Bao Pham915326313ASS 210Oral history assignment My name is Hung Nguyen and I was born in 1972. My country of birth is Vietnam and both of my parent are Vietnamese American. Back in when I was live in Vietnam, my family had a big house and we were a wealthy family. We didnt have live in poor because my family business was really good. My mother worked as a motor-cycle seller and at that time, motorcycle is an expensive item in Vietnam. Although we had a good living standard and we had money but we still unhappy about our government. People at that time had to live with the fear for the government. They couldnt raise their voice, express their mind, we were all lack of freedom. Back in 1979, there was a war happened in Vietnam and after that war, almost every Chinese Vietnamese forced to leave the country. There was a Chinese Vietnamese person in my family so we had to find the way to help him leave Vietnam. My parents gave him some money and told him to go to the USA. Few months later we received a mail send from America and we all know that the one who wrote that was my uncle. In the letter he said that he is having a freedom life in that country, he also said that he had a job there and hope my family could find a way to come to the USA and start a new life there. One thing that I do not want to lie is not just my family, people in Vietnam have no freedom, Vietnam is a communist government which mean when you live in here, freedom is something luxury for you. With the thirst of freedom, my mother convince my dad to sell everything we have here and start a new life in that promise country. My dad decided that he will find a way to come to the USA first, if everything fine, he will find a way to take our family there. My dad sold one of our house and started his journey. After a few months, my dad sent a mail and in the mail, he said that he had a job and he want me to go there with him. My mother was very nervous to let me go alone but she have no choice because she had many things finish in Vietnam before she can leave. My mother managed to get me on a board that I do not remember it name and in order to do that, she have to paid them. Our ship went at midnight and right before I go, my mother gave me a little money for the trip and wish me best luck. My first feeling when I stepped on the boat was there were too many people. We had 35 people in total on just a 15 people-boat. The boat driver promised that he will get us to Hong Kong safe and sound. In order to come to America, we had to go to Hong Kong as a refugee first and then wait for the USA governments permission to go to the USA. The boat driver promised that we will arrive Hong Kong in 1 week. At first everything was fine, we grouped all the food that we have and just eat a little in order to last till we arrive Hong Kong. After a few days on the boat, unfortunately, our boat hit a storm. That storm was very big and our boat crashed a little bit. Everybody were panic and thought that we cannot make it to Hong Kong. Luckily, we arrived on an island that at first everybody thought it was Hong Kong. When the boat captain ask people live in the island we found out that this island is not Hong Kong, we still have a long way to go before we get there. We needed to fix our boat before we go. The captain asked everybody on the boat to give him all they got to fix the boat. We had no choice but to give him our money. After a few days, we fixed the boat and continue our trip. I was very nervous because I had nothing. I gave the captain all the money that my mum give me for the trip. I didnt know what to do when I arrived Hong Kong with no money at all. Finally we arrived Hong Kong and people in Hong Kong lets us live in a refugee camp. In order to survive, I had to work even though I didnt have to do anything back in Vietnam. After months stay in the refugee camp, finally I got accepted to immigrate to the USA. I was very happy and couldnt wait to go there. My first feeling when I arrived America was freedom. I finally arrived here and can started my new life in the country of freedom. My dad pick me up and told me that to start a new life, it will be hard but we are hardworking people, we can do it. We received a lots of helps from the church. I finally can start studying again hopefully after finish school, I can get a job and start to build my house. My first few months stay in America was the hardest time of my life. My English was very bad so I barely can speak to anyone accept my dad. At first I thought Im the only Vietnamese student in my school but turn out, there are a lots of kids just like me. We helped each other and tried our best to fit it the community. I tried my best to study English and have a good grade at school. After I finish high school, I decided that I have to find a job. My dad supported me all the way he can but it still very hard to find a job here because of my bad English skill. After I finish high school, my father encourage me to keep pursuit my study career but at that time, my family was poor so I decided to find a job and start making money to help my family. Many places where I applied for a job rejected me because they thought with my bad English skill, I cannot do a great job for the work. I tried my best to practice English and hope that one day I can speak like a real American.Things got better and now Im working as a cab driver, I have a kid and a house. Im still trying my best to pursuit America dream. Im so happy for my child because he was born here. In America everything is better compare to Vietnam. The living condition in here is much better, and the best thing I like about this country is America is a fair country. You get paid for what whatever you do. As long as you work hard, you will get paid no matter what. Another the thing is the transportation in here is also far better. You can go wherever you want because of the high tech vehicles, big road, and even if you dont have a car, the public transportation here is one of the best around the word. I agreed that America is one of the best country on earth but there are still something that I dont like about this country. The USA is a country of freedom, its a good thing but sometime I think people here are over-freedom. On more thing I dont like about here is that some people in this country are still old-school so they tend to not treat people like me fairly.Even though I have left my country for many year but me and my family still keep some traditions from Vietnam. We always gather together, all of my family, in lunar New Year. Im glad that we surround by a big Vietnamese community so if I want to be with my community I can do it whenever I want to. During 28 years stay here in America, I visited Vietnam twice. The first time I came back to visit my home country, I was so disappointed. Everything was still the same, nothing change. People still lived in poorness and many people still dont have a home or even food to eat. I talked to many people at the time and they all said to me that they want to leave this country just like I did. I was very upset and feel helpless because I couldnt do much to help my relative here. The second time I came back to visit Vietnam I was totally shocked. Everything was different and I didnt even recognize my neighborhood. People was happier and I can see many tall building grown in city center. A lot of my friend have big houses and good business. They asked me to come back to Vietnam and raise a new career here. Now that I have a decent job and have a kid, I still trying my best to be self-employed. Living in bay area is very hard for everyone because this is one of the most expensive city in America, I try my best everyday so my son can have a better future. The time I spent in the USA is more than the time I spent in Vietnam so in the far future, I decided to keep going to stay in the USA. Vietnam is my home country and I never forget it but I have no plan to get back to Vietnam and start my life there.