When we sent out an e-mail to MCAE (Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence) asking who would be a willing participant for our Oral History Project, Nam Nguyen responded within five minutes. He seemed enthusiastic in his response, excited to tell us his story. When we met him in person it wasn't what we expected. Nam was very shy. When we asked him questions, he averted our gaze and fidgeted with his hands. He often repeated phrases like "now we have nothing in Vietnam" and "my story is not very important". Although Nam doesn't think his story is important, it is.
I was born in Vietnam, this a very small village, a very quiet place. Don’t have many people in there. My parents and the people around me they do the farmer Sugarcane is the most popular there. I was 18 when I come to America I just graduate [high school] at Vietnam and then I come to America. I have two siblings, one younger brother and young sister, and my parents they very nice. They do everything and we just go to school, but for now I live with my two siblings and my parents they go to the Iowa to do the job there.
THEY LEFT EVERYTHING AT THE VIETNAM
I was born in Vietnam, this a very small village, a very quiet place. Don’t have many people in there. My parents and the people around me they do the farmer Sugarcane is the most popular there. I was 18 when I come to America I just graduate [high school] at Vietnam and then I come to America. I have two siblings, one younger brother and young sister, and my parents they very nice. They do everything and we just go to school, but for now I live with my two siblings and my parents they go to the Iowa to do the job there.
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| (a) Sugarcane farming in Vietnam |
My parents hear about the education at America, very good for me and for my siblings. So, they left everything at the Vietnam and they come to America. I know that my parents can live at Vietnam very well because they have everything, but I very thankful them because they think about my future. They sacrifice everything for my future and for my siblings’ future. My mother side, like my grandmother, my uncles, they all come to the U.S. My father side, they still in Vietnam. I miss them a lot. Every year I want to come to meet them but the ticket to come in Vietnam is expensive so I cannot.
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| (b) Vietnam |
I KNOW AMERICA BUT I DON'T KNOW ABOUT MINNESOTA
[We] come to America I think at September 2010. The first day, because I live in very small village, I don’t see very high. The big house in the downtown St. Paul and the car, you know, they have a lot but I never see that before. The freeway don’t have many house and I like “Oh, it’s not different with like my village!” But when I get in the downtown, wow. That very big now! I know America but I don’t know about Minnesota because like most the Vietnamese they know the California. (1) Honestly, I don’t know Minnesota have snow though, I don’t know that. That the one thing I get very surprised. I got there and my uncle says, “You will see snow.” and like “Oh we have snow!”
I think I will stay at America because of my parents. I have some friends in Vietnam so I still want to come back to Vietnam but not to live, just play or relax. [My parents] don’t want to come back to Vietnam because when we come to America, we sell everything. Before I come to America I have the very big house, we have like a lot of land to do the farmer. In Vietnam now we don’t have the house or the land, so we stay in America. We selled it and then we have nothing in Vietnam now so we cannot come back.
WHY WE MOVE TO AMERICA AND WE SEPARATE LIKE THAT?
My parents at Iowa and we don’t have many communication a lot. They work at the Iowa, not forever, just for a while. At the Minnesota, they don’t have many jobs open now. So, they want to go to Iowa to get a job and get money. I never been there. I don’t know how my parents’ house look like, [where] they work. My schedule very busy. So, I never think I can move to the Iowa and live there. I want to live in the Minnesota. My parents call me everyday to check what I doing and my sibling doing. Sometimes, I feel easier when I talk by the phone. I easy to share my story with my mother. They visit us 1 time a 1 month, or 2 times, depend. Usually they have a party.
At first I feel like, why we move to America, and we separate like that? I feel very annoying in myself but later, I think very carefully about financial stuff. That very good for my family, if my parents can get into Iowa, and do what they want. I keep the education because I know my parents want me to get higher education. If they still live with me at the Minnesota maybe I have to give up my education because we don’t have enough money to live in America. So, they sacrificed again to move to Iowa, and we have to separate, and I feel very okay now.
When I was in Vietnam I spend time at school and with my Vietnamese friends, not with my family. When I come to the U.S I don’t have many friends so I play with [my siblings] a lot. My uncle don’t like America a lot. In Vietnam he had everything. He don’t need to go to work, he can hire people work for him. When he come to America everything change. So he didn’t like it. Someday he will come back to Vietnam and start his business again. My siblings like America, they said more freedom. My parents don’t take care them like they were in Vietnam because my parents live in Iowa now. They just live with me and you know I have busy at school and I don’t take care them a lot.
I SEE VERY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VIETNAM AND AMERICA
For culture I still keep it, but not very much. We still eat the Vietnamese foods and I don’t like the American food like burger, pizza, anything like that. I still talk the Vietnamese with my parents. For my younger brother I said the English and the Vietnamese because something he forgot and I have to talk with him like the English sometime. I still go to Vietnamese church every Sunday so that good.
I see very difference between Vietnam and America. In Vietnam you have to know how to respect the older people, and when you talk to people you have to think carefully because they just view how you speak. Communication between the older people and younger people, younger people very different. You and I in America, not very complicated thing. When I said to my grandfather, I have to say different way than when I said with my father or with my friend. That has different level, so I have to think carefully how to use the word. In America it is not more complicated I just talk the way I am feel like more comfortable.
I very shy when I was in Vietnam. I don’t have many chance to develop myself. I just know how go to school and come back home. I don’t have to deal with many problem. But, when I go in America, I know many thing. Is like, how to deal with financial, deal with the language, how to live better, how to communicate with people, that’s how I can learn. In America my life get very busy. I go school week days, I go work weekend, volunteering on Sunday and I have to come back like the cycle again. America get many fun and many challenge than Vietnam.
In Vietnam, we communicate with same language, the Vietnamese, and we easy to say story. We same culture so they know a lot about me. When I come to America it is very different. Even though I have some friends they are Vietnamese, we still struggle in how to use the language.
I start at 10th grade again, and the first day I didn’t know [any]body at my high school. I don’t know like where I going, but I lucky I have my cousins. They with me there and like I get the right place. But, when I gets class, no more, no more cousin, no more friend and I don’t know nothing about English. Then, my high school teacher I be like “How you doing?” they said “Oh… oh I don’t know what that mean to me.” I didn’t know. They be like “What’s your name?” and I can’t answer it and, I cannot answer anymore., I feel very shy because on the English I can read and write the thing; but, for communication I cannot because I cannot hear and understand what the people talking about. My young brother speaks English better than me. Sometime I tell him, “How you read this?” and some things like that. We get closer and we say many things.
When I get in the orientation I meet some Vietnamese friends, but I don’t know because it was the first day I meet them. I don’t know if they can speak Vietnamese or not. Some people they born here, so they don’t know a lot about Vietnamese. I have to talk the English the whole day. The very last day I say, “Oh man I very tired when I said English, do you know Vietnamese?” He said to me “It doesn’t matter.” I can talk with him like the Vietnamese.
When I see the Vietnamese people around the U of M, I know they are Vietnamese [but] I can’t talk to them. Using the Vietnamese, they say this is public place why I still use Vietnamese language? When I talk English with them, maybe they think I just come to America, why he forget the Vietnamese? So, I struggle how to communicate with them.
I see very difference between Vietnam and America. In Vietnam you have to know how to respect the older people, and when you talk to people you have to think carefully because they just view how you speak. Communication between the older people and younger people, younger people very different. You and I in America, not very complicated thing. When I said to my grandfather, I have to say different way than when I said with my father or with my friend. That has different level, so I have to think carefully how to use the word. In America it is not more complicated I just talk the way I am feel like more comfortable.
I very shy when I was in Vietnam. I don’t have many chance to develop myself. I just know how go to school and come back home. I don’t have to deal with many problem. But, when I go in America, I know many thing. Is like, how to deal with financial, deal with the language, how to live better, how to communicate with people, that’s how I can learn. In America my life get very busy. I go school week days, I go work weekend, volunteering on Sunday and I have to come back like the cycle again. America get many fun and many challenge than Vietnam.
I STRUGGLE HOW TO COMMUNICATE
In Vietnam, we communicate with same language, the Vietnamese, and we easy to say story. We same culture so they know a lot about me. When I come to America it is very different. Even though I have some friends they are Vietnamese, we still struggle in how to use the language.
I start at 10th grade again, and the first day I didn’t know [any]body at my high school. I don’t know like where I going, but I lucky I have my cousins. They with me there and like I get the right place. But, when I gets class, no more, no more cousin, no more friend and I don’t know nothing about English. Then, my high school teacher I be like “How you doing?” they said “Oh… oh I don’t know what that mean to me.” I didn’t know. They be like “What’s your name?” and I can’t answer it and, I cannot answer anymore., I feel very shy because on the English I can read and write the thing; but, for communication I cannot because I cannot hear and understand what the people talking about. My young brother speaks English better than me. Sometime I tell him, “How you read this?” and some things like that. We get closer and we say many things.
When I get in the orientation I meet some Vietnamese friends, but I don’t know because it was the first day I meet them. I don’t know if they can speak Vietnamese or not. Some people they born here, so they don’t know a lot about Vietnamese. I have to talk the English the whole day. The very last day I say, “Oh man I very tired when I said English, do you know Vietnamese?” He said to me “It doesn’t matter.” I can talk with him like the Vietnamese.
When I see the Vietnamese people around the U of M, I know they are Vietnamese [but] I can’t talk to them. Using the Vietnamese, they say this is public place why I still use Vietnamese language? When I talk English with them, maybe they think I just come to America, why he forget the Vietnamese? So, I struggle how to communicate with them.
I CAN DO IT
We mainly came here for education. At Vietnam I can get into college and I can get the bachelor degree. But, it’s not good as if I get degree at America. I know that my friend graduate with 4 years degree at the university, but they don’t have any job to do. So, you know like they have to lay off and they struggle with [what] to do when they graduate. I feel very lucky when [my] parents can bring me to America. I can get in the University of Minnesota to get my future better. I set the goal, I can after 3 years get into some university and I can know the English better.
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| (c) the University of Minnesota's East Bank |
Honestly I don’t like the U of M very much. I lost at the U of M three times before, like the first day of school. I lost when I take the test at the U of M when I were in high school. They send me the email like I have to take the test for something I don’t know. Then I come to there and I lost one time and I say “Oh that very bad.” I don’t know anyone here too so I don’t like the U of M. I try to apply to St. Thomas University, they accept me, but I don’t have the money to go. My family want me to go to the community college but I want to do something very different. I will try the U of M for the first year. I try to adapt new place and study with them and now I have very fun with them.
At the first day of semester, I was excited to get University of Minnesota. If I get in small class I feel very comfortable and I can talk to the people. But, when I get in very big class, like chemistry, I don’t have connection with them. I feel like I can’t do anything. When it comes to class with very big I totally lost. I lost and I don’t feel exciting [any]more. I just think like, “Oh, I get the good grade. I choose this so I have to go with it.” I just think like that, and I go forward. I love go to school so I think America is a good place to do study. I know when I will come to America I will get the language barrier because is very hard. But, I think I can deal with that. I can do it.
FOOTNOTES:
(1) More than half of Vietnamese immigrants live in either California or Texas and nearly one-fifth reside in the Los Angeles metropolitan area alone.
PHOTO CREDITS:
STORY FACILITATORS:
Mari Valadez, Iman Mohamed, Niraj Alay
Interesting post. I feel like most immigrants can relate to Nam, especially with the sacrifice for a better education, better life. They struggle not only financially but also with the language barriers, and, like most immigrants, Nam is working hard towards his "dream" of a better life. Even though i'm not an immigrant, I can also relate with Nam. And school IS the road to a successful and possibly a better life.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting part for me in this post was when he said "I lost and I don't feel exciting [any]more." I feel like this is an important part in his story because it shows he views being in the US and the differences there are between here and Vietnam. Not only that, but physically being lost in a big place may relate to his feelings of his identity in a new place.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that he talked about having a cultural barrier, especially when it came to language. It is very similar to what many immigrants face. People don't understand that it is a struggle for immigrants and they actually try, but it is a lot to adapt to all of a sudden.
ReplyDeleteI hope he becomes successful at the UofM and finds it to be a welcoming University like I did.
This is very interesting. I think I heard this story from my parents. My parents always talked about this happen to them and how they had to struggle through it. Although, he struggle withe English, he still strive to do good in school. Also, even when he struggle with the cultural barrier, he manages to stay connected to his Vietnamese culture. I like his determination to be successful and how he gone with the choices he made thus far.
ReplyDeleteNam's struggle with the language is one that is common among most immigrants to the United States. Unfortunately, I feel that Americans are not conscious of the language and cultural barriers newcomers to our nation face. I hope that stories such as Nam's are eye openers to all those who are ignorant of this challenge for immigrants. I enjoyed reading about his determination to reach his full potential and hope he finds the success he is striving to achieve here at the U.
ReplyDelete