Thank you for posting your families’ adventures. It’s captivating reading for those of us who don’t get out much (or as much as we would like).

By way of background, I’m a transplant from Vietnam in the mid-80s, having re-settled after a couple years at two UN sponsored refugee camps.

When I was in the 8th grade, I asked my English teacher for a recommendation- a pre-requisite for placement in freshman honors English. She told me that she would not make the recommendation because I was not born here. (It wasn’t what she said as much as the vitriol and glare behind the comments.) I took a couple of steps and she pointed out to me a piece of paper on the floor that I did not see. She told me, and I still recall it vividly 25 years later that, “in this country, when we see trash, we pick it up.” I’m not sure why it bothered me so much, and it bothers me still when I think about it.

I’ve been blessed with tremendous teachers/professors along the way, all of whom contributed to my success. There are no greater motivators than the Mrs. Gallaghers of the world.

I understand now that given the close temporal proximity between the end of the war and when you and I grew up, many wounds remained unhealed. But as a kid, hearing things like that sucked!

Many thanks for allowing me to share.

-Will

P.S. Re: Luan, the Vietnamese refers to English as a “tieng do” or translated literally, a “wind language.” The “ch” sound that Luan added to his words is probably an effort to replicate the “Sss” sound we make with words that has combinations of “s”, “ch” and the like. You know how companies train employees at Indian call centers to sound “more American?” It’s along those lines.