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"My name is Siam, I came from Thailand"This is an assignment “Crossing the Valley”. I have to interview an immigrant who came to the States since 1965. I was thinking for who would be my interviewee, I don’t know much people in this Town. I finally could think about one Thai guy, I have heard about his story through my Thai friends, they are a couple. They introduced me to Siam, and they talked a little bit about Siam. I thought his story was very interesting to share. I called and told him about this project, he didn’t mind to share his story. Then I went to his house on 83rd Ave & Cactus on the Tuesday afternoon. We were chatting about couple hours and he had to go to work. In the mean time, I am glad that this assignment introduces me to know nice person like Siam.
I, Siam Thanachai, 35, came here from Thailand in 1994 but that wasn’t the first time I came to the U.S. The first time was back in 1988 while I was in a high school. I came as a visitor. All I knew at that time was I fell in love with this country, America, I wanted to live here. When I went back to Thailand, I talked to my parents about America and I told them that I wanted to study in the U.S. but they didn’t agree because they thought I was not old enough to live by myself and also I still had a year left to graduate from the high school. In Thai culture, kids are not supposed to leave the house until they get married. Of course, I was so sad but I never gave up my dream about coming to America. I came back again two years later to visit for four weeks and then I had to go back to continue my studies. Eventually, in 1994, I graduated with my bachelors’ degree in architecture. I came to the States after I graduated. I was hoping to go to a graduate school in the States but my family’s financial situation had changed. They couldn’t afford to send me to a graduate school because it was very expensive especially for foreign students. Unlike America, in Thailand and most Southeast Asian countries, parents are supposed to pay for their children’s tuition fee and living cost until they graduate with Bachelors Masters degree unlike America. However, I still came regardless of my parent concern. Going to the graduate school was not really the reason why I wanted to be here so much. The first reason that came into my mind was my ex-girlfriend (she is also Thai). She graduated the same year as I did and she came to Michigan right after her graduation in July 1994. All I knew was I wanted to be with her but the closest distance I could make was staying with my uncle in Southern California. I only had $400 money pocket when I first came here. I worked at my uncle’s restaurant in California. I was working 7 days a week for four months. I had never ever worked before in my life when I was in Thailand. It was pretty hard for me when I first started my life in America but again, I didn’t want to give up. After four months, I decided that I would live my life here. The fact was things didn’t go as smoothly as I expected, there were so many obstacles. For example, I had a hard time communicating in English as my second language, to make the matter worse; I only socialized with Thai people when I was in California so there was little chance for me to improve my English, I only went to ELS class three hours a week, along with it I didn’t have enough free time to experience anything else. Shortly after, I had some problems with a manager at my uncle’s restaurant. I couldn’t work for my uncle any more so I moved to Redondo Beach. I stopped going to ESL school. That was when I felt that I was starting my real life experience since I had to live on my own; I had to pay rent, insurance and foods. I began to realize that whenever that I had to make a decision; money was the first thing that came to my mind. I had never faced this issue before; I always made a decision depend on my desire like when I decided to come here because my girlfriend was here. My life was getting harder and harder, I had to overcome all the difficulties by myself. I didn’t have contact with my parents for the whole four years. I admit that I was mad at my parents when I left Thailand. My dad stated that I would never succeed if I came to America; he believed that I would go back home a failure and ask him for help. His statement made the biggest impact in my life. No matter how hard it was at that time, I kept telling myself that I would never go home unless I was success. I didn’t want to be a loser so I just kept on going with the hard life. In 1996, my student visa was expiring, I was very stress about I had no clues what to do in order to be able to live in the States legally. Finally, my visa was invalid. I lived illegally for a while. The job that I was working paid me under table. I couldn’t afford myself to go to school and extended my visa. In the mean time, I got to know one girl, she is Thai. She had citizenship and she was willing to help me. We ended up marrying. My status was changed to be a permanent resident of the U.S. I eventually became legal. After that I could work at any place without having an issue that I couldn’t work here because I was not a resident. Marriage has made my life a lot easier. In May1997, I moved down here to Phoenix by myself. I did really want to go to school, and I made it to Motorcycle Mechanics Institute. I had a new job as a mechanic. One day, I got a job-related injury and I had to rest for three days. I called my school and told them that I couldn’t make it to class I had to rest for three days. On the third day, I called to ask them if I could make up classes but they said that I had to inform in advance that I would have an accident in order to be able to make up class. They suggested that I take a leave of absence, I followed that suggestion. After that I never got back to school again. And also going to school and working I couldn’t make enough for a living. I looked for another job and I got one at the Arizona Republic newspaper and I am still working today. I had encountered discrimination when I was working as a mechanic. I was the only Asian guy who worked at that place and they looked down on me and thought that I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to do this job. They always acted as if I am stupid. I could feel that but I didn’t care. I knew that I am superior than my peers. I was very confident in saying this because the outcome of my work on the motorcycles was always much better. In 1999, my then-wife moved to Phoenix. My life was again changed, I had more responsibilities. I tried my best to be a family man but things didn’t work out. We finally got divorce in 2003. It was really hard for me at that time; I didn’t know what to do so I decided to go back to Thailand. I went back to Thailand after I had never gone back for nine years. I thought that I would move back and start my new life in Thailand. I went to work for my friend’s company as a sales engineer but I found out that the job didn’t fit me. And also I don’t like environment over there anymore, I couldn’t stand the traffic, pollution, people and especially I had to get up very early in the morning. Therefore, I decided to come back to the U.S. where I felt more comfortable. The job that I have really fits my lifestyle, I don’t have to get up early and I don’t have to deal with traffic everyday. However, I am still thinking about going back to Thailand in the next 5-10 years. I would like to have my own business.
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At this point in time, I would say coming to the
U.S. was not a mistake. I wouldn’t get to learn this much if I were in
Thailand. I experienced a lot here in the U.S., culture, people and how
to live on my own. Of course, I miss Thai food while I am here. I still
consider Thailand as my home; I hope some day my dream to return home
and open the restaurant will come true.