Hmong I am... Or Hmong I refuse to be.

So tonight I cam across a blogger and I was read her blogs and it hit me. "Omgoodness, she's HMONG and she's writing about everyday things." I have no clue why but I found it pretty amazing. She talked about how she had went through a phase of not wanting to be Hmong and what not. I don't blame her, I went through that phase as well. I'm not sure if it's what other ethnics call us or if it's the "Hmong Politics" that makes me not want to be Hmong.

We are different, wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy different. We don't have a country but that doesn't mean we don't know anything. I say we're pretty darn smart to be able to survive all of these years expecially with everything that we've gone through. Like the elders would say, "Nyob luag ntuj yug luag txuj, nyob luag teb yug luag ci." TRANSLATED: You live in their world act like them, you live in their land you gain knowledge like them.

I admit, even though I was born and raised here in the U.S. I was still living in two totally different worlds. At home I spoke Hmong, ate Hmong food and watched Hmong films. As soon as I stepped out of the house, it was another world. Every where you go, you have to speak english, eat american food and watch american films. Life was hard especially when my parents didn't know any english but they progressed over the years and learned to somewhat like american food. I remember when we were younger, my dad would buy grape soda and lady finger cookies as a treat for us (Although it was mostly for himself). So much has changed since my parents and older siblings have immigrated to the States.

Btw, I miss my dad. Not a day has gone by with out me thinking of him and how life would be like with him still here. I love and miss you daddy. I trust that even though you won't be able to read this, you're up above looking down at us and smiling. <3 <3 <3