final podcast

So, what was it like in China back then? It was really hard to earn money back then, especially for the girls. Even if you wanted to get a job, it wouldn't be able to pay that much. The main reason we decided to move here was to get more money. What was it like getting here? How much money did you guys spend? Nowadays, it's actually pretty cheap. It's probably like $20,000 or $30,000 nowadays. You would have to pay someone to smuggle us across the border, but if you were lucky, you could have bought a plane ticket too. $20,000 or $30,000 is cheap? $20,000 or $30,000 in America, pay is really good, so you could probably be able to earn that back in a few months. $20,000 or $30,000 in U.S.D. or Yen? Yen, obviously. Dang, that's freaking expensive. It's not that bad. For one month, you can get paid about $4,000. At that rate, you'll be able to pay that off in like half a year. Obviously, if you don't work hard, then you probably wouldn't be able to pay that back. But if you earn like $4,000 a month and convert that to Yen, you'll be able to pay it back pretty quick. Wow, that's pretty convenient that you can just buy a plane ticket and just get here. No, it's not actually that easy. Some people have to trek through the mountains on the borders, and if people have it all planned out, it would be like taking a cruise or a vacation. That's pretty convenient that you can just buy a plane ticket and just get here. No, it's not actually that easy. Some people have to trek through the mountains on the borders, and if people have it all planned out, it would be like taking a cruise or a vacation. So how did you get to the U.S.? What we did was we took a border from our hometown to the border of Vietnam and China, and then we took a mountain path for a few hours, and then we would be in Vietnam, and then we took another bus to Cambodia. It would be like all planned out for us by the people we paid to help us with this. It would just be like something your teacher taught you at school. It wasn't something that you just came up with by yourself. How did you find these people? They were just there in our town. Back then, most of the people had left. Everyone left and no one found out? Or did no one care? Actually, the government probably knew about it, but just decided to let us go anyways. Same with China, probably. Obviously, you couldn't just go and betray your country, but there's a lot of people in China, and there's also a lot of people there who need to be fed, and that takes a lot of money. That was how our family was, too, because they had like six mouths to feed, including me, and everyone in our family probably wanted another person to leave and be able to feed themselves. So it took the burden off of us. Then what happened when you got found out? Didn't one of your uncles get caught? It's not your uncle, it's my uncle. No, your uncle, because you're my mom. You're me, and I'm not me. Thanks for watching!