Mimi Nguyen - from Hanoi to Prague, and maybe one day back again
Rob Cameron's guest on One on One is Mimi Nguyen, a 26-year-old Vietnamese student who's been living in the Czech Republic for more than 10 years. One of 30,000 or so Vietnamese in this country, Mimi speaks fluent English, Czech and French, and has friends from all corners of the globe. Even though Mimi's been here for more than a decade, she still speaks fondly of her life back in Hanoi, and is sure that one day she'll decide to go home.
Mimi, why did you come and live in Prague?
"Why Prague? Because my mum studied here, at the Academy of Art. When I was a child, she sent me a lot of pictures and sweet things from Prague - she sent me Orion..."
Orion chocolate?
"Yes, Orion chocolate. I love it. So because of my mum I came to Prague."
Mimi I'm fascinated by your name. The name Mimi is something called your home name, but it's not the name that appears on your passport. Can you tell me more about that?
"Yes. Mimi is my home name. In Vietnam, every child has a home name. For example my cousin has the home name Cam - 'cam' is Vietnamese for 'an orange'. My brother has the home name Toi - 'toi' means 'garlic'.
Garlic? Your brother's home name is Garlic?
"Yes! Garlic! That's funny. Vietnamese give their children the name of something that's very close to them, something they use every day, and in this way they hope and they think the child will be healthy and happy."
So what's your real name?
"My real name? My real name is Hoang Lan. It means 'golden orchid'."
Golden orchid. What a lovely name. So which is your surname and which is your first name?
"My surname is Nguyen, and my first name is Lan."
Nguyen's a very common name in Vietnam. I've heard that more than half of all Vietnamese have the surname Nguyen. Is that true?
"Yes, it's true. It's something like Novak in Czech."
Or Smith in English.
"Or Smith in English. I think something like 60-70 percent of Vietnamese people have the surname Nguyen. It's funny - in the Czech Republic a lot of people say 'Oh, I read about your brother in the newspaper!' and I have to say 'It's not my brother! it's just something like Smith or Novak."
Tell me a bit about your family. Your grandparents were very heavily involved in the struggle for Vietnamese independence from the French, weren't they?
"Well, my grandfather and his brother received a French education, so they behaved the way French people did. My grandfather's brother became the first Minister of Education in Vietnam after 1945, it was the first Ho Chi Minh government. In 1958, there was an unofficial cultural revolution in Vietnam, and my grandfather's brother was arrested and sent to prison for 15 years. He really served 15 years. In 1949 my grandfather got a job in the Vietnamese bank in South Vietnam, in Saigon."
So your grandfather and his brother were quite close to Ho Chi Minh?
"Yes, they were very, very close. After the Geneva Conference in 1954, my grandfather came back to Hanoi after Ho Chi Minh to take care of the state with Ho Chi Minh, and in 1961 he went to Czechoslovakia to study banking - in secret. And then after the two countries were united, he became the first governor of the Bank of Vietnam."
There are about 30,000 Vietnamese in the Czech Republic, and it's a community that's often described as very closed and secretive. Is it?
"Yes, it is. Ninety percent of Vietnamese living in the Czech Republic come from villages or small towns. They have no education, and they are not interested in trying some new culture. The only reason they're here is to make money and then go back to Vietnam. They don't speak any languages, just Vietnamese."
Which is very unlike your own life.
"Yeah, it's very different, because I come from a city, and I was given an education from my family, so we see things differently."
Despite that do you still maintain Vietnamese habits and customs? Do you still cook Vietnamese food at home for example?
"I don't like Czech food, so I cook a lot of Vietnamese food or Italian food or Mexican food at home. But my mother will only eat Asian food. Japanese - yes. Sushi - yes. But not Italian food. Not even spaghetti! She's from the older generation you know, and they're different from us. They don't want to taste the new flavour."
Is there anything you miss about life in Vietnam?
"I miss the weather."
The weather. Why's that?
"I miss the warm weather. I hate the cold here. I also miss the food, the fruits. And the people. When I'm home, I feel really home. Like really at home. I hear Vietnamese. I speak Vietnamese. I don't need to speak any foreign language."
Does that mean then that the Czech Republic will never be home for you? That even though you've been here 10 years, this is still a temporary arrangement and that in the end you'll go back to Hanoi?
"I would go back to Hanoi in - I don't know, when I'm forty or something. But for some reason I feel home here in Prague. Because I came here after my high school, so I have a lot of friends here, and I study with Czech people, and I have other friends, so in some way I feel at home here. I'm really used to Prague. I know where to go, and I have my favourite pub. I have a lot of friends here, so this is good."
And just in case you were wondering, Mimi's home name was taken from the name of the family cat - Mimi.
