WELCOME TO AMERICA (OUR 31ST ANNIVERSARY)

Thanks to Qaptain Qwerty, I was able to take the above photo of Uncle Ping's house in Brighton Beach, during my visit to NYC last November. I looked at the house as if seeing it for the first time. Perhaps because it was the first time I "really" saw the house. Back then, the night of January 10, 1980, I was too tired to notice anything. The next few days, I was trying to keep up with so many things in the new country, I did not pay attention to the outside of the house. I do remember, after coming thru the front door, the sitting room was to the right and the stairs going down the basement was to the left. The entrance way led directly to the kitchen. To the right of the kitchen was a small bedroom, then the master bedroom and a full bathroom.

Singapore, January 1980
“Get up and get ready. The bus will be here soon. It is not going to wait for us.”
I got up, washed my face and got ready. (Did I brush my teeth? Did we even have toothbrush and toothpaste? Did I have a towel or had to share with others?)
The bus arrived to take us to the airport. (I remembered standing the whole trip because the bus was crowded. I was holding on the only piece of luggage with the whole family clothing.)
What did I see on the way to the airport? What did I see when we got off the bus, walking toward the terminal?

I don't really remember much of this trip or recall what went through my mind. I don't even remember boarding the airplane that took us from Singapore to Belgium. (Where did I sit? Who sat next to me, my sister CH or my brother VL? Were Mom and Dad nearby?) Except my Dad, no one in the family had ever been on an airplane before. Was I scared or excited about the new experience? (How did we know what to do, like putting on the seat belts? Did we use the restroom? We had to, it was at least 14 hours flight time from Singapore to Belgium. What kind of food was served and did we sleep during the whole flight?)

(Coney Island was only one subway stop from where Uncle Ping's house was but back then, we did not know what Coney Island was about. Above photo was taken in November 2010)

I remembered Dad went to search for ice cream when we were waiting for the connecting flight to New York. We teased him that the plane would take off and he could have been left behind. He came back all smiling with the ice cream cone. Was it chocolate ice cream?

From Belgium, we boarded another plane to NYC. We finally arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport around 8:00 p.m. (I don’t remember walking out of the airplane.) Uncle Ping was waiting for us and he was holding a few winter jackets. He was smiling and saying something like, “Welcome to America!”

It was dark when we walked from the terminal to the parking lot where Uncle Ping parked his car. A big snow storm came thru the day before. We were not prepared for the freezing cold and the snow piling high. We wore thin layers of clothes and worn sneakers. The jackets from Uncle Ping helped but we were still freezing.

To this day, I still remembered the comical scene when Uncle tried to explain that it was safe and encouraged us to get on the escalator to the upper level to get to the parking lot. All six of us took the stairs even though we were so tired and hungry. I remembered CH could not walk and fell down in the parking lot because it was too cold. (How did all six of us fit into Uncle Ping’s car? Was it a station-wagon? What color was it? Where did I sit and where did everyone else sit?)

When we arrived at Uncle’s house, his wife was so kind to have dinner ready for us. I remembered looking at the bowl of rice noodle soup with big chunks of meat and not sure if I was dreaming. After seven months of canned sardines, ready-to-eat noodles and steamed rice, we shamelessly ate all the food put in front of us. Of course, my parents had to be polite, controlled their hunger and instead of eating, keeping the conversation with Uncle and his wife.
After the feast, we all went to sleep in the basement. The next day, we went to the refugee agency to fill out the paperwork. We were provided a bag of decent winter clothing and $200, and that was the beginning of our new life in America 31 years ago.

St. Louis, January 2011
“TOTA, get up. Get ready for work so you could earn a paycheck and pay income taxes like all law-abiding Americans! And Happy 31st Anniversary coming to America!”