Continuing his education of Chinese, while serving his time in prison here, making his time served, more productive, more meaningful! Translated…
I’m Very Blessed, All of My Fellow Inmates are My Teachers, and I Didn’t Need to Pay Tuition, No Need to Treat Them Out for Coffee, if There’s a Word I Couldn’t Read, or a Word with an Unknown Meaning to Me, I Can Get the Correct Answer in an Instant………
The Very First Helpful Person in My Life
A year ago, I just turned thirty, but I’d already, served in the prison system in Taiwan for seven years, there will be, an equally, lengthy road for me to finish, then I will be returned back to Vietnam, regaining my freedom. The best years of my youth will be left here forever, I’m paying for a crime I’d committed, I’d cried underneath my covers time and time again secretly, not daring to make a single noise, fearing that my fellow roommates in the cells would laugh at me.
Day after day after day, I’d spent in misery, and I’d, gazed into the mirrors every now and then, how I’d, aged too quickly, I’m only thirty, and covered with so many strands of white, with my face suntanned, so thin, so different, from the me I used to know, and it’d, made me more and more depressed, as I gazed upon my own reflection. Serving in prison, my fellow inmates can watch T.V., listen to the radio, with a ton of books they can read, their days were, fulfilled and easy; but, being far from home, nobody had come on visiting days, and, the money my families sent were limited, and all I could afford, are the basic living needs, I’d not dared, think on any other extravagances. Because I couldn’t read in Chinese, and couldn’t understand the books, I can only sit, dumbfounded in my jail cell, waiting for the warden to announce, “Meal time, Bath Time, Bed Time”.
I’d originally thought, that I was, going to spend the rest of my seven years like so, but, a fellow inmate had, altered my views of life, opened up a brand new door for me, made me see a brand new path that’s lain before me, a colorful path, with the flowers planted to the sides, the insects, and the birds.
I remembered that it was an evening at the start of winter, the wind blew so harshly, the temperature dropped suddenly, being kept locked, inside these tall walls, I’d felt, especially, chilly. My fellow inmate in his fifties made a cup of hot, aromatic coffee for me, but, seeing my face full of questions, he’d explained, “After I’m released, I’ll be heading over to your country, Vietnam to work, so I’d wanted to learn some Vietnamese from you, would that be okay with you?” I’d thought about it , and said to him, “Uncle, you want to learn Vietnamese, I’ll teach you, but the coffees, I can do without. But, I want to ask you something, you’re in your elderly years, how would learning Vietnamese be useful to you?”, he’d squinted his eyes, replied, “My older brother is sixty this year, he’d just started a cement factory in Vietnam this past year, I want to go over and help him out, that’s why I wanted to learn Vietnamese.”
like this??? Photo from online…
Seeing an Alternative Scene of Life
Afterwards, this uncle learned to speak Vietnamese with me with great focus, and started holding conversation in my native tongue instead of using Taiwanese to. For instance, “Nan, would you like to watch T.V.?” he’d said, “Nan, would you like to watch” in Vietnamese, but “T.V.” in Taiwanese, it was very amicable, and funny at the same time, interacting with him daily, it’d, returned my smile back to my face again.
The attitude of life that uncle carried is keep moving forward, he was willing to, make coffees for the younger men, to learn a new language, and his spirits not only had an impact on me, it’d, ignited my desire to read, and I’d, made up my mind, to learn Chinese, to find some fun for myself, to pass through these final years of not having my freedom. Uncle can be see, as the very first “assistant” in my life.
Chinese is very difficult, really hard to write, the tones are difficult to pronounce too, but I’d not given up, worked hard all the way. And I’m very blessed, that other inmates all around me, became my teachers, and I’d not need to pay tuition, no coffees, if there’s a word I couldn’t read aloud, or couldn’t understand the meaning to, I’d gotten an immediate, correct answer.
It took me three months to learn, to the point that I was able to read the comic books in Chinese, after the comics, I’d started on the novels. Now, I can already, read the Chinese classics such as “Dreams in the Red Mansion”, “The Sword-Fight Era Tales”. What made me more ecstatic was, the articles I’d written this year received third and second place winner of the entire prison system, this was out of my greatest expectations.
becoming technologically capable, from what they’re learning in prison…photo from online…
Recently, I’d met a fellow Vietnamese inmate who’d said to me so lethargically, “Serving jail time here, time is wasted.” I’d shown him a copy of the papers, pointed to an article I’d submitted, smiled and said to him, “I did not waste my youth, it’s all, captured in every article I’d ever written, all the books I’d, thumbed through, bring out your courage, take that very first step, to pursue something you want, even if you’re stuck within these four hard walls, you will see, a different scenery!”
And so, this, is how this man made his time serving in prison away from his home country more productive, he’d had a fellow inmate teach him to read and write in Chinese, and, he was able to, express himself better, and found an alternative purpose in his life, instead of just, crying at the jail walls, over how he’s, locked within them.
Life, the Obstacle Course 