[vmdd] Summer of Love (fwd)

[a1@bpworld.com]

-------- Forwared Message -------------
>From Mai_Le@mails.imed.com Sat May 31 11:40:58 1997
Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 15:07:20 -0500
From: Mai Le <Mai_Le@mails.imed.com>
To: vmdd@bpworld.com
Subject: [vmdd] Summer of Love


     Tha^n cha`o ca'c anh chi.,
     
     Go+?i -de^'n ca'c anh chi. mo^.t ca^u chuye^.n co' tha^.t -de^? -do.c 
     cho vui khi kho^ng co`n gi` -de^? la`m weekend na^`y.  Xin chu'c mo.i 
     ngu*o*`i mo^.t weekend an la`nh, vui ve?.
     
     Me^'n 
     
     PL 
     
     
     
______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________
Subject: Summer of Love
     
A feel good article from this young Vietnamese lady 
===================================================== 
Summer of Love
     
by Ha Nhu Ana Tran
     
 It was the summer of 1990 and I had just finished the eighth grade. It was
recently that the United States and communist Vietnam had agreed to open 
its doors to the "Vietkieu" (Vietnamese living overseas) and U.S. tourists. 
I am considered a Vietkieu having fled my country when I was only three 
months old, and therefore did not know anything about my country.
     
  Being so accustomed to the American Society, I had no desire to visit my
country or to learn more about it. As a result, when my father asked me to 
come along with him to Vietnam in order to meet my relatives, the furthest 
thought in my mind was accepting the offer to spend my whole summer in a 
country where I did not know a single soul and where it is known to be so 
poor. My father desperately wanted me to meet his side of the family and so 
he begged me to accompany him. I definitely did not want to spend two whole 
months there, but nor did I want to hurt his feelings, and so I agreed to 
come along. The decision I made to give up my whole summer in the States 
ended up to be the best choice I ever made.
     
School had officially ended for the year and the summer was about to begin. 
It was a time of happiness to the rest of my classmates, especially since we 
were all going to be freshmen in high school now. I remember many of them 
were so excited, and then there was me. I dreaded for this summer to begin. 
I could not believe I was going back to a country where I was born, yet knew 
absolutely nothing about. It would be the first time that I would be away 
from my mother for so long and not to mention my brother. My brother and I 
have this special bond, he is my best friend and someone I have always 
looked up to and being away from him for so long really scared me.  Before I 
had anymore time to think about this trip that I did not want to make, I was 
on the plane. After over 24 hours of exhausting travel, we finally reached 
our destination. Stepping off the plane, I remember clearly how incredibly 
hot it was. The airport back then did not even have any air conditioning and 
it took hours to just complete the paperwork. After slipping a couple of 
twenties under the table, the customs official let us through the exit gate. 
To my amazement, 44 relatives (I did not even know I had that many) awaited 
us at the airport. I met for the first time my grandparents, my father's 12 
siblings, their husbands/wives, and the countless cousins of mine. It was an 
emotional moment for my father as he was reunited with his family the first 
time in 15 years. It was an astonishing moment.
     
My father and I got in the van to take us back to our house and I still 
remember all my relatives and cousins staring at me. They all knew my name, 
yet I did not know any of them. They kept on making broken english comments 
(where you from? How are you...) and then they would all end up in 
laughter. Everyone was asking me what was on my teeth, as I wore braces 
back then. I was a complete foreigner to them. I remember looking out the 
window and noticed how dirty everything was.
People were all over the place. Motorcycles and bicycles were like ants and 
filled the streets. It was such a different and unique experience. After 
about a half an hour, we reached the house where I would be staying for the 
next two months. I almost started to cry. The house was in the worst 
possible condition. This two-story building had mold growing from the walls 
and the only two bathrooms were disgusting. And worst of all, can you 
imagine 44 people living under this one roof?
     
Even though I lived in the worst conditions for the next two months, it 
turned out to be an excellent learning experience and the best time of my 
life. I learned so much during this summer. I learned how important my 
family was to me and how proud I should be to be Vietnamese. After growing 
up in the suburbs of Seattle around only white Americans my whole life, I 
basically lost my identity, and used to be embarrassed and ashamed to be 
Vietnamese. I remember being different from all my classmates and I tried 
to avoid communicating with other asians that I would encounter when I went 
to the inner-city. From elementary to high school, I went to school with 
over 2000 students and there was only two blacks and three asians. One the 
asians was my brother and the other was my cousin. We all grew up thinking 
we were white and never even thought about the chance of marrying a 
Vietnamese let alone an asian person. After taking this trip to my country, 
I was exposed to my people for the very first time and learned that is was 
all right to have black hair. I was the majority for the first time. Seeing 
everybody with black hair made me feel normal, it is a feeling hard to 
describe.
     
During my stay in Vietnam, my mother back in the States was hearing from 
her friends that they felt so sorry for me because they knew how I had been 
brought up and they thought I would have the most miserable time of my 
life.  They had gone back to visit Vietnam the previous summer and told my 
mother that there would be no way I would be able to stand it back there. 
My mother was so worried for me. Little did she know that I was loving 
every minute of my stay. It did not bother me anymore that I lived in filth 
as it was difficult, but I got used to it and learned to adjust. In 
addition to the poor conditions, I also had to adjust to drinking warm 
sodas (no refrigerators), showering in cold water, traveling by mopeds, and 
so on. I still can't get over the fact that over 40 people had to share two 
incredibly small and dirty bathrooms. Living in those conditions also made 
me to realize how I had taken for granted so many little things that I had 
in the States. It was the first time I was exposed to such poor living 
condition. I never thought about how I had been spoiled all my life and 
that there are actually many people who would love to live in the situation 
that I am in.
     
My summer I spent in my home country is the most significant event in my 
whole life for so many reasons. I am now more open-minded about our 
society. I have grown up thinking everyone is as fortunate as myself, and 
now I have a taste of what it is really like to live both well-off and 
poor. I learned not to take anything for granted and to use my money more 
wisely. Every time I buy a new pair of shoes or jeans I think and ask 
myself if it is really that necessary.Living back there and seeing all the 
poverty made me realize the value of money. My family back in Vietnam is so 
special to me. Even though they did not have the money, they treated me 
like a queen during my stay. They broke their neck to make sure I had a 
Coca Cola everytime I was thirsty. They brought sense into me by explaining 
how proud I should be to be a young Vietnamese lady growing up in America. 
I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to meet all my little cousins, 
uncle, aunts, and my grandparents. They all mean the world to me and since 
I went back, I have thought a lot about my future husband.  I now consider 
marrying a Vietnamese man, not just for myself, but for my family and 
future children. My dream is to have my wedding in Vietnam so my whole 
family can be there. I want a husband who can communicate with my family 
and I want my children to know their culture.
     
My stay in Vietnam also got me to realize that I almost lost the Vietnamese 
tongue. I always was able to understand Vietnamese, but rarely spoke it. 
But my stay in my country forced me to speak Vietnamese at all times, as 
not many people are able to speak english. I had always thought I would be 
able to speak Vietnamese if I was forced to, but as I was speaking to my 
relatives and the other Vietnamese people, I found myself stuttering. I 
could not believe that I really could not speak my language fluently 
anymore. In order to communicate with anyone during my two months I was 
forced to speak Vietnamese. Now I am able to speak my language better and 
can even read letters that my relatives send me.
     
Since that summer, I have spent every following summer in Vietnam. Not only 
do I spend my summers there, so do the rest of my family including my 
mother and brother. The choice of my life taught me so much and most of all 
though, it taught me a whole new culture and better yet, it was the culture 
that I thought I had lost. My visit back reminds me everyday that even 
though I live in America, I am still Vietnamese and am really proud of it.
     
================================================== 
Ha Nhu Ana Tran
     
Ha Nhu Ana Tran is a Vietnamese-American now attending UC Berkeley. She 
wrote this article last year for the "Growing up Asian in America" contest 
and won first prize of $750.00 and had it published in the San Francisco 
Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner.
     
Ha Nhu was born in 1975 to Tran Van Dien and Nguyen Thi Hiep. Her father 
was a French professor in Hue while her mother was an English teacher in 
Saigon. Tran's grandfather, Tran Van Thong, is a well known French 
professor and principal in Hue. Tran and her family came to the United 
States just before the Americans withdrew as one of her father's students 
offered the opportunity to flee. Their first stop in the States was in 
Texas where Mr.Tran taught at the University of Austin before moving to 
Bellevue, Washington--where her parents live today.
     
Ha Nhu's father is currently a teacher at Redmond High School and holds a 
doctorate degree in French Literature. Her mother is a real estate broker, 
but devotes most of her time to the Lord and helps other Vietnamese 
families who are struggling. Mrs. Tran does a lot of volunteer work for St. 
Vincent DePaul and occasionally is a guest speaker at many workshops around 
the area.
     
Ha Nhu Ana Tran is currently in her third year at UC Berkeley and is 
pursuing an Economics Degree and Business Administration minor.