Episode 4 – Amy

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“I showed her a photo on my phone of my mom and her siblings as little kids and she pointed to each individual child and said their Vietnamese names… and I just burst out crying.”

Imagine travelling to your parents’ old country that they used to call home. But that’s not exactly the reason why you’re there. It just so happens that you’re visiting for other commitments. But while you’re there, you decide to check out where your parent used to live. Everything’s changed since they left – the war, modernization, urbanization has transformed everything where even the street names have changed. You guess where your parents used to live and hope that it’s the right spot.

You suddenly meet a woman. She doesn’t speak any English. You don’t think much of it, but your boyfriend wants you to try and ask what happened. Next thing you know, you’re meeting long lost relatives in the house your parent lived in. What emotions are you feeling? What are you thinking?

This incredible story is what happened to my friend Amy on her recent trip to Vietnam.

This episode was a special one. Along with the story of her trip, we talked about Asian-Canadian identity – including the contentious term “jungle Asian” and shout out the Facebook group “subtle asian traits”. How do you deal with being mixed race? What counts are first-generation, second-generation, or immigrants?

We talked about our friendship with NRAC. She talked about her career and the obstacles along the way. And obviously we had to talk about Fall Out Boy. Shout out to Blake Murphy and Columbia House Party for their conversations about emo.

This episode is truly special to me. Amy is one of my best friends and her story blew me away. Thank you to Amy for coming onto the podcast. And I hope you all enjoy this episode.