In the year of 1987, when the country- Vietnam still had war; deaths, funerals, laments occurred everywhere. The country was in lack of protection, in which the government kept on confiscating the houses’ properties, valuable stuffs; therefore families became poorer and more miserable. My grandparents meanwhile were working at the Hai Phong port, their salary wasn’t enough to raise a whole family with thin five children, and we ended up suffering from hunger and thirst for days long. My aunt, tired of her circumstances, she decided to immigrate. She left her homeland, through waterways entered to Canada on purpose of fleeing for shelter, but also to seek for a better life. Her immigration considered of both push and pull factor.
She successfully made the immigration within a month; since it was illegal so she had done it pretty secret. Her life was actually gone better day by day, with enough of furniture, advance in transportations and chances applying modern technologies. She temporally lives in an ethnic area where far from the center of Toronto, where the Vietnamese were mainly settled on. Come to Canada, my auntie would get opportunities to learn English, to completely vary her appearance (such as clothing), however still can maintain her own Vietnamese culture, through living with Vietnamese people in that outskirt. But, her past life wasn’t that easy, it actually was even more negative when she was in Vietnam. Auntie was effective in both physically and psychologically. Languages seemed to her the hardest challenge, as she couldn’t interact with the Canadian using Vietnamese. It took her for years to adapt to the climate of Canada, especially in the winter. Her salary- a worker’s salary was unaffordable with winter clothes. Without any relatives, she got no help, no advantage, no one to lean on. I felt sorry for aunt, because she was lonely and missing home. She currently lives happily with her husband and children, although in facts, she lost contacts with the family (parents, brothers and sisters), friends, and her life’s conditions. Nevertheless she learned to be independent, having ability to face many kinds of situations.
