Q: What aspects of your life did you have to change completely?
A: I guess probably I might have resistance in adapting myself to American pragmatism, which is in flagrant contrast with Vietnamese value system, which is predominantly idealistic. The second aspect that needs to be changed was the extremely strong extended family ties. In Vietnamese culture, grandparents when old live in the same household with their children and family and they are expected to be taken care of by their children. In the United States, this arrangement has become more difficult. Often, they are taken care of physically and financially by their children, but they live separately in their own home. And apparently more and more, children feel their aged parents need to be placed reluctantly in a nursing home. This situation creates a great deal of hurt for old people.
Q: What sort of items were you able to bring and leave behind? Was it difficult making those decisions?
A: I would say that I bring along with me beautiful traits of the Vietnamese culture heritage such as filial piety, which at the practical level, means ancestor worship, love and loyalty for your parents and siblings, generosity and unselfishness, which I will be very proud to share with my American friends. And definitely I miss all the properties and social status that I had to leave behind; however, the most precious thing I had to leave behind is my beloved, If it weren’t for the communists and unless it was a matter of life and death, I would have never left Vietnam. It was a very difficult decision to make.
Q: What was your favorite part of living in Vietnam?
A: The land where I was born, grew up, and was embraced in a beautiful value system of love, generosity, unselfishness, and sacrifice.
Q: What was your favorite part about living in the US?
A: Freedom. Once you have freedom, you can grow and be creative and become what you want to be.
Q: And lastly, what is your message you would like to send to those considering moving to a new country, or are currently in the process of adjusting to a new culture? Any advice you think would be helpful?
A: To those who consider moving to a new country, I have two words as a message: Freedom and opportunity. To those who are in the process of adjusting to a new culture, I would recommend them to master the language because language means culture and opportunity. Working hard would be helpful.
As you can see, the Vietnam War had taken a toll on all lives involved. Not only did people struggle while living in Vietnam, but when adjusting to another culture. There are also a few grammatical errors of my grandmothers that I had intentionally left untouched, showing how difficult adapting to another lifestyle can be. Though