Anh Nguyen Austen

It was just amazing, yeah.

Yes, I think they really, I mean, we're extremely fond of Filipinos.

And every time we think about them giving us that first asylum, you know, the countries around Asia were giving a lot of first asylum and rescue.

And they were growing exhausted of it by the 1980s.

And that's when these other countries were like France and Germany were sending out ships to rescue Filipinos.

Yes.

Well, imagine how strange it is to grow up there as a Vietnamese.

And I was mistaken for being Spanish because there were no other brown people in town.

But I remember that flight and a lot of it probably comes from my imagination with Texas history as well, because I can see from the plane that streets are lined in gold, kind of like that conquistador view of America.

You know, it's so wealthy here.

And all I can see upon landing is these golden lights.

And I thought it must be the richest place in the world.

And then, you know, again, when we land, I see my cousins rushing at me and they're like,

oh, do you want to try ice cream?

And I'm like, yes, I want to try ice cream.

It was so exciting.

It was so exciting.

My mother had decided that we would not resettle around New Orleans, and she followed a brother that was doing upholstery.

So she went to train with him in Dallas, and that's what brought us to Dallas.

There was no kind of training for this life for my parents.