StarHill – Where My Family Are Welcome

Mr. Jose M. Reyes’ family come from the country with many famous footballers – Spain. Although there are a lot of opportunities to work in developing countries, in the end he decided to choose Vietnam to develop his career and settled with his family including his wife and two small children at school age.

To express his feeling about life in Star Hill – the first housing project at International Trade and Finance Center, all four members of the family are repeating the words that they consider brief and concise to express their current mood: love, fun, happy, cheerful, comfortable and familiar like where they used to live in their homeland – the suburb of Barcelona.

Mr. Reyes, how long have you lived in Viet Nam? and please introduce a bit about the family members?

Mr. Jose M. Reyes: I have been living in Viet Nam for two years, but only one year in Phu My Hung. This is my wife – Rosa Daela Fuente, she stays home to take care of our children. We have a 12-year-old daughter – Marlen Reyes and a 9-year-old son Ariel Reyes, they are studying in District 2.

It is said that pilot is a job with a lot of pressure. What do you think?

Mr. Jose M. Reyes: That depends on each person’s feeling, to me, it is all right. My house is far from the airport, so I do not feel the presence of my job in my life. Moreover, I am living here, in a quiet environment, so I feel comfortable after each flight and it is easy to balance everything. On the way home from the airport, coming to District 4 I’ve left all my work behind, everything has been forgotten before I get home.

Why did you choose Phu My Hung but not any other area?

Mr. Jose M. Reyes: We had a number of choices of accommodation. I used to live in an apartment in District 2. Everything in the area is pretty good, but my family are not so comfortable because the location is next to the street and traveling to other places by taxi and motorbike is a bit inconvenient. If we want to go to the bus station, we have to walk a long distance and especially it is far from the market. I chose Phu My Hung because I like the overall environment here, very close to where we want to go, clean streets, my family can walk freely on the sidewalks of the streets, that’s really interesting .

Were the children involved in choosing the accommodation?

Mr. Jose M. Reyes: I gave my children the priority to choose the accommodation because they are learning in District 2. I said to my children that in District 2, near the school, they could sleep a little more instead of getting up early. But they like here and I see everything better. The distance from District 7 to the airport is nearer. I like Phu My Hung for the quiet and healthy living environment, and it seems there is everything I need. It is nearly identical to the outskirt of Barcelona where my family used to live in Spain, which is also quiet, clean with green landscape. From my house to the centre of Barcelona is about 30 minutes away. Here it is the same, just 20 minutes or less to take a taxi or a bus or ride a motorcycle to District 1, where there is everything I need, and come back home with a quiet and cool space.

What in Star Hill attracts you?

Mr. Jose M. Reyes: In the neighborhood there are enough facilities, swimming pool, playground, community services … Star Hill is near commercial centers such as Parkson, Crecent Mall; the transportation systems are easy to travel. We can walk, ride a bike to the utilities in a few minutes. Walking through a street I can come the river bank or the Crescent. My whole family often go to the Crescent, Crescent Mall for shopping, eating our favorite food in the area and sightseeing.

From Star Hill it is also very close to the utility of health care. This is very important and necessary for my family because we have 2 small children and I want to ensure the health of our children. It takes just a few minutes to walk to FV Hospital, Tam Duc Heart Hospital.

Madam Rosa Daela Fuente, how do you feel about Star Hill?

Mrs. Rosa Daela Fuente: I love this place. It’s clean and has much outdoor space, which is fresh and quiet. The important thing is that everybody in my family feels welcome by community residents in Star Hill as well as the management staff. They enthusiastically help us when we have questions or when we need help.

Where do you usually go shopping in this area?

Mrs. Rosa Daela Fuente: I usually go to Giant supermarket, there have enough toiletries and household items. I also like Tan My market where I can buy fresh food. Going to the market, I feel the closeness and idyllic place similar to where I used to live in Barcelona before. When my mother visited here, she was impressed by Phu My Hung and she also had experience with me about going to the market. She said going to the market in Viet Nam, it seemed to be returning to the distant memory when she was a young girl in a space without the presence of technology, no phone, nothing belonged to the present world, only the natural voice of the sellers .

I also like riding to the market, sometimes I just stop by the road and I can buy the items I need. Food suspending on the bike looks funny. In Europe, it is difficult to get this experience. It is hard to get the interesting feelings when you run into the path leading to the market to buy food and then run home. My children also like Vietnamese traditional toys, such as lion dance, dolls… which I bought from Tan My market.

I don’t understand why, when I come to this place, I see everything familiar, friendly, simple and extremely comfortable, even sometimes I still feel happier than living in my homeland.

Mr. Jose M. Reyes: I often go to the market with my wife. I speak a little Vietnamese so I feel interested to communicate with many people. It is reminiscent of the marketplace in a small village near Barcelona. In this village, selling and buying happen on Friday. They sell a lot of fresh food like that in Tan My market. The sellers at Tan My wave when they see me, “Very cheap! Buy it!” They are cheerful and enthusiastic. They always say to me, “I can’t speak English”, and I answer, “I can speak Vietnamese” and we naturally buy and sell comfortably.

As a pilot, you can work and live in many places, can you say something about the places you have been to?

Mr. Jose M. Reyes: I have been to many countries, such as Germany, Du Bai … and when there is a choice, I go back to Spain to work or stay in Vietnam, I choose Vietnam. I see that there are many similarities between Vietnam and Barcelona where I used to live. Especially, Vietnamese people are open hearted and friendly, and they always smile. I have many friends in other countries, and when I need something from them, or need help with something, some of them feel uncomfortable because of disagreements. But the Vietnamese are quite the opposite. They are willing to help as soon as I call. The most impressive thing is the way they try and do their best to help us at any costs even though there is big disagreement about language. If they can’t express in their words, they use their hands, their limbs and finally they take us to where we are looking for. Not all countries have this friendliness, in the West, people also help you if you need to, but you rarely find such dedicated people.

I also like the food in Vietnam. The food here, somewhat similar to that in my homeland, is spicy. In general, here, I see everything close, familiar and I love this place, I really like it.

Which Vietnamese food do you like best?

Mr. Jose M. Reyes: What, if I say I like all? Even I can cook some Vietnamese dishes in Spanish style, maybe it will be a bit hotter. My Vietnamese friends often ask me, “Can you eat this or that?” When I answer, “Sure”, they are very surprised. I eat nails pork, duck eggs, Hue beef noodles and many other dishes. When I cook nail pork I usually stew and add a lot of chilli.

Mrs. Rosa Daela Fuente: I like snakehead fish rice soup, my children love it. My family often go to Hue restaurant in Crescent to eat this, the food here is delicious.

How often do you return home once?

Not very often, because the airfare for the whole family is very expensive, about 5,000 dollars. However, I am still in touch with my family frequently by Skype. Life here is very good, almost like at home, so everything is fine with us.

Is there anything you want to say about the place you are living in and do you have any suggestions to make life here better?

Mr. Jose M. Reyes: I hope more people come here, as quickly as possible, with more services right in town, more shops.

Mrs. Rosa Daela Fuente: The only thing I find a little bit inconvenient is to take two buses to District 2- the first bus from District 7 to District 1 then the second bus to District 2. Maybe I do not know which bus can go directly from District 7 to District 2.

Do you have long-term plan to work in Viet nam?

Mr. Jose M. Reyes: This is difficult to say beforehand because it depends on my work. But we feel happy to live here and hope to live in Viet Nam for a long time.

The final question is for two small members of the family. How do you feel about life here?

Marlen Reyes: I like this place. Everything is very comfortable. We often ride in the neighbourhood. Everything is near home. There are separate play areas for children, swimming pool …

Ariel Reyes: I have a very good feeling about this place. I have many Vietnamese friends and they are very kind to me. I am a VIP of cinemas in Crescent Mall, Parkson. In addition, I also like going to Phu My Hung music program, many programs are interesting and free.

Thank you all of you for this interesting talk.