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The most physical, fiercest, and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win to make the playoffs, and breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Foster squad in a du-or-dime match for both teams. Six teams are alive for four spots, and all must win. There's no crying in the big three, and the no-hold spot action starts Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m.
Pacific. Presented by iHeart. From Bitcoin believers to cautious first-timers, Kraken makes it easy to trade crypto in seconds. With over 350 tokens, tight spreads, and easy funding for your account with Plaid, PayPal, and Apple Pay. Kraken lets you trade, earn, and invest on your own terms.
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But his journey to getting there was far from ordinary. He's here to share the story of his family fleeing Vietnam. and arriving in America. with nothing. Growing up in South Vietnam, I was really young at the time, but the things that we remember are the things that we did all the time.
We were Catholic, so we went to the Mass all the time. Every morning we would go to church. Our village was along the seashore. It was a fishing village, and so my dad was a commercial fisherman. He would leave every morning, come in every night, and so we would run out to the dock to see the day's catch.
We did have running water, though we had the electricity, it was really limited.
So we had a light in the house, and my grandparents, my dad's parents, They had the only TV in the village. And so we, all of us, would swarm to his house and watch his TV. We didn't have an ice machine, we had an ice box.
So, my mother, if she needed ice, she would send me to the ice factory. She always ordered the bigger block of ice because I would walk along the beach in the hot sand. When I picked up the big block of ice and started walking home, Ice is cold.
So the ice would fall on the sand and then it would start to melt.
So then I would pick it up and start walking a little bit more and it would fall again. And so by the time I made it home, that block of ice was a lot smaller than the block that I started with.
So, those are some of the simple fond memories of the things that happen all the time. But at that time, the North Vietnamese communists. which they were supported by China and by the Soviet Union. We're trying to overtake South Vietnam, which was non-communist. But so we were the democratic side of Vietnam, and it was a civil war going on during that time, and so.
Ultimately, South Vietnam fell to the North Vietnamese Communism. That's when I remember things such as the troops storming the South Vietnam. and people just scrambling under military fire. I remember as a six-year-old hiding underneath the mattress, underneath a bed, and the North Vietnamese troops would run through our house and ransacking the house and hearing gunfire in the village and thinking, Oh my goodness, this is this is not going to end well. I remember hearing them yelling, you know, where's your dad?
Because my dad was part of the South Vietnamese military. He had served a while back, but At that point, any grown man was considered a foe to them, and so they were looking for any men.
So the North Vietnamese, as they came down, We knew democracy was going to end because Christianity was not going to be allowed. There was going to be A lot of tyranny as far as religion, as far as economy, as far as finances. And my parents knew that was coming. And so when South Vietnam fell to the North Vietnamese, and that was April 30th, 1975. When it happened, it happened in a hurry.
The North Vietnamese troops came in rapidly, and my parents decided to flee. And so, as the troops were storming the ground, the only place you can flee is to the ocean. We knew that the US had some presence in the ocean. And so we thought, okay, well, if we stay on land, you know, we're doomed. But maybe if we head out to the sea, maybe there would be somebody to receive us.
We just had to flee. We didn't have time really to say any goodbyes. My immediate family and cousins and aunts and uncles, we all jumped on my dad's boat. I had three siblings, and one of them was a newborn. And um as we fled land and headed out, we saw a larger vessel and we thought, Oh.
Thank goodness, Nieno, here's somebody that can help us. And as we approach that ship, Come to find out that was a communist ship. And so they started firing on us. and my grandmother was hit. And of course she was hurting and she told her husband, my grandfather, listen, we need to get back to land because I won't be able to survive this.
So when we went back on shore, My grandfather told my dad Son. There's no life for you here. Take your family with you. Take the kids, we've lived a good long life, and you go make a new life for yourself and your family. I think back now and I think, okay, so I'm a dad now with two kids, and I can't imagine my parents telling me that.
And I had to choose between do I stay with my parents or do I take my family to a new opportunity, whatever that opportunity was. We didn't know that it was going to be better, we just knew. If we stayed, it wasn't going to be good.
So my grandparents stayed. And I can't imagine my dad what he felt. He took the four kids, the wife, my mother, of course, and headed back to sea. And eventually we came upon a US ship. that received us.
We really had no idea of what a US ship was going to look like versus a communist ship. And so When we came and approached one, and it turned out to be friendly, my dad boarded first, and then my mother handed me to my dad, and then handed my youngest brother, who was a newborn at the time, to my dad. And so the three of us got on the naval ship first. And right then they cut off any more. people coming onto this ship because the ship was full.
So then my mother and two other siblings We're still on my dad's boat. And so they separated us then because they had no more room. We're now parted from one another and who knows when we would see each other again. You just literally watch it float away. That was hard on my dad because my youngest brother was still breastfeeding at the time.
And so here he is with a newborn baby being breastfed. and it can't feed the baby. I learned pretty quickly where to find milk in the ship. And so we just stumbled through it, but eventually got my younger brother fed and I do remember. The first good memory of being on a US ship was when we were looking for something to eat.
And the first US food that I ever put in my mouth was Hershey's chocolate bar. And it was the best tasting thing I had ever put in my mouth. Gosh, that Hershey's bar was good.
So, of course, we were fearful and not knowing what we were giving ourselves into. but several weeks later. we were all reunited. We all met together back again in Guam, which was US-owned at that time. Basically we just stumbled across one another on that island.
Then we were all brought to Florida. We were at an immigration camp there, and from there, The different families were sponsored by American and US families to different locations within the US.
So there was a farming couple in Kentucky, Campbellville, Kentucky. that through the U.S. Catholic Charities Association, they sponsored my parents and the four kids. And so we packed up, got onto a Greyhound bus to Campbellville, Kentucky from Florida. They're my dad, who work in the ocean his whole life was now transplanted into a farming community.
And at the time we none of us spoke English, the only English we knew was yes and no.
So I started kindergarten in Kentucky, and somehow along the way, we were supposed to bring a blanket to take a nap with.
Well, not understanding English. My parents didn't pack a blanket, and so when I showed up for the first day of school, and all the other kids are napping, and they all had their blankets, and I'm standing around looking at the kids. I don't have a blanket just taken that way. And so we quickly learned and adapted. I do remember things that made it easy, for example math, because 2 plus 2 will always be 4 regardless of whatever language you speak.
and whether you attend a Catholic Mass in Vietnam or you attend one in Campbellville, Kentucky. Hey, we all worship the same God. We all have the same Savior. And we're all trying to get to the same location. But the rest of it, it comes quickly when you have to speak the language.
the material things that you accumulate over time All of that you set aside, hoping you'd find a new life, a better opportunity for yourself and for your kids. And you're listening to Wat Wong tell the story of what happened to so many families when Saigon fell, when South Vietnam was captured by the Communists. And there were consequences when we left Vietnam. But my goodness, Americans did step up. The role that Catholic charities plays in so much of this.
and all kinds of Protestant charities as well in stepping up and taking care of the least of these. When we come back, more of this remarkable story, Wat Wong's story, here on Our American Stories. Time for a sofa upgrade? Visit washable sofas.com and discover Anibay, where designer style meets budget-friendly prices. With sofas starting at $699, Anibay brings you the ultimate in furniture innovation with a modular design that allows you to rearrange your space effortlessly.
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to change and certain restrictions may apply. The reviews and ratings are in and Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer. This Saturday, 4 p.m. Eastern on CBS, with playoff elimination on the line, the stars will be flogging to Los Angeles to witness the most physical, fiercest, and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win over Houston to make the playoffs, reeling from last week's savage beating at the hands of Chicago's possessed Montrez Herald.
Last time these teams met, Miami beat Houston, but they are a dangerous team having their manhood at stake. Then breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a do-a-die match for both teams. Will LA avenge their previous shocking loss to perennial basketball Boston rivals to survive? Six teams are aligned for four spots and all must win. Don't miss the big three, the three-on-three basketball league everyone is talking about.
There's no crying in the big three. And the no-hold spot action starts Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Pacific. Followed by two games on Vice starting at 6.30 Eastern.
Presented by iHeart. My finance guy is like, you know, we talk every day about stocks. We should just shut up and bought Bitcoin. Just shut up and bought Bitcoin, forget everything else and bank. I have all my crypto on Kraken.
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customers through Payward Interactive Inc. Terms and conditions apply. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post.
I'm Christina Quinn. I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it.
I'm Rodney Williams. And I'm Travis Holloway. Welcome to the Wealth Break. Let's be honest, building wealth doesn't look the same for everyone. It's not just about saving, it's about investing.
It's about navigating systems that weren't built for you, embracing your hustle, and relying on your community to create something bigger. And that's exactly why we created the Wealth Break. We made something different.
something more human. It's not just another financial podcast. It's a conversation about real life, real struggles, and real wins. We're here to talk about the journey. You're hearing from people who've broken barriers, found creative ways to succeed, and learned to build wealth on their terms.
Whether it's the first-time homeowner, a gig worker, or someone turning a side hustle into a six-figure business, we're bringing you their stories. And we're not stopping at success stories. We're breaking down the realities, like what it means to take risk. How to navigate failure. and why resilience matters.
Because wealth isn't about money. It's about creating a life where you can thrive and help others to do the same.
So, if you're ready for a podcast as much as about people as it is about money, you're in the right place. Listen to the Welp Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app. And we return to our American stories and to the story of Wat Wong. After fleeing Vietnam, we'd heard about how he and his family had begun to assimilate into American life. Here's Watt to tell us about more.
of his adventures here. in America. I think in growing up and in hindsight, you see the things that your parents do or did. You appreciate their efforts. You know, my parents made a lot of sacrifices along the way, and I hear stories like, for example, Growing up in South Vietnamese culture, we eat a lot of rice.
And In Kentucky, it was all potatoes. And so my dad would come back and come home from a hard day's work, and the farming couple that sponsored us. They would have a little bit of rice, and so we would cook it up, and there really wasn't enough to go around. And so, my dad would just go hungry and sacrificed it and saved it for us. And so but There's no telling how many countless sacrifices that I don't know about.
they've made. But they instilled on us the work ethic, the faith that is required through life. And so I try to teach that to our kids as well.
So, in South Vietnam, Catholicism was not necessarily the most prevalent religion, but it was for us, and it was impactful for us. my parents, if they had their preferences, I would be a priest right now. But I didn't go that route, much to their dismay.
So I went to med school instead. That's a funny story, Patam. My younger brother was asleep and My cousin and I were while he was taking a nap and We had A coin, maybe a quarter or something like that, and we were just spinning it on top of my brother who was asleep on his forehead, thinking, oh, this is kind of fun. That quarter landed in his mouth He woke up and inhaled and swallowed that coin.
So That got us in so much trouble.
So we went to the emergency department. A doctor came to see him, took him to surgery, took the coin out, Save the day. came back out. My mother, of course, is still mad at us, but her son is saved. And and I thought to myself, you know what?
That's pretty neat. He saved my younger brother's life. I think I want to do that one day. It was just by chance doing something silly, something I shouldn't have been doing, that kind of. peaked in in interest.
We never know What's in front of us? And The experiences that we go through, at the time that we go through it, sometimes you don't really appreciate it until much after the fact. When we were growing up, we were poor. In the US, we were poor. My parents were not educated, so they did mostly labor jobs.
One of the jobs that my mother did was we worked in a crap factory. We picked the meat out of the crabs and so. Here I was, middle school and in high school, Picking a stinky crab, and why am I doing this? You know, all my friends during the summer were hanging out at the house, watching TV, and all that, and I'm going to a stupid crab for. Factory.
We were paid by production.
So the more craps you crack, the more meat you get, the more you get paid. What I'm getting at is. The motor dexterity that's required to crack a claw precisely to get that meat out so that there aren't any shells in that meat. It helped improve my hand speed, my manual dexterity, so my left hand is just as good as my right hand. Yes, my mother woke us up at 4 o'clock in the morning every day to go to the craft factory, and it smelled horrible, and I hated it, and I dreaded it.
But here I am. as a surgeon thirty years later, with finger and hand dexterity that could not have been. more polished. than because of that manual work that I did.
So Another something that I thought, gosh, why am I doing this? Which then I later appreciate.
So in college at LSU, During my freshman year, As I was walking around campus thinking about what I was going to do for a summer job, I saw a flyer with about the Southwestern Publishing Company. And I had no idea what the Southwestern Publishing Company was, but it said $400 a week summer job. And I thought, man. $400 a week. That's good money for a college student in 1987.
And so I went to one of their seminars not knowing what I was getting myself into, and so. Come to find out it was door to door. Book sales, blind code calls, knocking on the door. Seeing if a mom or dad might want to buy educational books for their kids. And I thought.
There's no way. But I gave it a try, and so we learned. Yeah. Approach someone, a complete stranger, try to determine what their needs were, and maybe provide a product or service that can help them and their children do better for themselves.
So, fast forward 20 years later, I'm sitting with a patient who I've never met before. This person could be from any walk of life. And they have a problem, an unmet need. And so you try to identify with that person, see what their needs are, and how can I make their life a Yeah. And so That experience as a nineteen-year-old college student.
knocking on 180 doors per week. Code calling. Really shaped how I communicate with people to this very day. You know, trying to identify what their needs are and hopefully make a difference in their life. As you're going through these experiences in life, Most of the time it's there for a reason.
We just don't realize it at the moment. But you do learn to appreciate those things later on. as I was growing up. I had a lot of horrible dreams about the troops storming the village and crawling under the bed and the nightmares within and that lasted for decades. It took a long time for those dreams to go away.
The US, we, and I say we because I feel like I'm obviously part of the US now. We're a welcoming society and Every one of us has a culture and a background that's interwoven into one another. And so the US was welcoming. And the US Catholic Charities Association really did a great job. With bringing us in and finding families and assimilating us within the U.S.
I just remember the kindness of our sponsoring families. They had Kids and grandkids that were about our ages, and so My siblings and I played with them and ran around the farm and did silly things. But I just remember they're their kindness. If it wasn't for them and what all they did for us, you know, we wouldn't be where we are now. I can't imagine what my parents went through.
Everything is falling apart around you. You're leaving your parents, you don't speak. language. The only thing that we had was literally the clothes on our backs. Who knows where are you going?
Not everyone came to the US. It all depended on the immigration services and where they decided.
So we were just happened to be within that group that came to the U.S. You never know what happens in life and how that might impact you later on. But appreciate it for what it is when you're going through it and try to make the most of it. And great work by Madison on the production. And a special thanks to Wat Wong for sharing his story with us and what a quintessentially American story it was.
His parents wanted him to be a priest. He disappointed them and became a doctor. His work at the crib factory. while that helped him with his hand dexterity and also his discipline. He had to get up at 4 a.m.
His door-to-door book sales gig. Taught him to listen, taught him empathy. That helped him with his bedside manner. He had bad dreams, he said. From all that happened in South Vietnam, but they diminished.
And the US, he said, well, it's a welcoming society. Our cultures are interwoven. My Sicilian grandparents, my Lebanese grandparents would agree. And a special thanks to Catholic Charities for all the great work they do. The story of Wat Wong, the story of America, in the end, here on Our American Stories.
Time for a sofa upgrade? Visit washablesofas.com and discover Anibay, where designer style meets budget-friendly prices, with sofas starting at $699. Anibay brings you the ultimate in furniture innovation with a modular design that allows you to rearrange your space effortlessly. Perfect for both small and large spaces, Anibay is the only machine-washable sofa inside and out. Say goodbye to stains and messes with liquid and stain-resistant fabrics that make cleaning easy.
Liquid simply slides right off. Designed for custom comfort, our high-resilience foam lets you choose between a sink-in feel or a supportive memory foam blend. Plus, our pet-friendly stain-resistant fabrics ensure your sofa stays beautiful for years. Don't compromise quality for price. Visit washablefas.com to upgrade your living space today with no risk returns and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Get up to 60% off plus free shipping and free returns. Shop now at washablefas.com. Authors are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer. This Saturday, 4 p.m.
Eastern on CBS with playoff elimination on the line. The most physical, fiercest, and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win to make the playoffs, and breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a du-a-dime match for both teams. Six teams are alive for four spots, and all must win. There's no crying in the big three, and the no-hold spot action starts Saturday at 4 p.m.
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Yes, JC Penny. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn.
I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it. This is an iHeart podcast.
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