When i came to the U.S, our family stayed at a small apartment complex where there were three other Vietnamese families. We were closed as family because there were not many Vietnamese around the area. One of the families had a sixteen year old daughter who I looked up as a sister. She spent long hours at my house hanging out and helping me with my homework. I remember she had a boyfriend who came to her place a couple time when her parents were home. I remember when i asked her about him, she denied it. However, one day she told me her family was moving to another State ( i don't remember), and she didn't tell me why. When i entered high school, i found out from my mom the reason why her family had to move so quickly was because she was pregnant. My mom told me her story because she did not want the same thing happen to me. She told me that her family did not accept her boyfriend and couldn't deal with people knowing about their unmarried and pregnant daughter. In Asian culture, being pregnant before marriage is a shame to the family. Her family could not deal with the shame she had brought so they moved to another place where they wouldn't be judged by other Asian, especially Vietnamese. I think her family must have said lots of negative things to her that made her even felt ashamed of herself because I had not hear anything from her after her family moved away. No letters nor phone calls from her. Being a female is hard already, but being a female in an Asian family is even harder.
Kristy
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