Controlling Impression

When my dad was younger, he was a victim of the Vietnam War and tried to escape from the Vietnamese communists or Vietcong. Like many Vietnamese citizens at that time, my dad has attempted to flee from the Vietcong to America. Unlike many Vietnamese citizens, my dad has attempted to escape Vietnam eight times. In these eight boat attempts, my dad was caught and imprisoned by the Vietcong many times. He has been imprisoned varying from one month to his longest 3 years in the Vietcong jail. After he gotten out of jail my dad attempted to escape one last time with my mom while still pregnant. That one last attempt that my parents went for is the reason why my sister and i are in America now. During that trip out of Vietnam, my parents, along with other refugees, stayed on the boat worn out boat for three days and two nights until they were found by a US Navy ship. The ship that found my mom and dad was a 350 meter (1149 ft.) boat the USS. OLDENDORF. My parents were then dropped off at the Philippines to live in a camp until they could finally come to America.

When my dad was in America for his first years, he was a heavy smoker. He would smoke at least a pack of cigarettes a day. Thought he knew how harmful cigarettes are, he would smoke his lungs out, ignoring the consequences. My mom would constantly nag at my dad to stop smoking but he was too addicted and just wouldn’t listen. It was until one day, my mom told my sister, who was six at that time, to stop smoking. So every time my dad pull out a cigarette, my sister would run up to my dad and tug on his pants and say, “Daddy, don’t smoke, your hurting me too.” My sister would continue doing that over the course of 3 months and my dad would finally stop smoking.

When my dad went to college when he was first in America, he would have to take the bus and or walk everywhere he goes. He did not know how to drive yet and we did not have the money at that time. Like to get food, he’d have to walk all the way to Safeway and carry everything back to our family. At that time, my dad lived in Cambell and had to go to school at San Jose State University. He had to do that for 3 months until her finally had his drivers license.