General Vang Pao

On January 6th my family was celebrating my little brother's 18th birthday. It was a day that my little brother became an adult (in his eyes). We had cooked great food and a beautiful and delicious white cake with chocolate frosting.

As the day passed, there were rumors going around about General Vang Pao. We heard he was in the hospital, then we heard he died, then we heard that people just think he died because he was in the hospital but he's still alive. It wasn't until the day after that my family and my father was informed that he really did die that night.

The whole entire Hmong community all over the nation mourned in sadness, as our leader rest his eyes forever. It was hard for me to see my father cry, it is times like that when I wish I could do something great for him to only feel happiness and be proud. My father rarely cries and it just makes me so sad when he does because it just means how much he's hurting inside that he had to let it out.

Do you know what this means? The fact that General Vang Pao is dead, the one guy that the Hmong people look up to is gone?

This means that all hope is gone. The hope that the rest of our people running from soldiers still have a chance to come to America. The people who are running for their lives day and night. The people who live to hear General Vang Pao say that they can live somewhere where they can actually settle down. Their hopes are lost, gone. My father's hopes are gone, he cried for our people, for the Hmong.

I want to say that there is someone out there that will be able to bring the rest of our people to safety, but like my father, my hopes are lost as well. I don't know if there is anyone, I don't know if we (the younger generation) are capable of doing such a great deed and having all that on our delicate shoulders.

It's even more sad the fact that it took General Vang Pao's death for a lot people to know how great of a person he really was. All the rumors of him about assassinating Laos was wrong, him being accused of such a thing is ridiculous to me. I never knew he was in so many wars fighting against the bad people, I never knew he had so much courage in helping our people, all of the rumors got to me and I never knew it until after he had already passed. I feel ashamed, as many others will feel.

I hope that there is still hope for our people, for those who are crying in pain because no one will save them now. I mourn for them, and hope and pray that God will save us, that God will bring us an angel to bring our people to safety.

The Flute

I was at the Hmong New Year at my home town and there was a little girl, maybe 9 years old playing a flute like instrument. It was made out of a gourd, but it plays just like a flute or a recorder. I was so in love and touched! I've been trying to find one so I can learn and play it too. It touches my heart so much that I want to cry out of happiness. If you have ever heard songs like this you would know what I'm talking about. Here is a Chinese song with the gourd/flute playing instrument, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07cupMSucys I love it so much!!! I am on a hunt to find one and learn how to play so I can always be inspired and happy! Life is just too short to be sad.

Hmong Egg Rolls

I have never realized this before, but every other egg roll that I have tasted is never as good as Hmong egg rolls. Maybe it's because I'm so used to eating Hmong egg rolls and not Chinese or Japanese egg rolls, but seriously I like Hmong ones better. We have an equal amount of veggies and meat in it which makes it taste so yummy! Every other egg roll that I have tasted only has veggies, and for some strange reason it smells to me, I just can't finish it because it tastes strange or it smells.

What does everyone else think? Do you like Hmong egg rolls more, or a different kind of egg roll? I would like to see everyone's opinion!

Hmong New Year

The Hmong New Year is this weekend in my hometown! I'm so excited, I've only missed it once in my life, when I was in a car accident and was in the hospital instead. I can't wait to go home, dress in Hmong clothes and eat and indulge in my culture! I will surely post pictures (if I even take any, I tend not to). This is the biggest celebration for Hmong people, if you are able to attend one, I would most definitely do that because it is a great way to learn about the culture and the people. It's a great way to experience a new culture, see new things, and open your eyes to different perspectives (kind of repetitive there). I just can't wait!!! I will be seeing my family and friends, it will be fun and it will help me get away from all the stress that school is giving me!

Hmong People

A lot of the elders care a lot about what others think, especially their own people. My parents care, my grandparents care, and I care (I grew up caring what others think because that's what we were taught). My parents always told us to be careful of what we do and say because it will fall upon their shoulders and it will cause embarrassment to the family. That is something that I'm just so used to and I bring it to my every thoughts, people thinking about me even if their not my kind of people or people thinking of me that I don't even know or will ever meet again. I am just so afraid of what people think and the BF says why? The only thing I could say is because that is what I grew up knowing. He grew up with no father, his father passed away a long time ago, so he didn't have much of anyone telling him what to do and not do (from a man). His mother told him, but he just didn't care what others thought of him, he has confidence. That's where he didn't understand me.

Hmong people are very observant, they see you and want to know everything that you're doing, why you're doing it, and then they want to talk. Not only Hmong do this, but everyone. It's just that in our society, the elders care so very much about what others will say and think. Now that we've been in the US for several years, it has changed a bit, they don't care as much, but they still do care. Some things will never change and some things will change little by little over time. I hope that I can have enough confidence to not have to worry about what everyone thinks of me like the BF says I should!

Babies and Chicken

My sister-in-law just had her baby yesterday morning!!! Too bad I haven't seen him at all yet, I will for sure tonight when I get home. He weighs 7 lbs. and 18 ounces, he's 19 inches long!! That's pretty long for an asian baby, lol!!! So now that she has her baby, that means she has to eat boiled chicken for a whole month!!!!! I know that'll get tiring. Why does she have to eat that stuff? Because Hmong do it as a tradition, it helps you transition from giving birth to normal life again. Eating fresh killed chicken and fresh boiled chicken every meal will help your body transition and adapt to the atmosphere. It also helps you when you get older, you wont have a lot of stomach pains and such. There are several reasons why Hmong women eat chicken for a whole month, those are only some reasons, I could go on and on about this matter. Not only will she have to eat warm food, she will have to drink warm water and make sure her body is warm. She cannot go to other people's homes for a month as well (it's also another tradition) but I think it doesn't apply if you are a Christian, it only applies if you are Shamans. There's too much to explain here, so I will stop now before I go all out, lol!

What You Eat Everyday is Not What We Eat Everyday

I had just come back from lunch and the ladies that I work with at the front desk asked me what I had for lunch. I told them I had rice with chicken and pepper. They wanted to know if I always ate rice because N (that's what I'll call her) didn't like eating rice at all (only in one dish that her mom made). Of course, I eat it all day long and everyday!!! It is plain and doesn't have a lot of taste, but we're used to it. I think that we eat a lot of rice because we don't have a lot of other stuff in our fridge. So to stuff ourselves with rice and only eat a little meat would make us full already (at least that's how I eat, because I want others to be able to have some meat on their plates too) I'm so used to doing this that I do it all the time. I know that a lot of rice in your diet isn't too good, but that's how we eat and I love it!! So, I'm not going to change it because I'm happy with the way it is.

Anyways, back to the ladies, so S and N wanted to know what we usually eat on a day to day basis, I told them we eat more veggies with everything, like stir fry, boiled veggies with meat. So it was funny because the ladies said stir fry is something that they go out to eat and get, and I said that's funny because we go out to eat American food, which is what they usually eat at home. I never really thought about that.

Then we started talking about what my parents like to eat because they are more traditional than us (children), they like to eat Hmong food more than American food. They like to eat/drink at every meal something that is boiled in water with a vegetable so they can just drink the water and eat the veggie with their meal (it substitutes for a glass of water or something to drink while eating). Every once in a while we'll make spaghetti or Alfredo or steak for my parents as a meal, but even then we eat rice.

When our family has a celebration, depending on what it is for we cook accordingly, sometimes there will be Hmong food and American food, sometimes only American food with rice on the side.

Talking about food the the ladies up front was really interesting because I can't picture what Caucasians eat everyday as a meal, and I'm sure they can't picture what I eat everyday as a meal either. Even with them telling me, I'm still unsure of what they eat, there are only certain things that I can think of to have as a meal, but what do I know since I'm not Caucasian so of course I wouldn't know. It's very interesting, I don't know if I would like eating American food all the time, and I'm sure Caucasians wouldn't like eating Hmong food all the time either, lol!!!