Fatherly Advice
Working hard will pay off at the end. A simple statement my father uses when he is stressed out or when I am stressed about homework. Although he has stated many of different kind of quotes, this has appealed to me more. The reason for it is that I have been motivated multiple times during those times of stress. It has built me up to try the best that I can be and succeed in the future. As a father, he wishes for me to go through a better life than his struggling life. Courageous, humorous, intelligent ï all are qualities of what of my father depicts as.
As my father stays late at night with his papers spread out on his desk, he concentrates on his work and applies in his mind that his hard work will benefit his family that he has raised. His concentration has helped him after arriving to America and was brave enough to live in a place he has never been. During the time he has live in America, he learns the English literature which has benefitted both him and other foreigners because he helps translate those who only knew Vietnamese. Nowadays, he is glad his future turned out better and tends to cracks a few jokes. He has been considered one of my favorite role models as he taught me that education is important since it helps build a stronger future. "Knowledge is power" is what my dad always says.
Similar to all fathers, my father wants to teach his son about his life experiences and to learn from them. One of the few lessons I learned from him was to remember that family comes first and friends come second. The reason for the lesson is to say not to hang out with friends too much that one loses track of memories with the family or even remembering that a family existed. Another lesson he taught me was the time when he told a story about how his father was not around to help him on his homework and that every time he strive to learn his way past through high school to go to college. His story consists of him being around a bunch of books in order to understand the homework. Remembering his story, he concluded that I should never give up even though times are tough or even tougher. As a youth during that time, I neglected most of his teachings but growing up has revealed to me that those lessons have taught me well and I intend to learn more. A traditional saying my dad says, "Quitters never win and winners never quit."
Learning more about my father's past has made me compared my past to his and I have been overwhelmed. During his childhood, he lived in a poor small farm in Vietnam where he raised small cattle. Most of his meals consisted of the cheapest fish which he choked on the bones of those fish. He lived with his grandparents since his mom was out in the city working a lot to raise money for the family. While he was in Vietnam, the students in his school were picking on him because of being half German and half Vietnamese. However, he had a protective friend that helped him through all the harassment he has been getting. As time went on, he had the chance to travel to America and learn English. Not only did he learn English, he went through high school in a year and went to college for two years. His past has illustrated to me that although he had a rough time, he still strive to work harder to proceed into a better life. I have found myself a role model that I can look up to and knows how hard things can be which teaches me that I know he will be there to help. Like always, "There are always obstacles."
In brief, my father has increased my likeness in education and my motivation to go through high school to college. Although we had some rough times together, we learn to forget, forgive, and understand each other better. His teachings, past, and personality has impacted me to want to learn every day. He has revealed to me that though there are some hard times we learn to cope with them. Overall, he has made me a better person and a better learner.
Learning in Vietnam
Visiting Vietnam has been an inspirational and learning experience that I am glad to have. It has been a long time since I went to Vietnam and I am a little excited to go on a plane. The plane has been mostly the best part about traveling to a different country. In contrast, the worst parts about traveling is packing up, getting ready, and sleeping early for the early morning flights. Vietnam has always been an opportunity to meet my family and to do something in the summer. Road trip, family hangouts, motorcycles ï all dominate my schedule every time I go to Vietnam.
As we arrived at the airport, I learned a few things compared to the time I went to the airport a long time ago. When I was younger going to the airport, I would follow where my parents tell me to go and as I have grown up I learn where to go. Noticing that I have grown, I feel more mature. Arriving at our plane, the feeling of sitting on that chair in the airplane was excitement since it made me remember the good times being on the plane. When the plane landed on Vietnam, I was really excited to meet my family members. The coolest part about being in the plane that lands in Vietnam is that I am in a plane filled with fellow Vietnamese people. It interests me because everyone had the same cultural background and was friendly especially those people that talked with my parents in Vietnamese as though they have already became friends. I have hoped Vietnam has changed dramatically as I have changed as well.
Getting picked up by the tourist vans have surely bought back memories where they have always been the transportation to go far away and explore some of the places in Vietnam. Arriving at the same old house five years ago, I learn that places in Vietnam have become cleaner. Last time, most of the places seem to have dirt or cement as their floor and now there are colorfully tiles. Also, now all of my family houses I visited back in five years have modern bathrooms. Surprisingly, there have been more cars than has ever been and slightly a few less motorcycles. The real impactful discoveries I realized was the recorded voice coming from the intercom and the Communist flags out in the middle of the street. This has made education more exciting to know that learning from the books help me understand what is happening in a different world.
Finding more knowledge to receive, I started to talk to my parents to tell me about the family here in Vietnam and their background lifestyles. My parents have been calling some of the grandmas and grandpas numbers instead of their names. Noticing the nicknames of my grandmas and grandpas, I asked what they mean and my parents told me that the first born is called two, the second born is called three, and it continues until it ends on the fourth born. This has interests me because the Vietnamese names of the days of the week are similar. In addition, my mom told me that one of our family members was living a small torn up house with little food and water for her three children. She worked long hours as a maid and luckily my parents have helped her. Another life style was my mom's where she had to be in the streets to sell rambutan for money and also became a waitress. My dad told me that he lived in a small farmhouse with his grandparents and received only small fish as food. Hearing these stories made me realized that they had a rough life compared to mine and has motivate me to better person. Leaving Vietnam has been a horrible feeling since I wanted to learn and be with my family more.
In brief, the visit to Vietnam has been important to me since the trip taught me more than I have known. I received a lot more experience than I expected I would get out from the visit to Vietnam. Seeing the tears from my family while going to the airport has made me want to relive the moments in Vietnam again. Also, I intend to learn more Vietnamese since I have replaced the beautiful language with English. Overall, the trip has enlightened me to motivate myself to work harder and increased my desire to learn more.