After passing my TOEFL exam, I returned to my village to inform my parents and grandma about my plan to study in the USA. I sought their prayers and blessings for my venture. However, when I shared my intention to study abroad and my TOEFL success, they didn’t seem interested. They weren’t even excited about my TOEFL achievement because they didn’t know what TOEFL was. I didn’t blame them for not sharing my enthusiasm for studying in the USA.
First, I approached my grandma. “PiPi, I want to go to the USA to study. Please pray for me,” I said. My old grandma replied, “Where is the USA located? Is it far from our village?” I responded, “It’s very, very far. I’ll have to fly on an airplane. It’s located on the other side of the world.” She insisted, “Don’t go. I don’t want you to die. I heard about someone from another village who went abroad to study and died there.” That ended my conversation with her.
Next, I shared my plan with my mother. She didn’t believe it would cost a lot of money. The tuition fee wasn’t her concern since she didn’t know that studying in the USA was very expensive. Her only worry was that I would be away for four years. Being the oldest among my siblings, she wanted me to attend a local college and come home every weekend to take care of my younger brothers and sisters.
Finally, I confided in my dad about my study plans. He was somewhat happy and proud of my TOEFL success. As a public school teacher, he understood the difficulty of studying English and passing exams. However, his main concern was the money for tuition fees and airfare. He asked, “Who is going to sponsor you? Do you have any sponsors?” I replied, “No, I don’t have any sponsors. However, I’m considering applying for scholarships.” My father said, “I have a little money. It can buy you a bus ticket to travel back to Yangon. That’s all I can provide. I don’t have any money or assets to support your plan to study in the USA.” Then, my father invited an elder from the church to pray over my academic journey to the USA.
With the little money my father gave me for the bus ticket and pocket money, I traveled to Yangon to apply for colleges in the USA. This concludes Part 2. In Part 3, I will share how I survived in Yangon for two years while applying for college admissions and scholarships. Remember, there was no email in those days, so everything had to be done by postal mail with stamps on the envelope. It could take up to two months to hear back from the schools. Stay tuned for Part 3.
