Jenny’s Reviews > The Happiest Refugee > Status Update

"Mum was consumed by the fear that Suzie's parents would think me and my family would not be rich enough to take care of their daughter in the manner they expected. She was becoming obsessed with the pig [traditionally provided by the groom's family for the engagement party] and she wasn't the only one. As men often do, I had forgotten to tell Suzie's family ... that we would be bringing a metre-long pig with us."

"I played basketball for a while at school. The best way to describe my teammates was by their shoes: three Reebok Pumps, four Air Jordans, and a Nike Max Lite. My shoes were called 'Kind Lion' -- someone at the Chinese factory must have stuffed up the translation."

"I couldn't believe what Mum was offering. Financially we were struggling, desperately struggling, and she'd just offered a young woman and her five-year-old daughter a place to stay ... Somehow, though, it didn't seem like we had to do with less at all. It felt like exactly the opposite. Having this woman stay with us made us feel very well off. This is why my mum is a genius."

"But my father treated that loss as if it were a win, and it was a lesson that stayed with me for a long time. If the worst happens, if you lose and fail, but still celebrate coming second because you've given it a red hot go. There is no need to fear failure."

"My parents and their siblings worked and worked and worked. I look back now and the hours they did were absolutely ludicrous. But for a group of refugees who came from a communist regime where you had almost no means of making a living, they were in paradise. They were incredibly grateful they had the opportunity to be rewarded for their efforts, and worked accordingly. What a great country!"

"American helicopters flew overhead and dropped bags of food ... including lots of tins of corned beef - a practical and long-lasting food. For the first few weeks, our family indulged on this canned meat and, to this day, it is my mum's favourite food. Every second Christmas she still rolls it out and I curse those choppers for not dropping something tastier."

"Many large Vietnamese families have so many kids that they give them a nickname which is simply the order they were born. My dad was the fourth born. His name is Tam, but his brothers simply call him 'Four'. It was a system that evolved in poor villages where large families were common, and it just made things easier."