My Life In Vietnam

Some met in college or married in Vietnam. For the most part, they are all married to other

Vietnamese people. One of my aunts married her husband and his cousin married my other aunt, so I have double cousins. It might be even easier to get along with people in the same community because they have the same morals

We used to hold more traditional things when we were younger and everyone lived on the

West Coast, but we do celebrate our grandparents’ memorial every year. This year, we met up at the cemetery and prayed for them. We celebrate Catholic holidays and Lunar New Years. We’ve all assimilated into American culture and have lost tradition, but we are still family-oriented. My mom’s generation doesn’t get together as much, but the

Our family donated a lot of money to build that church and it looks more like a Vietnamese temple than an actual church.

With the cousins, we tend to mix in a lot of English and Vietnamese words. Every other word would be Vietnamese and every other word would be in English. For instance, we’ll say a verb in Vietnamese and add in “-ing” at the end in English.

We eat everything! Everybody likes to cook different dishes. The oldest aunt likes to pickle everything. My second aunt can cook anything. My third uncle, I’ve never seen him cook.

His girlfriends cook everything for him. The next aunt used to own a restaurant and makes the best hand-made banh bot loc. My mom makes bun rieu and bun bo. I have one aunt who grew up in the monastery and cooks a lot of American food. My youngest uncle cooks as well and was actually taught by my mom. We don’t have traditions, but we eat a lot. We usually have seven different species on the table. My close friends from D.C. actually went to my cousins place to pick something up and sent me a photo of the altar where my grandparents’ memorial was

She was a single mom, so she had to work all the time. I wasn’t independent by choice; it was more of a lifestyle I had to adapt to. The reason why we don’t talk about our past is because of the social differences of how we grew up. We have that social barrier because I don’t understand her culture as much

I always worked in the nail shop with my mom. When I was 17, I worked in retail and then as a make-up artist. I became a business manager for Chanel and went to school part-time for several years. I stopped working there to attend school full-time and waitressed at a lounge for extra cash on the weekends. From there, I became a bartender. I went to school for fashion design. I’m a make-up artist, fashion designer, and bartender. Basically, I’m a starving artist that has to bartend to pay rent.

I always worked in the nail shop with my mom. When I was 17, I worked in retail and then as a make-up artist. I became a business manager for Chanel and went to school part-time for several years. I stopped working there to attend school full-time and waitressed at a lounge for extra cash on the weekends. From there, I became a bartender. I went to school for