WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.160 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:06.800 align:middle line:84% So these are just a few excerpts from Hooray for English. 00:00:06.800 --> 00:00:08.720 align:middle line:90% Cool. 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:10.800 align:middle line:90% What is your name? 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:14.600 align:middle line:84% I pronounce myself and shed velvet syntax. 00:00:14.600 --> 00:00:17.640 align:middle line:84% No, I meant, what do people call you? 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:19.440 align:middle line:90% Refugee. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.080 align:middle line:90% How old are you? 00:00:21.080 --> 00:00:23.880 align:middle line:90% I'm several decades old. 00:00:23.880 --> 00:00:26.040 align:middle line:90% What is your favorite hobby? 00:00:26.040 --> 00:00:29.840 align:middle line:84% If I stand still, I'm afraid I'll fall down. 00:00:29.840 --> 00:00:32.439 align:middle line:90% There's nothing you love to do? 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:35.600 align:middle line:84% Love echoes in my throat like a morning glory. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:38.120 align:middle line:90% I crush it. 00:00:38.120 --> 00:00:41.280 align:middle line:84% What do people find most interesting about you? 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:44.000 align:middle line:90% They ask, where are you from? 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:47.520 align:middle line:84% What do you forget most about your home country? 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:54.560 align:middle line:84% I am a bright grammar trampled berries against the road. 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:56.680 align:middle line:90% Describe your family. 00:00:56.680 --> 00:00:59.880 align:middle line:84% My mother didn't want me to marry for 10 years. 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:04.319 align:middle line:84% In secret, I visited my now husband in reeducation camp. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:07.230 align:middle line:84% She worried he'd never be able to escape the country, 00:01:07.230 --> 00:01:10.870 align:middle line:84% that I'd never step a foot outside of it. 00:01:10.870 --> 00:01:14.630 align:middle line:84% The prayers before the HO program took so long. 00:01:14.630 --> 00:01:19.070 align:middle line:84% My now husband tried to sink the ocean. 00:01:19.070 --> 00:01:21.230 align:middle line:90% Describe your husband. 00:01:21.230 --> 00:01:24.050 align:middle line:84% He wanted to be there when I arrived with my papers, 00:01:24.050 --> 00:01:25.790 align:middle line:90% when he got caught again. 00:01:25.790 --> 00:01:27.950 align:middle line:84% An animal in the tines of a fork. 00:01:27.950 --> 00:01:30.630 align:middle line:84% I still never conceived of another border. 00:01:30.630 --> 00:01:33.430 align:middle line:90% I still dreamed of staying. 00:01:33.430 --> 00:01:35.470 align:middle line:90% But then what happened? 00:01:35.470 --> 00:01:38.030 align:middle line:84% We arrived at a camp in Thailand. 00:01:38.030 --> 00:01:40.830 align:middle line:84% I can count my siblings on two continents. 00:01:40.830 --> 00:01:43.230 align:middle line:90% Some crossed on water. 00:01:43.230 --> 00:01:45.330 align:middle line:90% I would do everything for love. 00:01:45.330 --> 00:01:52.390 align:middle line:90% 00:01:52.390 --> 00:01:55.670 align:middle line:84% Was everyone watching TV when the tanks rolled in? 00:01:55.670 --> 00:01:57.630 align:middle line:90% Yes, they were. 00:01:57.630 --> 00:01:59.550 align:middle line:90% Was it hard to sleep? 00:01:59.550 --> 00:02:01.350 align:middle line:90% No, it wasn't. 00:02:01.350 --> 00:02:03.590 align:middle line:84% Were children running in the streets? 00:02:03.590 --> 00:02:04.770 align:middle line:90% Yes, they were. 00:02:04.770 --> 00:02:06.430 align:middle line:90% Was furniture knocked over? 00:02:06.430 --> 00:02:07.610 align:middle line:90% No, it wasn't. 00:02:07.610 --> 00:02:08.610 align:middle line:90% Was the phone ringing? 00:02:08.610 --> 00:02:09.639 align:middle line:90% Yes, it was. 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:10.840 align:middle line:90% Were the roads jammed? 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:11.860 align:middle line:90% Yes, they were. 00:02:11.860 --> 00:02:13.440 align:middle line:90% Was the family together? 00:02:13.440 --> 00:02:14.440 align:middle line:90% No, they weren't. 00:02:14.440 --> 00:02:16.080 align:middle line:90% Were the clothes on the line? 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:17.320 align:middle line:90% Yes, they were. 00:02:17.320 --> 00:02:21.100 align:middle line:90% 00:02:21.100 --> 00:02:22.020 align:middle line:90% Present. 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:24.260 align:middle line:90% We go to camp at 7 o'clock. 00:02:24.260 --> 00:02:26.860 align:middle line:84% My mother thinks I cook for the neighbor. 00:02:26.860 --> 00:02:28.460 align:middle line:90% She walks to the gates. 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:30.460 align:middle line:90% You are a bad daughter. 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:32.220 align:middle line:90% I open my mouth. 00:02:32.220 --> 00:02:35.060 align:middle line:90% The neighbor plants melons. 00:02:35.060 --> 00:02:36.420 align:middle line:90% Future. 00:02:36.420 --> 00:02:38.620 align:middle line:90% We will go to camp at 7 o'clock. 00:02:38.620 --> 00:02:41.540 align:middle line:84% My mother will think I cook for the neighbor. 00:02:41.540 --> 00:02:43.980 align:middle line:84% I will pack food the night before. 00:02:43.980 --> 00:02:47.060 align:middle line:84% She will walk to the neighbor's gates and look for me. 00:02:47.060 --> 00:02:49.300 align:middle line:90% You will be a bad daughter. 00:02:49.300 --> 00:02:51.860 align:middle line:84% I will open my mouth and contort. 00:02:51.860 --> 00:02:53.900 align:middle line:90% The neighbor will plant melons. 00:02:53.900 --> 00:02:56.940 align:middle line:90% I will carry two red halves. 00:02:56.940 --> 00:02:58.460 align:middle line:90% Past. 00:02:58.460 --> 00:03:00.540 align:middle line:90% We went to camp at 7 o'clock. 00:03:00.540 --> 00:03:03.300 align:middle line:84% My mother thought I cooked for the neighbor. 00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:06.580 align:middle line:84% I handed my love food that won't spoil. 00:03:06.580 --> 00:03:09.340 align:middle line:84% She walked to the neighbor's gates and counted the times 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:11.260 align:middle line:90% she did not see me. 00:03:11.260 --> 00:03:13.650 align:middle line:90% I was the last daughter. 00:03:13.650 --> 00:03:17.010 align:middle line:84% I opened my mouth and contorted when I saw him. 00:03:17.010 --> 00:03:18.770 align:middle line:90% The neighbor planted melons. 00:03:18.770 --> 00:03:21.190 align:middle line:90% I armed myself with seeds. 00:03:21.190 --> 00:03:25.130 align:middle line:90% 00:03:25.130 --> 00:03:27.370 align:middle line:90% Describe your childhood. 00:03:27.370 --> 00:03:30.410 align:middle line:84% Each morning, I followed the blue winged bird's flight path 00:03:30.410 --> 00:03:34.210 align:middle line:84% between the neighbor's tree and the shine of her gate's latch. 00:03:34.210 --> 00:03:37.130 align:middle line:84% During monsoons, the streets flooded and jeweled 00:03:37.130 --> 00:03:39.090 align:middle line:90% cockroaches climbed our legs. 00:03:39.090 --> 00:03:42.650 align:middle line:84% We all looked for safety outside of ourselves. 00:03:42.650 --> 00:03:44.970 align:middle line:90% Were you close to your siblings? 00:03:44.970 --> 00:03:49.410 align:middle line:84% The oldest already walked single file in the fields. 00:03:49.410 --> 00:03:52.050 align:middle line:84% What was it like to arrive at camp? 00:03:52.050 --> 00:03:53.770 align:middle line:90% Which one? 00:03:53.770 --> 00:03:54.790 align:middle line:90% Which one? 00:03:54.790 --> 00:03:58.370 align:middle line:90% 00:03:58.370 --> 00:04:01.490 align:middle line:84% What was it like to visit your now husband? 00:04:01.490 --> 00:04:05.490 align:middle line:84% The second time at the second camp, I went with his sisters. 00:04:05.490 --> 00:04:08.250 align:middle line:84% We spent the day before preparing food. 00:04:08.250 --> 00:04:10.670 align:middle line:90% My fingers hungered in knots. 00:04:10.670 --> 00:04:13.730 align:middle line:90% 00:04:13.730 --> 00:04:19.639 align:middle line:84% And I'm going to end there from this part from this long poem.