1 00:00:00,430 --> 00:00:03,490 [Music] 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,349 My mom came here when she was seven years old to New York. 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,080 My grandfather, my maternal grandfather 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:15,319 worked for the embassy. 5 00:00:15,759 --> 00:00:18,680 So he was posted in New York, So they all came to New York 6 00:00:18,740 --> 00:00:20,250 and she's been here ever since. 7 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,700 So 40 something years, I think. 8 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:27,670 And my dad, he came here for college, 9 00:00:27,940 --> 00:00:29,950 an engineer in San Jose. 10 00:00:30,590 --> 00:00:33,990 So he came, he studied and he just decided to live here. 11 00:00:34,339 --> 00:00:36,370 And that's my story. 12 00:00:37,830 --> 00:00:40,880 It starts off with my dad moving here for his job 13 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:43,320 back in 2003 14 00:00:43,980 --> 00:00:47,660 and that just left me and my mom back in the Philippines 15 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:51,500 um for about two years before we moved 16 00:00:51,829 --> 00:00:55,660 to join suit with him and just join I mean just like live 17 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:58,640 with him and my grandpa was already here prior, 18 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:00,880 but I don't really know what year he moved. 19 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:02,540 And yeah, 20 00:01:02,540 --> 00:01:05,750 We just been here since 2005. 21 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,711 Back in Philippines we were taught English as a second language, right? 22 00:01:09,711 --> 00:01:11,170 And I thought that 23 00:01:11,530 --> 00:01:12,610 coming here to the US 24 00:01:12,610 --> 00:01:14,680 I wouldn't really have a problem with that. 25 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:16,834 However, it was really hard because like 26 00:01:16,834 --> 00:01:19,040 all everybody around me, like literally, 27 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,060 everybody spoke fluent English and I'm 28 00:01:22,470 --> 00:01:24,320 still just like I know some words that 29 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:26,660 they're saying but it's really like 30 00:01:27,570 --> 00:01:30,159 more complex just trying to like 31 00:01:30,159 --> 00:01:32,360 decipher what they're saying and all that 32 00:01:32,540 --> 00:01:35,700 and it's um, it was hard going through that process, 33 00:01:35,700 --> 00:01:37,010 but eventually I 34 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,439 I like learn to get along with it to 35 00:01:41,439 --> 00:01:44,050 like conform myself to the society. 36 00:01:44,350 --> 00:01:47,580 So my family comes from Mexico both my mom and my dad. 37 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:50,399 And they came over in the 90s and 38 00:01:50,399 --> 00:01:51,900 they met each other like 39 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,519 uh four years after they came over, and 40 00:01:56,239 --> 00:01:58,799 they met each other at work, and then 41 00:01:59,279 --> 00:02:02,539 they got together, and they had me and yeah. 42 00:02:03,189 --> 00:02:05,076 Both of my parents were born in Egypt 43 00:02:05,076 --> 00:02:09,500 and lived there most of their lives all the way until college. 44 00:02:09,530 --> 00:02:10,844 They got married in Egypt 45 00:02:10,850 --> 00:02:14,260 and then my father decided that he wanted to come to America because 46 00:02:14,420 --> 00:02:17,170 it was the land of opportunity and dreaming and all that. 47 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:19,520 My mother, they were both obviously like 48 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:21,760 very torn to leave their family but they, 49 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,140 left everything to come here so that me and my 50 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:27,350 siblings could have a better life. 51 00:02:27,430 --> 00:02:29,680 My parents immigrated from 52 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,959 Vietnam to here during the Vietnam war. 53 00:02:32,959 --> 00:02:36,480 So my dad, he came originally from China 54 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,760 in Guangdong near Hong Kong and 55 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,319 during the Vietnam war, he escaped from 56 00:02:44,319 --> 00:02:46,720 China through Vietnam and all the way 57 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:48,640 through Malaysia as a vote person. 58 00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:51,680 So he went through a lot with his family 59 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:55,390 and his four older sisters and his two parents. 60 00:02:55,519 --> 00:02:57,519 My dad and the rest of his sisters 61 00:02:57,519 --> 00:02:59,840 decided they wanted to go to America 62 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,939 and really let their kids live the American dream 63 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:08,069 and he was very adamant about wanting to stay in America 64 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,319 seeing it as this wonderful country full of opportunities. 65 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,865 So he went here when he was 21 66 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:20,820 and he had to lie about his age to be able to go to an American high school. 67 00:03:21,079 --> 00:03:23,860 He went to San Jose high school which is very close by 68 00:03:24,159 --> 00:03:26,529 and he also graduated from San Jose state 69 00:03:27,090 --> 00:03:29,860 and he really took his education seriously, 70 00:03:29,860 --> 00:03:32,492 because he really wanted to provide for his family. 71 00:03:32,799 --> 00:03:36,109 And after everything was great he had a good job. 72 00:03:36,159 --> 00:03:39,260 He went back to Vietnam and that's where he met my mom. 73 00:03:39,599 --> 00:03:43,008 And my mom immigrated here left everything she knew 74 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:49,580 back in Vietnam and here we are with three kids and a happy family.