😁🤣 Interview with vtt3613 😂🤦‍♂️

Interview with @vtt3613 05.07.2026

Thank you very much that i can interview you @vtt3613!! 🙏🙏😊😊 I have 20 questions but with each part i ask 5 every time. And if you dont like a question you can just tell me and i can make a new one!!! 😃

BUTTT before i post the first part of the interview, i wanted to say something else. I always ask which 4 emojis the person likes for in the title and this time i want also to copy what @vtt3613 wrote because it is super funny!! 😛 😛

I think the questions are fine, so let's go with them then.

But first thing, the emojis, although I may use a lot of emojis, the variety is actually not a lot, so I guess they are 😁🤣😂🤦‍♂️. These are the four ones that I think I used the most so far. But wait, why does when the emojis line up like this, it looks like a plot for a tragicomedy or something? I don't remember where, but I think in one of the forum posts I read, there was a question about if you could turn your life into a book title, what would it be. Something like that. Well, "Don't make your life miserable like me" could be a good one then, with those 4 emojis on the book cover.

⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ PART I

1: How long have you been a member on PPG and what are the things that you like the most? What kind of forums do you like the most and what kind of people do you like to chat with? And do you maybe have tips for @Etienne to make PPG better?

Okay, so my story with PPG can be a legend of my own, so bear with me for the long story.

On my profile, it says that I'm here for 2 years. It will actually be 3 years in November 2026, if I'm correct.

So back in November 2023, during just one of my boring days, somehow I recalled the word "penpal" that I learned during English classes from almost 20 years ago. So I googled it, and actually PPG is not the first site I found, it was another one called "penpalworld". I created my account there, but for some reasons whenever I logged out and logged back in there, my account was suspened. Twice actually. So I gave up there, googled again, and found PPG.

And even here, actually until March 2025, you may not see my account appearing anywhere here, no matter how many posts I wrote on the forum, or how many messages I sent to other people. The reason is, I was shadow banned during the time. Reason for the shadow banned is, I was using VPN when I created the account here.

That's why from November 2023 to March 2025, no matter how did I try to contact other people, either through forum or messages, I never got any replies back. But at the time I thought maybe my profile or forum posts were not interesting enough to other people, so I don't think too much about it. Even though with that situation, I don't spend much time here during that time. Some of you can be surprised why I don't give up here eventually with that situation.

It was until one faithful day in March 2025, I got replies from one account which was just created less than a month at the time. However, after just a short conversation, that account turned out to be a scammer, you know, the type that would send you some 'suspicious' links. But it was also that moment when I realized maybe I was shadow banned on PPG. I play chess on lichess, and there, if an account got caught for cheating, they will mark the account so people know, but they still let the account logged in and play, but only play with other cheaters. So I thought maybe it is the same here, shadow banned accounts talking to shadow banned accounts only.

Regardless, I emailed the admin here, asking hey whether I was shadow banned, and what is the reason for that? @Etienne said that using VPN is actually what scammers usually do when they create accounts here, trying to cover their trace, so you could be shadow banned automatically for that. I guess that was also why my accounts on penpalworld were suspended. But then he reviewed my accounts, everything is clean, so I'm free, and here I am now.

About what kind of forums that I like most. It's hard to say since it depends on the topics and the title of the posts. Trivia results is defenitely the one I visited the most, just to learn new stuffs, and feel the pain whenever I missed an easy question. I'm here almost everyday for the trivia session actually. Other kinds of forum that I like is the one talking about culture or customs around the world, I guess. History is also good for me but I don't recall seeing any lately here. But as I said before, I am quite busy recently, so I am more of a reader than a writer on the forum these days, so you may not see me a lot there.

About the people who I like to chat with. Usually, I'm not the one to reach out first, so either I have to see something special in that particular profile, say common hobbies with mine for examples. Or something else that I find interesting, and that can be so random, so even I can't be sure about it. Or if I see that profile says they are from Vietnam, and in the profile picture, I see that they are surely not Vietnamese, I would be interested and send a message asking them what are they doing there immediately. But oh boy, I think recently I'm more active on the forum than talking with other people through messages these days. And I already said that I'm more of a reader on the forum, so you could imagine how active I am here.

But don't worry guys. Even though I said that I'm not usually the first one to reach out, but if you guys want to talk with me, just send a message. There's a reason why there is a "High Reply Rate" badge on my profile guys.

And tips for @Etienne to make PPG better? I would say things are looking good now, the community is positive for the most part, so I can't think of anything to improve it further right now. Maybe bring back the old chat room is okay, but even I know it was not used much back then, so it's not that important. I know Etienne runs the site by himself and it's a lot so I can't ask much.

But even so, I remember last month, or maybe it was 2 months ago, we had bombardment from 4 accounts from scammers. And after that sometimes we still get one from them. How come they did not get the shadow banned right in the first place while I got one for years. YEARS. Yeah, I am throwing shade at you right now @Etienne 🤣😎

The next questions come later because the post was too long with maximum characters it said!!! So the last four questions i will post below in 30 minutes!!! 😛 😛

2: What is your hometown in America like? Is it a very big city or smaller? And what is the nicest part to see in your hometown if people visit it? And you wrote on your profile that you were born in Vietnam. Do you prefer to live in USA or Vietnam and what are things that you like more of both countries? And do you still have family or friends in Vietnam?

So right now, I live in a small city in the state of Massachusetts (Commonwealth of Massachusetts is what it is called officially) called Marlborough. It is a small city with more than 40 000 people. And although it is officially a city, I usually say that it is called a city, but looks more like a town. When I was in Vietnam, I lived in the biggest city in the country, Ho Chi Minh city (although we the locals there usually call it with the old name Saigon), with 14 million people living there, so you could see the big difference when I moved to the US. Even the biggest city in Massachusetts is Boston, I think the population is just around 600 000 or 700 000.

But still, for the last 5 years, Marlborough also grew quite a lot, as I see a lot of new buildings, new business during that time.

The nicest part to see in Marlborough? I would say the Main Street is the best part of the city, It is where the City Hall was located, and the building is a very nice old building. And the general viewing is also quite nice. Also, there was a lot of restaurants and cafes where you can enjoy meals there. Let's say the first few years when I moved to the US, when I want to eat pizza or hamburger, I went for the big brands like Domino Pizza or McDonald's or Burger King. I did not know better at the time. But oh man, when I discovered that the local family owned business can do the same, and sometimes the quality is even better, nowadays I prefer the local one than the big brands. Plus, it supports the local business too. If you are reading this, and you live in the US, please support the local business.

Also, in Marlborough, we have an annual Labor Day parade. This is the US Labor Day I'm talking about, first Monday in September, not Mayday.

And if you're intrested in history, Marlborough is also where the John Brown Bell located. If you know about American Civil War history, you may recognize that is the bell related to John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. Second-most important bell in American history, as people said.

Okay, so if I have to choose between living in the US or Vietnam, I think I would choose the US.

Yes, in Vietnam there are things that I like. Cuisine for example, even there are a lot of Vietnamese restaurants in Massachusetts, there are still some dishes that I can't find anywhere. And if I want to buy something, I can just walk a few minutes to a small store, then go home. Also, the neighbors tend to communicate and care for each other more than what I see in the US, although at the same time they can be more nosy. Let's say if you are doing bad in school, and somehow one of your neighbor knows about it, big chances, there are 10 more neighbors would know about it, then 10 turns to 20, and so on. CCTVs run on rice, in Vietnam we have a lot.

But in the US, I see the etiquette, for example get in a line to get on a bus. When I was still there, get on a bus could be a nightmare during rush hour. I see the professionalism of the government officials. When I was in Vietnam, once I had a form to be signed by the local police officer, I had to wait for 4-5 hours at the local police station, as he was away somewhere playing xiangqi (Chinese chess), and when he returned, he just rejected the form and did not sign it saying it is not in true standard, while it was a form from my college. Compare it to the time when I had to get my photograph taken for US Citizenship test, even though the appointment was at 11 a.m., I was at USCIS office at 10 a.m., as the office is in another state (New Hampshire). When I was there, there was just a few people who were also get photo taken, but since I was so early, I thought okay cool, I'll just wait then. To my surprise, just 5-10 minutes later, they said it was my turn. I even had to ask one of the staffs are we not waiting until 11, and he just said no. See the big difference?

Keep in mind this was from my experience 10 years ago, so I hope things changed in Vietnam. But from the news that I read? 🤦‍♂️

Also, as I said before, in Vietnam I live in the biggest city in the country, meaning it can be very noisy, while I like the quietness of Marlborough now. I know this could be a contradiction, as I like to live in the city, but at the same time, I like to live somewhere quiet. Luckily, there's one place like that for me.

And yes, I still have friends in Vietnam. I did not live in the US until I was 23, so friends from secondary school, senior high school, even in college, they are still in Vietnam (well most of them, a lot moved to other countries too), and I still keep contact with them.

3: What are your biggest hobbies if you have time for yourself? And what kind of work do you do or do you study now? And what kind of thing do you want to do in the future?

Okay, so right now I'm working as a machine operator, I will keep the name of the company as a secret for now. So it's just a normal blue-collar job, nothing to see here 😁

Okay, so about hobbies, I have some, for examples football (soccer), video games, history... But if I have to choose one for the biggest, I would say chess. I play a lot online on lichess, with the same account name vtt3613 too. Anyone here on PPG also play there, there could be chances we already played against each other. Just stop by and say hi to me if you're there.

And I'm not just playing online. I also play in some tournaments too, starting just 3 years ago. Not really big tournaments, but I do have USCF ratings.

Right now, I have a stable job, so things are okay for me. If there's something I want to do in the future, perhaps it is improving my chess skills, and trying to become a chess instructor one day. But oh boy, that would need a great effort from me. If you read my profile, laziness is my biggest challenge 😁

Or maybe I could try to become a chess streamer, and do a series of rating climber. There you could see me play like Mikhail Tal or Bobby Fischer in one game, then get checkmated in less than 10 moves the very next game 😁

4: If you can change 3 things in BOTH the USA and Vietnam what would you change if you could decide it?

Okay so if there are 3 things in both the US and Vietnam that I would change

First one on the list. Public transport. Actually I think this part is what the US and Vietnam got in common the most, the public transport is not very good. In both countries, people have to relied on individual vehicle. In the US, it's the car, in Vietnam, it's motorcycle. Unless you live in a big city, then public transport is not very widespread. As I said, since I live in the biggest city when I was in Vietnam, so I could manage somehow without driving. Here in the US, the city I'm living in now is small, so I have to drive 99% of the time whenever I want to go somewhere.

Don't get me wrong, I know the advantage of individual vehicles. Myself, I also like to take a spin in my car, but it's in freetime. If it's after a tiring 8-hour workday, I prefer to get on a bus, sit back and relax while getting home than keeping the focus for another 20-30 minutes behind the driving wheel. Just give me more option to travel to choose, please.

Second thing, maybe the housing crisis. I don't know if this is also the situation anywhere else in the world, but surely both the US and Vietnam is having a housing crisis. I see that new houses were still being built, but the price is too high, and people with lower income could not afford it.

Third one, maybe I would pick the school violence. Again, I don't know how bad this is anywhere else in the world, and how much the media exaggerate it, but it seems like it's an issue. I know that most kids are good, but with the rise of school violence I've seen, it's quite worrying. In my book, even if you don't get good grades in school, as long as you have good friends, who are ready to back you up when you're in trouble, and if you don't have big problems with teachers, then your school life is already fine. So seeing kids bullying, fighting against each other, it's just sad.

The post is still too long so i will upload the last question and answer later!!! 🙂 And i think it is actually really positive because this way people who like the interview can really read about u and your life!!! And it is not just one line so u really took time for the answers!! ✨🌈🏆

This is the last part of the first 5 questions!!! I hope that people like to read what @vtt3613 wrote!! 😊😊😇😇

5: What are 3 things of your bucket list that you would really like to do in your life and do you think that you will do them between now and 5 years?

Okay, so now are the 3 things that is on my bucket list that I would want to do.

First one, I would like to go to visit Budapest one day. Sometimes I imagine myself being on a boat on Danube river, enjoy the surrounding scenery with all the bridges and buildings while Ion Ivanovici's Danube's Waves is being played. Beautiful just to think about right?

Let's just hope that Danube river nowadays is not too polluted 😁

Oh, and guess what is one of my favorite chess openings? It's Budapest Gambit 😁 I don't know if I like to visit the city first before knowing the opening, or vice versa.

All right, second thing. It has to be improving my chess skills, improving my ratings. But as I said so many times, my laziness 🤦‍♂️

But yeah, after a long tiring working day, I just don't have any energy, stamina or motivation to learn new stuffs. Maybe I need someone who can motivate me to get up and learn then 🤣

All right, so the third thing, I would like one day I take some classes of fencing, as I find the sport is very interesting. I also would like to learn waltz dance someday. But amongst the three things, this part is actually the most unlikely that I would do between now and 5 years. Simply put, I don't have any dexterity for any of those 🤣

For the first two, I would rate that would be 5/10 that would likely to happen. Visit Budapest may actually more likely to happen, as I was almost there last year. A group of my friends in the US had a plan to go to Germany, Czech, Slovakia, Austria last year, and I was about to join them, with the plan that after they go home, I'll stay in Europe a bit and go to Budapest. Then suddenly during the planning phrase, my old company moved to another state, so I have to find a new job, hence I have to save money and had to cancel what I want to do.

Learning fencing or waltz, yeah, that would be 3/10 that would likely to happen. But who knows, chances are low but not zero, right? 🤣

Thank you very much for the first part of this interview @vtt3613!! 🙏🙏😊😊 If anybody wants to ask a question or post a comment you can do that below ⬇️⬇️ or write @vtt3613 a message!! 🙂 More interviews of PPG members are on this page: overview of interviews.

And about fencing: if you have questions i know that @Miss_Penpal does fencing so she can give tips and also she can beat u with eyes closed maybe!!! 🤭🤭😋 (Sorryyy that is a joke!!) 🙂 And btw what is your first name if u want to share? Because it feels robotyy if i call you @vt3613 but ONLYYY if you want to tell of course!! 🙏🙏

But even so, I remember last month, or maybe it was 2 months ago, we had bombardment from 4 accounts from scammers. And after that sometimes we still get one from them. How come they did not get the shadow banned right in the first place while I got one for years. YEARS. Yeah, I am throwing shade at you right now @Etienne 🤣😎

Oh boy, if only people knew the sheer number of fake accounts that try to sign up on a daily basis 😂️. Some slip through the cracks, but the fraud detection success rate is probably around 99%. Some legitimate accounts occasionally get blocked because they tend to resemble fraudster patterns (like what happened to you, @vtt3613). VPNs aren't bannable per se, but using one is one of many signals that can lead the system to believe the user could be fraudulent

Oh boy, if only people knew the sheer number of fake accounts that try to sign up on a daily basis 😂️. Some slip through the cracks, but the fraud detection success rate is probably around 99%. Some legitimate accounts occasionally get blocked because they tend to resemble fraudster patterns (like what happened to you, @vtt3613). VPNs aren't bannable per se, but using one is one of many signals that can lead the system to believe the user could be fraudulent

Merciii beaucoupp monsieur!!! Can i maybe ask what other signals that you put in the system for frauds than only VPN? And how many new accounts are blocked like that every day normally? 🙄🙄 And @vtt3613 your account works now fully i hope so that is good!!! 🙂

Merciii beaucoupp monsieur!!! Can i maybe ask what other signals that you put in the system for frauds than only VPN?

I can't answer that, I don't want to publicly give away information that can be used against PPG

And how many new accounts are blocked like that every day normally? 🙄🙄 And @vtt3613 your account works now fully i hope so that is good!!! 🙂

On a normal day I'd say 20-25%

I can't answer that, I don't want to publicly give away information that can be used against PPG

On a normal day I'd say 20-25%

Owww whoopsyy!!! I did not mean to ask about the secrets so it will keep working!!! 😛 😛

ANDDDD @vtt3613 i will soon make the questions for the NEXT part!!! 🙂

@Yue_ Hey, thanks for posting the first part of the interview. And I don't realize that my answers could be that long, especially the first one, which can reach the words limit for a forum post 😁

As I said before, I'm looking forward to the next questions.

And by the way, my Vietnamese first name is Tú, which means "a star". In Vietnamese, the name order would go from last name first, then middle name, and then first name. So my full name would be Võ Thanh Tú. And Thanh in Vietnamese could mean "blue", so my middle name and first name, when combining together, would mean "blue star".

But you can also call me Jose, actually, as I changed my name when I had US Citizenship.

This is the last part of the first 5 questions!!! I hope that people like to read what @vtt3613 wrote!! 😊😊😇😇

5: What are 3 things of your bucket list that you would really like to do in your life and do you think that you will do them between now and 5 years?

Okay, so now are the 3 things that is on my bucket list that I would want to do.

First one, I would like to go to visit Budapest one day. Sometimes I imagine myself being on a boat on Danube river, enjoy the surrounding scenery with all the bridges and buildings while Ion Ivanovici's Danube's Waves is being played. Beautiful just to think about right?

Let's just hope that Danube river nowadays is not too polluted 😁

Oh, and guess what is one of my favorite chess openings? It's Budapest Gambit 😁 I don't know if I like to visit the city first before knowing the opening, or vice versa.

All right, second thing. It has to be improving my chess skills, improving my ratings. But as I said so many times, my laziness 🤦‍♂️

But yeah, after a long tiring working day, I just don't have any energy, stamina or motivation to learn new stuffs. Maybe I need someone who can motivate me to get up and learn then 🤣

All right, so the third thing, I would like one day I take some classes of fencing, as I find the sport is very interesting. I also would like to learn waltz dance someday. But amongst the three things, this part is actually the most unlikely that I would do between now and 5 years. Simply put, I don't have any dexterity for any of those 🤣

For the first two, I would rate that would be 5/10 that would likely to happen. Visit Budapest may actually more likely to happen, as I was almost there last year. A group of my friends in the US had a plan to go to Germany, Czech, Slovakia, Austria last year, and I was about to join them, with the plan that after they go home, I'll stay in Europe a bit and go to Budapest. Then suddenly during the planning phrase, my old company moved to another state, so I have to find a new job, hence I have to save money and had to cancel what I want to do.

Learning fencing or waltz, yeah, that would be 3/10 that would likely to happen. But who knows, chances are low but not zero, right? 🤣

Thank you very much for the first part of this interview @vtt3613!! 🙏🙏😊😊 If anybody wants to ask a question or post a comment you can do that below ⬇️⬇️ or write @vtt3613 a message!! 🙂 More interviews of PPG members are on this page: overview of interviews.

And about fencing: if you have questions i know that @Miss_Penpal does fencing so she can give tips and also she can beat u with eyes closed maybe!!! 🤭🤭😋 (Sorryyy that is a joke!!) 🙂 And btw what is your first name if u want to share? Because it feels robotyy if i call you @vt3613 but ONLYYY if you want to tell of course!! 🙏🙏

Very interesting Jose. We have talked briefly about the quiz in the past. My real name is Steve, and I live near Passau which is on the river Danube. Since I have lived here (5 years) I wanted to do the river cruise through Austria, Hungary and Slovakia and back. There are several companies that offer this cruise (or similar) and last summer we decided to do it. It took a week, and was very nice. You get to see lovely views and stop at places along the way. We stopped at all three capital cities, and Budapest was the nicest in my opinion. The cruises are pretty expensive, but I think it’s worth it considering that the food is good, and I wanted to have the drinks package included. The river is very clean, although not blue (as Johann Strauss would have you believe) but more of a dark green colour or even milky in some places. I was happy to see a fish eagle on the way back. They have repopulated along the river after a decline in numbers, which tells us that the water is very clean and there are plenty of fish. Let me know if you want to see a few pictures of the trip, but if you want to wait and see it all for yourself I can understand that.

@Yue_ Hey, thanks for posting the first part of the interview. And I don't realize that my answers could be that long, especially the first one, which can reach the words limit for a forum post 😁

As I said before, I'm looking forward to the next questions.

And by the way, my Vietnamese first name is Tú, which means "a star". In Vietnamese, the name order would go from last name first, then middle name, and then first name. So my full name would be Võ Thanh Tú. And Thanh in Vietnamese could mean "blue", so my middle name and first name, when combining together, would mean "blue star".

But you can also call me Jose, actually, as I changed my name when I had US Citizenship.

If im honest i like the name Tú the most bc that was your official name and your parents gave it!!!! 🙂 But if u prefer Jose more now then i will use that name.

And sorryyy it was a bit busy with things this week because it is almost really summer holiday!!! And lot of friends go on holiday already in beginning so we do now lot of things together before they go away. But i will try to make the next part with questions today!! And as i already said i really like that u made lot of effort for the answers!!! 😊😊😇😇

Very interesting Jose. We have talked briefly about the quiz in the past. My real name is Steve, and I live near Passau which is on the river Danube. Since I have lived here (5 years) I wanted to do the river cruise through Austria, Hungary and Slovakia and back. There are several companies that offer this cruise (or similar) and last summer we decided to do it. It took a week, and was very nice. You get to see lovely views and stop at places along the way. We stopped at all three capital cities, and Budapest was the nicest in my opinion. The cruises are pretty expensive, but I think it’s worth it considering that the food is good, and I wanted to have the drinks package included. The river is very clean, although not blue (as Johann Strauss would have you believe) but more of a dark green colour or even milky in some places. I was happy to see a fish eagle on the way back. They have repopulated along the river after a decline in numbers, which tells us that the water is very clean and there are plenty of fish. Let me know if you want to see a few pictures of the trip, but if you want to wait and see it all for yourself I can understand that.

It is really beautiful way in which u described it Steve @LateLearner!!!! 🙏🌞🏆 I would really like to go to Budapest too and ALSO VIENNAAA!!!!! But i dont know a lot about the capital of Slovakia but then i guess that it is also really beautiful!! ANDDD maybe I and Nidhi @Nishu need to interview you TOO this summer if u would like that!!!! 🙂

If im honest i like the name Tú the most bc that was your official name and your parents gave it!!!! 🙂 But if u prefer Jose more now then i will use that name.

And sorryyy it was a bit busy with things this week because it is almost really summer holiday!!! And lot of friends go on holiday already in beginning so we do now lot of things together before they go away. But i will try to make the next part with questions today!! And as i already said i really like that u made lot of effort for the answers!!! 😊😊😇😇

It is really beautiful way in which u described it Steve @LateLearner!!!! 🙏🌞🏆 I would really like to go to Budapest too and ALSO VIENNAAA!!!!! But i dont know a lot about the capital of Slovakia but then i guess that it is also really beautiful!! ANDDD maybe I and Nidhi @Nishu need to interview you TOO this summer if u would like that!!!! 🙂

I'm in girllll, whenever you sayyyyy 🥹🤭✨

Sorry for the late answers, but first my internet service provider failed to provide me the internet for 3 days straight, which was very unfortunate, and then I was too busy. Then, England lost against Argentina in the World Cup, so I was too dissapointed to do anything for another 2 days 😁

@LateLearner Hi Steve. Yes I remember you of course. And thank you for your information. I'm really glad to hear that Danube river is clean, which is actually the thing I'm worried about most if I want to make a trip there. And don't spoil anything for me yet, please just let me see everything for myself.

Also, if I'm right, you are actually from the UK, right? How do you feel when England lost against Argentina? To me this one hurts even more than losses against Italy or Spain in Euro finals, or Kane missed penalty against France 4 years ago.

@Yue_ It's up to you which name that you want to use actually, I don't mind about that.

Also, if you've ever made it to Vienna, surely you should make a way to Bratislava, as those are the two closest capitals in the world, I think. Just around 80 km.

Also, did you know Slovakia actually has the highest castles per capita in the world? I think just for that, Slovakia is actually one of the underated tourist spots.

Sorry for the late answers, but first my internet service provider failed to provide me the internet for 3 days straight, which was very unfortunate, and then I was too busy. Then, England lost against Argentina in the World Cup, so I was too dissapointed to do anything for another 2 days 😁

@LateLearner Hi Steve. Yes I remember you of course. And thank you for your information. I'm really glad to hear that Danube river is clean, which is actually the thing I'm worried about most if I want to make a trip there. And don't spoil anything for me yet, please just let me see everything for myself.

Also, if I'm right, you are actually from the UK, right? How do you feel when England lost against Argentina? To me this one hurts even more than losses against Italy or Spain in Euro finals, or Kane missed penalty against France 4 years ago.

@Yue_ It's up to you which name that you want to use actually, I don't mind about that.

Also, if you've ever made it to Vienna, surely you should make a way to Bratislava, as those are the two closest capitals in the world, I think. Just around 80 km.

Also, did you know Slovakia actually has the highest castles per capita in the world? I think just for that, Slovakia is actually one of the underated tourist spots.

Ah, yes. Losing to Argentina hurts. Myself and many others couldn’t understand why the manager made defensive substitutions with so long left in the game. Kane looked tired and had been overplayed and under rested during the tournament, and I feel that he should have been taken off for another striker with fresh legs to chase the ball. We relinquished possession, fell back and gave Argentina the initiative. This was a mistake. There was little attacking from us in the last half hour, and that is the strongest part of our game. Relying on keeping out Argentina was a bad decision, we are not Spain. I was disappointed also that we were bigger than them all over the field, and yet we didn’t put enough crosses into the box for Kane, Bellingham and the others to attack. Argentina played their usual rough, aggressive and often illegal fouling style at times, but the referee failed to punish them until it was too late to upset their tactics. I believe after committing at least a dozen or fifteen fouls against around five from England, it was in fact an English player who was booked first. As for the Malvinas (Falkland islands) protest banner at the end, it was political and controversial to mention this again. I hope that they are punished severely for stirring up trouble again. Several of their top players actually play in the English Premier League and will definitely face booing when they return to England next month. We don’t take kindly to those who bite the hand that feeds them. Anyway, enough of that. I didn’t know that about the amount of castles in Slovakia, but thanks. It might even come up as a question on the trivia quiz. I visited Bratislava and Vienna on the river cruise and both had their individual character and charm. It’s well worth visiting them and having a look for yourself. I believe you are correct about the capital cities being the closest. It’s another interesting trivia fact that might come in useful one day. Nice to talk to you, and sorry for getting carried away and writing so much.

PART II

6: What is your biggest fear and insecurity? Do you think you will ever loose it and do you do something about it? Did you ever have a panic attack and do you have maybe tips if people feel super anxious or stressed what they can do?

Okay, so talking about biggest fear, I think we may need to seperate what kind of fear are we talking about, visually or mentally?

Visually, like what I see from my eyes that could make me startled immediately, it has to be spiders. Of course I'm not scared of the little tiny spiders. But something like a tarantula? 😨 And it does not have to be a real spider being in front of me, just a drawing or a photo of it is enough to get me scared.

Mentally speaking, my biggest fear is that one day I would lose all my memories, that one day I would forget everything that happened in my life. Alzheimer or dementia, things like that. Even now, I'm still young, but some events that happened when I was in high school, I try to recall it and realize that I don't remember all the details, that's enough to make me doubt myself whether I'm starting to get old.

And no, I don't think my fear will one day go away. If I don't get new fear in the future, I'll call it a success. The fear of losing memories, surely I did not have it when I was a teenage and carefree, but when I got older and seeing more of life, yeah then I have to worry about it.

Panic attack, yes. So during my secondary school, ninth grade, one of my classmates who also happened to be one of my closest friends, got diagnosed with leukemia. And it was the late stage when we found out about that, so there was nothing we can do about it. I won't go into details of what happened during the period of time from the day we found out that my friend got leukemia to the day that he... you know. But during those days, I remember that one day, suddenly I woke up in the middle of the night, around 2 a.m. or something for no reasons, then suddenly I heard thunder roaring outside, quite a lot, without any raining. Then after several minutes of roaring thunder, suddenly the electricity for my whole neighborhood was cut off, all the lights were out, all things went black. In that moment, I really thought was that the signal for the ... inevitable thing that would come to my friend finally came? And I was so scared that I could not think of what to do, so I just stay in my bed, close my eyes while my heart is still beating quite fast until I passed out. Then morning came, my mom came to my room and woke me up, the first thing I did was asking my mom to make a phone call to my friend's house, asking about his situation, and I think I was in tears when I was asking my mom to do it (hopefully I was not). Simply put, I was not brave enough to make a phone call to my friend's house at that point. My mom did and told me that my friend was still okay, only then that I could calm down. Thinking about it now, if the inevitable thing really happened on that day, my friend's family would call and tell me or my mom immediately, I did not have to do that, but at that time I could not think straight like that. To this day, I think that was still the scariest moment of my life.

And tips for other people that feel super anxious or stressed? I don't think I can give out a good one, as I'm not psychologist. Maybe the best thing is talking about it with friends or family or anyone can support you through it, I guess. Thinking about it, like from my story above, when you are stressed or anxious, you can't think it straight and clearly, right? So if there's somebody else calmer who knows what is happening, surely that somebody else would think more clearly and may even give out good solutions, right? Even if that person can't give out solution, maybe just talk about it could make your head a bit lighter. But as I said, I'm not psychologist, so I'm not sure my advice is good or not 😁

7: What kind of music do you like? And do you play an instrument yourself? And if yes or no: what kind of instrument would you like to learn in the future? Do you also go to concerts?

Okay, so about the kind of music that I like, oh boy 😁

Folks, basically, this is chaos. Whenever I listen to music on Youtube, in 30 minutes, I could go from classical music, to K-pop like Twice or SNSD, then to some metal music like Sabaton or The Hu, then to Russian folk music of Otava Yo. Maybe I could go with some epic music after it, like Two Steps from Hell or Really Slow Motion, then go to the dubstep violin of Lindsey Stirling, and then to Indilla with Tourner Dans Le Vide for the next 30 minutes 🤣

Yeah, so basically, I don't really have any particular genre of music that I like. I listen to a song, I think the band or the artist is good, I listen to more of their songs, regardless of what kind of music. That's why my variety could be super wide. Some of my music I listen to could be, well, complicated to tell about or questionable too, I guess 😁

No, I don't know how to play any instrument. Funny enough, my older brother plays a lot of musical instrument. Down the basement of his house, he's got keyboard, guitar, drums. My mom actually tried to get my brother to teach me how to play the keyboard when I was a kid, but I've never got into it, so... we quit after just the first day 😁

Sometimes I do think about maybe I could learn to play some musical instrument. Guitar, violin, and piano would be what I think I'll try if I want to learn. I actually prefer the guitar or the violin, as with them, you can carry them everywhere you want. Surely you can't do that with the piano. And maybe I prefer violin more than guitar, as I really like Lindsey Stirling.

And don't ask about why suddenly I want to learn to play some musical instrument now, but when I was a kid and had a chance to learn it, I did not. 25 years can change one's perspective, guys. Plus, back then it was my mom wanted me to learn it, not myself. But still, this is not my number one priority right now.

And no, I haven't gone to any concerts so far. Usually, concerts in Massachusetts are held in Boston, which is around 45 minutes driving from my city, not including traffic, so going to a concert and then go back would be a bit time consuming for me. But I would in the future. But who knows, I also play online chess quite a long time before actually play a chess tournament in real life. One day I could go to concerts of Sabaton or Lindsey Stirling, as I already saw that they held some in Boston. Never say never 😁

8: Do you have children or do you want to have children later? And if yes: how many and would you prefer a son or daughter? What is the most important thing from when you were young that you would like for them and what is something you would do really different?

Okay, so right now I'm not married yet so obviously no children yet either.

But if in the future, I get married, and whether I want children or not and how many, it also depends on my partner and the financial situation of my own little family, right?

For the number, I think the maximum of 2 looks fine to me. 3 is okay, but 4 is surely too many for me.

But honestly, in the middle of the living cost crisis, and all other things that is happening now, having a kid at this time could make me worry a little. Maybe being single now is actually a blessing for me, I guess 😁

Between either a son or a daughter, I actually prefer a daughter, for a silly reason. I'm waiting for a woman to become World Chess Champion one day, but I can't do that myself, for obvious reason 😅 So I hope my daughter one day could do that 😁 But of course if my daughter is not into chess, that's fine, I won't force her to play chess, I'll just go find a corner crying and drinking my sorrow away, I guess 😁

I think the most important thing when I was young, and I still have now, is my friends. Friends that can stick around you for 20-25 years, I mean, I hope my children will also have those friends in the future. Like I said before, as long as you have friends who can back you up in hard times, then your life is good. I don't really care about whether my kids get good a bad grades that much, as long as it's not way too low. I care if my kids at school have many friends or not, and whether at school they are respecting everyone or not. 10-20 years later people would forget about who got the best grade in the class, but they would still remember who treated them well and who treated them terribly in high school, so those are the things that actually are more important to me.

If there's something I did when I was still in school that I would advice my children not to do or do it differently. You know my weakness, laziness, I would surely advice my children not to be as lazy as their dad. Go outside, touch grass, kids 🤣

But seriously, if I have kids in the future, that has to be fixed somehow. No matter how much I speak to them, if I don't do like what I tell them, they won't listen to what I say. Again, maybe that's why being single now is actually a blessing for me 🤣

The last 2 questions and the answers of @vtt3613 of this part of the interview I will post a bit later because of the maximum words of a post each time!! 😛 😛

Here are the last 2 questions and the answers of Tú @vtt3613 as i promised!!

9: If there is a huge fire in your home: what are the 3 things that you would get out of your house the first and why? Which thing from your past that you have is the most special for you? And do you also have something from a crush or relationship in the past or maybe from your family that is really special?

Okay, this is easy right? My legs so I can run out of the house, my eyes so I can see where I should run, and my nose so I could breathe during running. And the rest of my body? Don't worry, they will go along once the legs start to run 😁

Once again, I repeat, if your house is on fire, bring yourself out first. Nothing is more valuable than your own life.

Okay, be serious. Surely, you want to ask about 3 things besides myself or anybody else. Honestly this is hard, as I don't think I have too many stuffs that I can ready to get myself into danger to get them out of the house.

Maybe the first thing would be my collection of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. But since I have a lot of them, my number one priority to save is the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card that I got from my friend in 2014. I'll save the details for later part.

Second thing, maybe the Yu-Gi-Oh! mangas I have right now. It was the Vietnamese translation of the manga actually. Not something can't be replaced, but if I already get myself into saving the cards, why not the manga too? 😅

Third thing, maybe my chess books. Again, not something can't be replaced, but since I put my chess books like literally next to the mangas, and I also play chess a lot, then why not save them too? 😅

Oh, and that one particular Blue-Eyes White Dragon card, I actually wrote about it on Jewelry and shiny forum, so you can read more about that there. For those who don't know, that is the Blue-Eyes White Dragon from 10th year Anniversary Pack. And that was also the first Yu-Gi-Oh! card I've ever got, a gift from one of my close friends before she moved abroad. That is why it goes on top of the list of things to save if my house goes on fire.

And funny enough, this is not the first time I actually think about what to save when disaster comes. Usually, when I travel out of Massachusetts on plane, I usually bring a deck box of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards in my backpack. And I do think about if suddenly we have an emergency evacuation, what should I do to save my cards. This is why usually when I travel on a plane, I put my backpack in front of my feet, not in the luggage storage over the head. The idea is if we really have an emergency evacuation, I can grab my backpack immediately, and save my cards. But even so, I know that it can still slow down the evacuation, for example my backpack could get stuck somewhere down the line, or make some people get injured. So thinking about it is one thing, whether I would do that when it really happens, I'm not so sure, especially in those situations, I don't have many time to think. Even during the normal flight, putting my backpack in front of my feet could already make some people feel uncomfortable. That's why whenever the flight attendants tell me to put my backpack in the luggage storage over the head, I always do it.

What about the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card I've got from my friend? Either I would wear it as a necklace, or it would be in my pocket of the jacket, so I don't have to worry much about it during emergency evacuation.

And something special that I've got from my crush or relationship? Bad news, guys, I've never in any relationship, so I'm not receiving anything from that 🤣 What about from my crush? Still no 🤣 But thinking about it, I'm a guy so it should be me who give the girls something, right? Not me expecting something from them.

But from family, yes. I still keep the old Casio F-91W that I got from my brother 20 years ago, even though nowadays I don't wear it. May need to change the battery, and replace the strap, but I think besides those, the watch should be still good, hopefully. Another two things that I've got from my brother is the Game Boy Advance, and the PlayStation 2. Sadly, the GBA was broken long time ago, while the PlayStation 2, when I got into college in Vietnam, and got busy with the college's activities, my mom thought maybe I got bored with my PlayStation 2 and gave it away to somebody else, without even asking me about it. I did not say anything, but surely I was not enjoy that at the time.

10: What is your favourite clothing style? And do like shopping for clothes and if yes at what kind of store? And if you can choose one PPG member who will give you shopping advice and you must follow it? 😛 And what other kind of things are you interested to buy for yourself?

Okay, so my favorite clothing style would, actually quite simple. Jeans, T-shirt or polo shirt, a jacket outside (even in summer if it's not super hot outside), baseball cap on the head, and sneakers on my feet. Maybe a backpack on my back, and my Blue-Eyes White Dragon card as a necklace too. White and blue would be my favorite colors, but it's not that important.

Usually I don't go shopping for new clothes that much, but if I do, I usually go to Marshalls or TJ Maxx I guess.

I don't know much about everybody here, so I don't think of any PPG member could give me advice for clothing shopping. Any fashion designer or fashionista among us? Raise your hand 😁

But still, I'm kind of stubborn when it comes to clothing style. I said that I even wear jacket during summer if it's not super hot outside, that's how stubborn I could be 😅

And about other things that I'm interested to buy for myself? Everything I guess. I mean I'm not a kid anymore, I'm a working man now, so I can basically buy anything I like as I long as I have money for it, so I don't understand this question 😁

Thank u very much for answering the questions of this part Tú @vtt3613 🙏😊😊 And u asked about somebody who knows a LOTTT about fashion and i can give as tip @mayuuram!!! She made this forum: https://penpal-gate.net/forum/12-everyday-life-and-customs/10421-fashion-style and i think she can also gives guys a lot of tips what is the nicest to wear and super trendy items!!!! 🙂 I will soon make the questions for the new part of the interview but if anybody in the meantime has a question u can just post below!!! 🙂

Ah, yes. Losing to Argentina hurts. Myself and many others couldn’t understand why the manager made defensive substitutions with so long left in the game. Kane looked tired and had been overplayed and under rested during the tournament, and I feel that he should have been taken off for another striker with fresh legs to chase the ball. We relinquished possession, fell back and gave Argentina the initiative. This was a mistake. There was little attacking from us in the last half hour, and that is the strongest part of our game. Relying on keeping out Argentina was a bad decision, we are not Spain. I was disappointed also that we were bigger than them all over the field, and yet we didn’t put enough crosses into the box for Kane, Bellingham and the others to attack. Argentina played their usual rough, aggressive and often illegal fouling style at times, but the referee failed to punish them until it was too late to upset their tactics. I believe after committing at least a dozen or fifteen fouls against around five from England, it was in fact an English player who was booked first. As for the Malvinas (Falkland islands) protest banner at the end, it was political and controversial to mention this again. I hope that they are punished severely for stirring up trouble again. Several of their top players actually play in the English Premier League and will definitely face booing when they return to England next month. We don’t take kindly to those who bite the hand that feeds them. Anyway, enough of that. I didn’t know that about the amount of castles in Slovakia, but thanks. It might even come up as a question on the trivia quiz. I visited Bratislava and Vienna on the river cruise and both had their individual character and charm. It’s well worth visiting them and having a look for yourself. I believe you are correct about the capital cities being the closest. It’s another interesting trivia fact that might come in useful one day. Nice to talk to you, and sorry for getting carried away and writing so much.

@LateLearner Okay, so I'm writing this after the World Cup final. Yeah, seeing how Spain played in the final, now we surely can say the decision of England team to switch to defend after 1 goal lead cost them the game. Also about the Falkland Islands, I know those things would happen everytime England plays against Argentina in the World Cup. But Argentines can protest all they want, they can even beat England 10-0 (which may never happen), at the end of the day, UK still keep the Falkland Islands, at least for now.

And thank God, Spain won. Argentina, you know, played as they usually play, which made the final quite unbearable to watch. Even more unbearable than 2010 World Cup final, at least then the Netherlands had some plans to actually score and win the game. Here Argentina played for the whole 120 minutes with only 2 shots, and none of it went on goal. I mean, really?

And for Enzo Fernandez, surely he won't have a good time back to Chelsea next season. I heard rumors that Real Madrid wants to get him, but after what happened in the World Cup final, I don't think he would have a good time if he wants to go to Spain. Seriously, I don't know what was he thinking in the moment that foul against Cubarsi.

3rd place match is actually very fun to watch by the way, one of the most entertaining match I've ever seen. I actually had some laugh watching the match. Obviously if I am the manager of either one of the teams, I'm not very pleased with the defense, but since it's a 3rd place match, where both sides have nothing to lose, why don't just have a bit of fun then?

Oh, and no need to apologize for writing so much by the way. Myself, I also do it a lot of time. See how did I answer my first question of the interview? Also very nice to talk to you.