CONTENT
4. The Farewell
4. Cyclo and Moped
5. Vermicelli
6. Food Street Street Food
8. Sun Chasers
9. Mother Tounge
1. Love Letters from Cambridge
2. The Worst Person at Harvard
4. One True Sentence
5. The Charles
6. The Firsts
7. Overheard
8. On Speaking
III. Lost
1. Paris and Hunger
2. Sunrise in Florence
3. Budapest Reunion
4. Berlin Police
5. Strasbourg Cathedral
6. 13th Arrondissement
IV. and Found
V. A Taste of Japan
VI. Crossing America
PROLOGUE
For a long time, I relied solely on the camera and the pencils. Photography and sketches, as condensed expressions of my travel observations, used to feel enough. Yet as the geographical and temporal distance from these journeys grew, so did the urge to write.
In the course of writing, very often I found my mind drifted to the music of Schumann, especially the delicacy of Of Foreign Lands and People Von fremden Ländern und Menschen. This piece opens Scenes of Childhood Kinderszenen, the set of thirteen musical vignettes that go from joyous lightheartedness to dreamy nostalgia tinted with sorrow. When the writing kept circulating back to the dreamscape of memories, it felt only apt to borrow the title. Yet, the lands I have been to and the people I have met are so dear to my heart, they can no longer be foreign. Such was how Of Lands and People came about.
My sincerest thanks go to Thomas Wisniewski; the vigor of those Tuesday discussions in your class was one of the most intellectually stimulating experiences I had at Harvard. To my dearest friends and loyal readers Chỹ, Đhn, and Kuomaje, your support has always been my source of strength and courage.
All photography and illustrations on this website are An Hoang’s original work unless otherwise noted.