World Cup in Vietnam: Bão! (Storm the streets!)
World Cup is ON! Everyone is waiting, staying up all night, screaming, crying, laughing, and hugging in Vietnam for time like this!
Before the game:
People in Vietnam don’t buy TV very often; we usually change our TV once every 4 years (at least my house did). And guess what? The 4 years cycle of buying to TV in Vietnam coincide with the World Cup events. During this exciting time, every electronic store you see on the street will displays only TVs in their store window, as if other electronics got eaten by the TV army. TV prices go on a discount, and every time you enter a store, you will see a person or two buying TVs until the World Cup ends.
During the game:
Vietnamese people will put ‘watching World Cup’ on the top priority of their list. It doesn’t matter where we are and what we are doing, we try very hard to get to a TV to watch the game. There are many places to do so: a cafe, a quán nhu (drinking places), at home, in the park with a projector screen. Also, it doesn’t matter what hour it is: work can wait until tonight if the game is during the working hours, people will stay up all night together in a community group (xóm) and chat, eat, and wait. People also make bets of who will win the current game. There are many type of bets: ‘Châp 1 trái’ or ‘One down’ bet describe a situation where the person who places the bet has his score starts at -1. If the team wins 2-0, then he actually wins 1-0. Since Vietnam officially ban betting, people who bet 1,000,000 VND ($60) don’t call it 1 tri?u (1 million) but call the bet ’1 chai’ (1 bottle) instead!
The street is relatively very empty because everyone is now watching the TV. When someone scores, GOOOOOALL!! The scream lasts for at least 1 minute!
After the game:
This is the most exciting time for me as a kid. Everyone pours to the streets! This is the time that barely anyone will stay at home. The streets are packed, everyone goes on their mopeds (sometimes with a whole family of 4!) Just going to the main streets of the town, meeting, screaming, waiving, smiling, celebrating! In Vietnamese, we call this ‘Di Bão’ or ‘Storm the Streets’. Oh Vietnam, how we are such a light hearted and joyous group of people!
Neil is a mechanical engineer who aspires to make his own robot so he no longer needs to do house chores. At UC Berkeley, Neil studied in South Korea and Japan where he did research on the post-war development processes of Japan and Vietnam.
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Luan Tran
