Spanish model with a Vietnamese soul

Andrea Aybar

Photo: Tuoi Tre

TUOITRENEWS

Sixteen-year-old model Andrea Aybar is often seen in Vietnamese magazines and fashion shows in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The Spanish girl first came to Vietnam with her father and brother eight years ago. Before coming here, she had no idea about the country and asked “Where is it? What does it look like?”

But after just 10 days in Vietnam, she told her father: “Dad, let’s stay here, let’s not go back.”

She has lived in Vietnam ever since.

She took a Vietnamese name: Nguyen Thi An. Nguyen is the most common Vietnamese surname, Thi indicates a person is a female, and An is short for her first name.

Her first modeling assignment came three years ago, when Spanish designer Diego, a friend of her father, invited her to shoot for his new Chula collection. During the photo shoot, Andrea met Ha Vy, a model and director of Venus Model Agency.

Seeing Andrea’s posing abilities and natural beauty, Vy asked her to become an exclusive model for her agency. After getting her father’s approval, Andrea stepped into the modeling world at the age of 14.

However, she also goes to school, not an international one but a Vietnamese school. Andrea joined third grade in Hanoi when she was 10 and amazed classmates and teachers with her fluent Vietnamese.

“It was the first time I had a foreign student,” Nguyen Tuong Van, Andrea’s eighth grade teacher, said.

“Only her appearance is different from other students. She follows school rules and works hard just like a Vietnamese. Andrea also has great knowledge of arts, which amazes me.

Andrea loves Vietnamese literature and history and is fond of To Huu’s poems and old fairy tales. She also loves Vietnamese food and often wanders around streets in Hanoi.

Recently she got a Vietnamese stepmother who teaches her how to cook traditional dishes like sour fish soup and braised fish in clay pot.

The 16-year-old is also a bridge between her two cultures, helping bring Vietnamese customs and the language into her family.

“My father has lived for very long in Vietnam but cannot speak Vietnamese. I often do translations for his business.”

This summer the young model is also excited at the prospect of becoming a real Vietnamese: “I’ll be a naturalized Vietnamese in a month. After that, I’ll make an ID and show everyone that I am a real Vietnamese, not a foreigner as people often call me.”

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