Houston

=Sommai Houston=

Podcast
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BIOGRAPHICAL/GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Sommai is from Thailand. She moved to America when she was 11 years old. Her mom got her brother, sister, and her in 1971 to move to California. After living in California she moved to Germany then England and back here to the United States in New York for six years. She then came to Ohio and lived with her parents in Huber Heights and ever since she’s lived here in Trotwood. She is now 51 and has two kids and a husband and is working at Wal-mart.

Thailand is in Asia on the southeast side. Most people know of Thailand as just Thailand but it is really the Kingdom of Thailand. The capital of Thailand is Bangkok. Thailand is 513,120 sq. km. They have a total population of 66,720,153 people with a life expectancy of 73.6 years. Their nationality is Thai and the largest ethnic group is Thai(75%). =Creative Writing=

By: Jillian Percy
In Thailand

Tomorrow, my mom is coming to get me, my brother Ome, and my sister Junie. We are going to America, to California or something. I don’t know how to speak English or even understand it. I really don’t want to go. I’ve been here in Thailand since I was born, 11 whole years. I like it here with all my friends and family. Mom said we have to because dad has to do some work there for his job or something. She said she doesn’t care what I want. But know I have to get ready and finish packing.

Airplanes, Flying High, Sky High, Up Above

Today, mom got us. We headed to the airport; I had to swim through the crowd. I couldn’t see anything since I was so small. I was trying to push through like a herd of bulls. When I finally got through, we had to go through the metal detector things, you know, if you have metal in your pocket or on it will make you go off. Once we checked in/got our tickets, we went to sit by our gate. We had to wait along time when we got on the plane we had to wait some more. But when we finally left it took 23 hours, straight, no stopping. I liked it when the lady came by every once in a while to give me little snacks and offer me drinks. She always gave me peanuts or pretzels, with a Pepsi or Sprite. Even though it was boring and I didn’t do anything, it wasn’t… or it didn’t seem that long to me.

Home Sweet Home

Now since we’ve moved to California and I like it, we are moving again! This time to Germany. Then we moved AGAIN, but this time to England. I’m never going to have a home, home. We moved back to the U.S. this time to New York. After we were there for six years, we moved to Ohio. They say we won’t move again but who believes them, not me. I lived in Huber Heights for a while then moved to Trotwood. I’ve lived in Trotwood most of the time I’ve been here in Ohio. I think I finally have a home, home. I don’t plan on moving, I’ve moved WAY too much.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Percy: I’m Jillian and we have to interview immigrants for a school project and I know you’re from Thailand so I’m going to interview you. What’s your full name?

Houston: Sommai Houston

Percy: Where did you immigrate from?

Houston: Thailand.

Percy: What was life like before you came to America?

Houston: Life in Thailand is there’s no freedom and there’s really a lot of poor people.

Percy: So what made you come here and move here?

Houston: My mom came over and get me and my sister and my brother and she brought us over here.

Percy: How did you come here? Like on a plane or a boat or train?

Houston: Plane.

Percy: Was it long?

Houston: Long trip yes [23 hours].

Percy: What was the first thing you saw when you came?

Houston: First we saw a lot of American people, and then the first place that we came it was California and California has a lot of dessert so there’s a lot of sand, that’s the first thing I remember.

Percy: Did you have any trouble becoming a citizen?

Houston: No, not really, there’s a lot of studying for the test but I did it. [Laughing]

Percy: Did you know English before you came here?

Houston: No.

Percy: So you just spoke Thai?

Houston: Yupp.

Percy: What’s transportation like in Thailand?

Houston: There’s a lot of busses and bike.

Percy: They didn’t have any cars or anything like that?

Houston: Not too many cars.

Percy: What kind of jobs did they have there?

Houston: Not sure on that one [laughing] but I know that 14 years old can be working instead of here you have to be 16 to be able to work over there you can be 14.

Percy: In the schools how many grades did they have? Like did they have 12?

Houston: 12.

Percy: Did the people graduate?

Houston: Yeah, they graduate.

Percy: Did they call it graduating?

Houston: Yeah, and we do have college.

Percy: Is it better or worse in America or Thailand?

Houston: America, here is better, it’s worse in Thailand.

Percy: What’s your favorite memory in America?

Houston: My favorite memory here is, I guess it’s to learn English.

Percy: Do you miss your old country?

Houston: Yeah.

Percy: What do you miss about it?

Houston: Food.

Percy: That’s it just the food?

Houston: Yeah [laughing]

Percy: Do you feel that immigrating here was a good decision or would you have rather have stayed in Thailand?

Houston: Here is a good decision to be here. It’s better life.

Percy: What was the weather like in Thailand?

Houston: Very hot.

Percy: Was it like here in the summer?

Houston: Well in Thailand we don’t have no snow it’s always hot and rain.

Percy: Did you have fast food restaurants?

Houston: A lot of fast-food restaurants.

Percy: Did they have any American fast food restaurants?

Houston: Yes they do now.

Percy: What is different in America like lifestyle?

Houston: The lifestyle and Thailand’s lifestyle is I think like I said is the freedom. American have more freedom than Thailand. That’s the lifestyle I think that’s the different life style and we got better life than Thailand. Thailand is more poor so there’s no, you know no lifestyle.

Percy: Have you ever visited Thailand?

Houston: Yes, one time.

Percy: What did you do when you visited?

Houston: Eat a lot and travel place to place.

Percy: So did you see any of your relatives there?

Houston: Yes.

Percy: Like who?

Houston: Uncle, aunt, nephew, friends, and teacher.

Percy: How did you feel? Were you happy you were back?

Houston: I was happy.

Percy: Were you welcomed back? Did they come and have a party for you?

Houston: Yeah.

Percy: Did you see your childhood home, like where you used to live before you came to America?

Houston: Yes.

Percy: How did it make you feel?

Houston: Happy and sad.

Percy: Why did it make you feel that way?

Houston: Sad because I miss it. Happy because I think I have make the right decision to be in America when I went back and look at where I used to live.

Percy: That’s it. Can you like say something like hi or bye in Thai?

Houston: Let’s say, Sawatdee Kaa, khop khun kha.

Percy: What does that mean?

Houston: It say good bye and thank you.

Percy: Thank you for that.

ANALYSIS
In class we talked about how immigrants had hard times and long trips over to America. People had hard times getting here because they might get sick on the boat before even coming here and get thrown overboard and didn’t get to come or they got here and didn’t pay so they weren’t aloud to get off of the boat when they got here. People would try and tell the immigrants to leave because the people didn’t want the immigrants in their country. But not all immigrants have hard times but some do have long trips. My interviewee, Sommai didn’t have any hard times getting over here. She said she got on the airplane and didn’t have any problems at all. She got to America and nobody told her to leave. She did tell me, “Long trip, yes”. She told me she was on the plane for 23 hours straight. She ended up liking it here except all the moving around she had to do. But, she didn’t have hard times just a very long trip.