THE LITTLE POCKET CALENDAR

I found this little pocket calendar from 1979 which I carried with me when we left Viet Nam. I am surprised that almost 30 years later, the calendar is still in very condition, a little worn out but everything is readable. On the first page, I forgot that I wrote the followings - (bottom photo)

"Where there is a will, there is a way. (That is pretty good for someone who not yet was able to communicate in English!)

In Vietnamese "Tuong lai trong tay, Tu minh tao lay" Translation - "Your future is in your hand, Create your future."

Another writing in Vietnamese "Nhan loai truoc tien, Gia dinh ke tiep, Ban than sao chot." Translation - "Mankind first, Family next, Self last." Meaning we must do/serve what is good for mankind first, next is family and serving our own interest last. (I was 19 years old, full of dreams and very naive. Now I am just a typical hockey/football fanatic, prioritize my life around NHL and NFL schedules, cynical, self-centered and more concern with earthly possessions and what is good for me.)
The date at the left bottom corner was July 23, 1979. We were living in a hut on Berhala Island, a temporary refugee camp. (Read Qaptainqwerty blog for more details about our time on the island.)
On the last page of the calendar, I recorded the date - May 30, 1979 when we first arrived Karamut Island, all other dates and when we were transferred, how long we stayed in each of the four islands - Letung (one week), Berhala (three months), Kuku (a month and a half), Galang (one month - for some reasons I thought it was longer than that), and on November 14th to a processing center called Airraja, then a month and a half later to Unggat (for just one night, a very memorable night even to this day) and finally the boat and bus trip to Singapore on New Year Eve before the freedom flight to America on January 10, 1980. Berhala Island was where I was so sick that everyone thought I was going to die. Some even thought the Mountain God wanted me for a wife! But then he found out that I was domestically challenged and only interested in sports. The Mountain God decided to let me go and picked a pretty girl with more useful skills.