Personal Narrative: My Vietnamese Culture

When I was 5 years old, my identity was rooted by my vietnamese culture, and my lifestyle had yet to be tainted by American assimilation. I was a miniature reflection of my parents and manifested our cultural heritage through my everyday actions. However, unlike my parents, i wasn’t born into a life in which kids were afraid to play outside due to gangs or getting bitten by wild untreated dogs. Instead I was born into a two story suburban home that was kept unlocked during the day, without even a hint of fear residing there. My parents brought me to a country in which the sky was the limit and there was hope. Nevertheless, It was until i started going to school that i realized the life i had become so accustomed to was not the one that everyone else shared. I began to learn that sandwiches were brought to lunch, not rice, and that forks were used for eating, not chopsticks. …show more content…
It fostered astriction between the culture that ran through my blood and settled at home, and the culture was been submerged in everyday from 8-3 at school. Frustrated at seeming different from my classmates, I thought to further identify with their southern culture i needed to make up for my dissimilar looks. So I placed my vietnamese heritage on the back burner and generated a lifestyle that less resembled that of my parents. I began to speak less and less vietnamese, and created a distaste for traditional food; Instead I wanted to go out to American restaurants such as Friday’s and dress more like the American students of my school. As my parents wanted everything they couldn’t have, they let me stray from their culture, as long as it meant i was happy. I became more acquainted with english slang and mannerisms all while becoming less conversant with my parents. From that arose constant issues that neither of us were ever able to see eye to eye. I was 13 and didn't know how to talk to the people that taught me my first