders with an “established voice” in Xa La village; in her lifestyle, she rarely leaves the village. Even “going to Ha Dong” is quite a significant event to her, although “Ha Dong” centre is only about 3 kms from Xa La village. Later I understood that this was the custom of the “village people” from ancient times, there was really no reason to leave the village when everything they needed was available locally. That custom only changed from the generations born in the renovation period (From the 90s).
Her daily activities are quite diverse, starting with having breakfast with her long-time homie – Mrs. Hoan, the two of them have breakfast together, whispering about things in the house and in the neighbourhood.
Sometimes she sits with her group of friends, chatting about things in the village or even about current events and politics on TV.
Then she goes to the market to sit and watch people passing by for fun, she said “Since the apartment complex was built, people have been coming and going as bustling as a festival”. Her daughter (my aunt) also has a stall in the market, so she only needs to sit there for a while and many acquaintances will come and chat, sometimes they are acquaintances in the village, sometimes they are her other children (she has 10 children in total), sometimes it is her younger brother(s).
After chatting for a while, she goes to the market to buy groceries for that day.
Some days she also goes to a hair salon in the village to wash her hair and “get her beauty” done.
At that time, her son, Uncle Dong, still lived with her, so she still worked hard to cook in her small kitchen.
After dinner, if she did not watch TV, she would go to her younger brothers’, Mr. Chuan and Mr. Hoa, who were only a few hundred metres away from her house.
What she wanted most was to have occasions for her children and grandchildren to gather and cook and eat at her house. That was when her house was filled with laughter, although there were times when it made her tired, it could not compare to her joy.
During the time I followed my grandmother, I found peace, now thinking back, perhaps she helped me “heal” my troubled mind.
That year, I made her a photo book of this collection, now I would like to share it here for readers to enjoy,
Thank you,
