My Chinese friend, Boyu, is in the same major as me, and we've had classes together for almost every quarter for 2 years; this year we have 4 classes together so we hang out together a lot.

Today, we had Matrix Methods together with a professor who we've both have had separately before. When I took him the first time, he pointed out he knew I was Viet because of my last name; and I'm sure he knew Boyu was Chinese. The professor is white, but he's not American born because he has an accent.

So today me and Boyu sat together in the front row; and both of us stayed up late last night doing homework, so both of us were tired in class. As the only two Asians in class, we were supposed to be the model minorities, but instead, we both fell asleep on and off again...in the front row!

Now, you should know this professor is very sarcastic. He makes jokes in class all the time and goes off on a tangent when he's supposed to be lecturing in math. For example, he was telling us "I don't like writing on the whiteboard, I prefer the blackboard. Maybe I'm discriminating...I dunno."

Despite his joker attitude, he was both pretty annoyed with us for sleeping in his classroom...but he hid that feeling well.

So when class ended, he approached both of us and asked Boyu, "Are you Chinese?" His tone of voice struck me as odd - because he sounded like he knew the answer already. "Yes, I'm Chinese," was Boyu's reply. Then I noticed a slight grin slowly appeared in the corner of his mouth, but he suppressed that smile and turned to me next. Now, I'm thinking, "hmm...what is this guy trying to get at?"

"So, and are you Vietnamese?" He asks me. Again, what an odd tone of voice; and what an odd question because he knew I was Viet already. "Yes, I'm Vietnamese" was my answer. That's when it struck me. I just knew what he was going to say next because I could tell he was annoyed with both of us for napping in his class and I knew his humorous personality, so I figured he wanted to get us back. My guess was confirmed because immediately, he said

"Ah, I see....so Vietnamese and Chinese: good friends for a long time, hahaha."

And at that instant, I bursted out laughing too. I looked back and noticed this black girl looking at us, and her expression conveyed a perplexed look, that seemed to have asked, "What the heck are they talking and why are they laughing?"

Lol...then the professor, turned around and walked down the hall chuckling to himself and feeling smirk for getting us back for sleeping.

Both me and Boyu walked out of class, and I was still laughing, but Boyu wasn't. He admitted that it was a good joke, but he wasn't amused. That made me laugh even harder, and now tears were forming at the corner of my eyes.

Then we studied together, and walked out of the library again about and came across the same professor. He looked at both of us and was about to say hi when he remembered his joke an hour earlier and started chuckling to himself again. I just had to start laughing myself, but Boyu still didn't find it humorous.






Like Boyu, I was a bit annoyed at him for making fun of us, but I still found it hilarious. And we definitely deserved it....lol.

I was surprised that a non-Asian knew a little about both Viet Nam's and China's history, and he found the two of us hanging together ironic. I mean the only history most Americans know about our country is the Viet Nam War and the fighting against the Mongolians because of the movie Disney Mulan. So I was very surprised he knew Viet Nam and China fought each other for thousands of years. But like I said, he's European, not American. Last name is Ralescu - anyone know what ethnicity is that?

Anyway, that's my anecdote for the day.

Ralescu i believe is Russian.
As everybody knows Russia's role in China and Vietnam would make its citizens interested and learn.
My optometrist is Russian and boy does he know all of Vietnam's current events like the back of his hand.

I was thinking he was Russian since Russia have connections with both VN and China...but I didn't think Ralescu was a Russian name.

Ralescu is a rumanian name.

Russians know a lot about Vietnamese people much better than other western countries, since we were their allies. I met this Russian lady once and she asked me what was my ethnicity, I told her I was Vietnamese and she said that Russians consider Vietnamese people good friends.

LOL...
I know Russia (2years in Saint Petersburg).
In their mind, it's easy: ON the one hand there are ennemies, on the other hand vassals and footmen.
During the cold war, Vietnam was just a pawn in the game...

Russians prefer France (Paris) and Italia (Milano,Turino) for the cuisine, fashion, landscapes, etc...
Believe me, a lot of russian don't know where is Vietnam...

For Rumania:

If he's Rumanian, then is it typical for Rumanians to learn a little about Viet/Chinese history?

sleeping in class maybe it's his interest in history I don't know, but NQSH seems to know the big point in history of every country..

as typical as for Russian...

Do you need to be french, american or russian to study vietnamese and chinese history?

Let's see if that smarty-pants NQSH name the current president of all the countries in Latin America off the top of his head




I know nothing about Rumania...so I'm projecting that ignorance on other people and get surprised if Rumanians know something about Asian history. That's all.

LOL presidents come and go, it's so hard to remember all. However, drawing the shape of a particular country or naming the major cities/capital in that country is a different matter