Vietnamese Culture: Personal Experience

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My entire life has been, and will always be, apart of the Vietnamese culture. I was born in Vietnam, in a small city called My Tho. My family was well-off in Vietnam, but my parents thought I would have better opportunities for my educational career in America. Therefore, my entire family immigrated to the United States when I was five. My whole world changed as I stepped into a new country consisting of unknown cultures and expectations . I was considered an outsider amongst the kids that grew up here. I did not have any prior knowledge of English, and my peers would make tease me when I spoke in Vietnamese. Living in a predominantly “white” neighborhood, I felt like I was ostracized for loving and expressing my culture. As a child, I was not able to handle the treatment, so I tried to get as far away as I could …show more content…
A few years later, I moved to a neighborhood that had more cultural variety. There were kids who would freely speak in their native language and share stories about life back in their home country. I was astonished at how proud they were of their culture, and how open they were about expressing it. I started to feel ashamed of myself for being embarrassed of my culture when I saw how happy my friends looked. In order to repent for my past behavior, I tried to get involved in my Vietnamese community in any way I could. I joined the Vietnamese Student Association in my school. Their purpose was to perform acts of community service that would promote the Vietnamese culture to the school and the community. I would participate in Tet festivals and fundraisers in Pho restaurants to fund for children surgery in Viet Nam. I also performed in the annual VSA Show that the Vietnamese