Back to high school years, I have two different beautiful memories, which I think I might be different from many people. The reason was because I happened to leave Vietnam for United States in the middle of my high school, which was during my sophomore year. And to let you know, high school in Vietnam is counted only sophomores, juniors, and seniors here in the United States, and freshmen here are their last year of middle school. Even it was few years ago, but the memories are still here with me and now I want to talk about the time in Vietnam. Eventually, the situation happened during my tenth grade year, and it was when I was seen as a rebel who committed a “crime” against fashion.
When I was first in sophomores, I was ordered to dress what called Ao Dai, which is the traditional outfit of Vietnamese people. It was a long white dress from neck down to our feet with white pants. Back to that time, I didn’t like to dress Ao Dai at all because I think it wasn’t neat and convenient for me to run around, to climb the wall, and to play games with boys. However, wearing Ao Dai is the traditional that every Vietnamese girl students have to go through, and to show what a girl is different from a boy. Moreover, it showed the innocence, the neat, and the tradition of my country. Also, girl hair was more likely to be long to show the girly personality, and to keep it neat we whether tight up neatly or straighten it. However, I often went against it in physically look, I cut my hair really short exactly like boy hairstyle because I felt like it was more convenient and neat for me to move around. In addition, I always wanted to be in boy outfits and join the activities that boys do, I often ditched wearing Ao Dai and wear uniform that boys wear everyday, which was the blouse and a pair of blue pants.
Moreover, I always wanted the rain to happen so that we didn’t need to wear Ao Dai, and those days I can dress normal uniform and be myself because wearing Ao Dai put me in a situation that I am not born for it, such as walking slowly and acting girly. Sometimes I got caught by the teachers of not dressing properly and got kick out of class. However, I felt like doing it was to be myself and to have freedom; therefore, dressing Ao Dai was always my challenge. On the other hand, my parents talked to me and advised me to wear what school made me to because they didn’t want me to get caught and kicked out of school. Also, they wanted me to act girly like other girls at the same age. Although to some people it was a “crime”, to me it’s just the way I expressed myself. People looked at me thinking that I am such a boy in a girl body, and insane at some point, by the way I dressed; however, physical look doesn’t express all of the characteristics of that person. They shouldn’t judge a person by looking at them but getting to know their inside look.
9/9
ReplyDelete