As a kid in Saigon did you play the currency market trading US$ for Piasters to maximize your very nominal weekly allowance … generally provided by your parents, based on how much cash “they thought” you needed to get by on?
While living in the States I was always able to do all kinds of things to make money over and above the $5.00 per week allowance my parents gave me … which basically cover my school lunches with about $1.00 left over for my ‘fun money’ for the week. Geez, I couldn’t even take a girl on a date with that … so resorted to other means to make money. I never got into part-time employment type jobs much as they only paid (back then) minimum wage of 35 cents per hour. Instead I’d do odd jobs for people like mow lawns ($10 per lawn for 2 hours time), shovel snow off sidewalks ($10 for 30 minutes time) and driveways ($25 for 1 hour time), or when I wanted fast big money, we’d borrow my friend’s dad’s pick up truck on a Saturday and Sunday then go around door to door asking people if they had old newspapers or magazines … everyone saved then back then … we’d fill up the truck then sell them to the scrape yard. We could make $75 to $100 per day each. During the holiday season, we’d put up Christmas lights and decorations for the smaller strip malls. They’d pay us $800 to $1,000 for 2 of us to climb around on light posts and roofs stringing pretty lights and decorations, while freezing our buns off … lol … of course this also included taking them down after the holidays. But, hey … $400+ each for about 4 days total work … for a couple under age teens (13 to 15 years old). Not bad!!! Then of course I always had a paper route for the ’steady’ cash flow … lol
But, then when we’d go overseas to places such as Saigon … my cash flow suddenly got cut off … and, I was dependant on my parents for what they decided was more then enough allowance for me. Geez, I was used to hustling and making more money per month then a lot of adults made in full time career jobs … so, needless to say, once in Saigon I found my creativity for making cash was extremely limited … primarily because the State Department forbid dependant children to work there.
Hence, my introduction to the currency markets. My parents gave me $5.00 per week (US$) allowance … BUT, that was nowhere near enough to keep me in Ba Muoi Ba money … lol … and provide for the other necessities of my life, such as taxi/cyclo fares, movies, dates with all those lovely Saigon Kid young ladies … smile. Then one day I was down on Tu Do Street when I stopped in a little Indian candy store to buy something. There was a guy in front of me at the counter. While waiting my turn, I noticed the Indian man that owned the store was selling this guy P’s for US$ at 140 P’s per US$ … WOW! an AHA moment! The going exchange rate at the time was 78 P’s per US$. So it occurred to me that I could nearly ‘double’ my $5.00 allowance by using this Indian guy’s money exchange. So, I did! Nice! I didn’t have to do anything except take a trip down to the candy store to make $4.00 US. Now I had $9.00 US to spend each week. Sweet! But, after a few weeks this still was not enough … ah how greedy we can get sometimes … So, having figured out that few if any American kids knew about the Indian candy store money exchange … It occurred to me, that I could ‘buy’ US$ from other kids for P’s (usually their allowance) paying them slightly more then the official 78 P’s per $1.00 US … then resell the US$ to the Indian candy store making a nice little profit for myself. So, I did! In fact, it wasn’t long before I had several military guys trading US$ for P’s with me. And, I was averaging around $50.00 US a week in profits … ahhh but the Ba Muoi Ba that bought … lol
Of course at the time it never occurred to me that I was dealing in the ‘black market’ … to me at the time it was just a way to make some extra money to do the things I wanted to do. Years later I was telling my dad (while we were trading Saigon memories) about my little currency exchange business when I was a kid in Saigon. At which, he informed me it was ILLEGAL and if I’d been found out, his State Department career would have gone down the toilet. To which I politely reminded him, that if he had not been so ‘cheap’ with my allowance I wouldn’t have been forced to utilize my creative talents resulting in me falling prey to the sins of black market money trading. Well, that turned out not to be the best response in the world. Need I say more?!
Was anyone else dealing U.S. dollars on the black or gray markets?
Kevin was … he writes:
“In the late ’50s and early 60’s the official exchange rate was 35 P per US Dollar, but anybody could get 75 P per US dollar by going downtown to just about any large hotel. A little sniffing around could get you 100 P per dollar on the street. Anybody who knew how could sell one dollar downtown and get 75 Ps, go to the Airport, and sell 75 Ps for dollars at 37 Ps per dollar yielding $2.02 (pennies were scarce so the customers often abandoned small sums to the cashier). It is called a currency arbitrage and it worked just fine until they started to recognize me.”
Who else was dealing US$ in Saigon? … lets hear your “Saigon Kids True Adventure Story” … CONFESS your black market trading!! … Tell ALL in the Comments section below.
As a Saigon Kid (TCK or ATCK) … How can you belong?… and if you never had a sense of belonging, can you ever get it?
Here is an interesting interview with expert Donna Musil, filmmaker of Brats: Our Journey Home, and Paulette Bethel on Third Culture Kids (which us Saigon Kids are) and “belonging”, presented by Brice Royer.
Enjoy!
As a Saigon Kid what were your experiences pertaining to ‘belonging’?
As you moved around from place to place, did you feel like you ‘belonged’ in each place? Or, did you feel ‘out of place’?
While in Saigon did you have a sense of ‘belonging’? If so, why? What made you feel as though you ‘belonged’ in Saigon? If you didn’t feel you belonged in Saigon … why didn’t you feel you belonged there?
As a Saigon Kid where is ‘home’ to you? What IS ‘home’ to you? What makes a ‘home’ to you? While in Saigon did you feel it was ‘home’?
To you is ‘home’ a physical place? Or, a state of mind? Is ‘home’ where the heart is? Is ‘home’ simply and illusion?
What is your definition of ‘home’?
What makes you feel ‘at home’?
Can a virtual community, such as our Blog, be a place called ‘home’ beyond the bounds of space and time? Can it be a place where you feel like you ‘belong’? If so, why? If not, why not?
Do you still have feelings of ‘rootlessness’ and ‘restlessness’ stemming from all the moving around during your youth? If so, how has it influenced your life as an adult? How have you learned to cope with the wanderlust feelings and urges? How have you tempered the ‘restlessness’?
As always, please feel free to leave your Comments below.
Ken, I’d REALLY appreciate it if you keep your dang squirrels over there … lol … sending them here where they can chew on my Internet connection cable is really a PAIN to deal with … lol …
But, all is well now after the cable company came out and ran a NEW cable yesterday to replace the old one the squirrels chewed through … lol
Oh, and Ken … you’ll be receiving a LARGE package soon … actually a CRATE … with a wonderful family of squirrels!!! ENJOY!!! …
I couldn’t think of a BETTER HOME for them … then you would give them!!!
Where the heck is everyone? You should be caught up on your sleep now that the election celebrations or condolence parties are over. It’s lonely when no one blogs….and I’m starting to run out of things to write about.
I am sitting here in my little home office reading the latest poll information regarding the presidential election and I am nervous as a cat on a hot roof. I think this is the most important election of my lifetime. Having spent so much of my life overseas, having friends in many countries around the world, and listening and reading foreign news reports, I think I have a somewhat different attitude towards the elections than many who live in the U.S. When I wake up tomorrow morning, it will be all over (at least I hope it will be) and we will have a new president-elect.
I hope that before you pull the lever, or mark the ballot, think carefully. Your decision will not only affect you and the people in the United States, but the people around the world. As the world leader, the United States must lead by example, and show the world that we care, not only about American interests but the betterment of the world at large. I voted by absentee and I can only hope that it won’t be discarded for some idiotic reason by some biased Supervisor of Election in my home county in Florida.
Now we continue with Part 2 of the Deja Vu: Rock N Roll - The Early Years series as we take a look at Media Against Rock N Roll. I must say I seriously debated about posting this video, as it is really hard to believe today that our elders and adult leaders back then really had the attitude and believes displayed in this video.
But, they did!!!
This video is just a ‘blink of the eye’ of what really took place back then in regards to the efforts to STOP Rock N Roll.
Keep in mind, this was way before Civil Rights and took place during the early stages of the Cold War era … and, the compulsion with the threat of Communism.
I lived through this era of Rock N Roll history. I was in my pre-teens at the time, but I remember it vividly. To this day I find it difficult to comprehend the (what I consider) childish ‘mentality’ of our country’s leaders during those times … about Rock N Roll.
Are ya kinda feeling a little speechless after seeing what took place back then … by ADULTS … ???!!!!
I was living in San Diego, CA around this time. I was there when the first Elvis concert was held. Half way through the first night performance the mayor of San Diego SHUT DOWN the show with armed police … and BANNED Elvis from ever performing in San Diego AGAIN … “Only a heroin addict could perform such lewd vulgar acts … ” the headlines read.
Then a couple years later I was living in Hawaii when Elvis did his first show there … what a difference! He was WELCOMED as Royalty! He stayed at the Hawaiian Village (owned by Henry Kaiser at the time). He and his group occupied the entire top floor of rooms. His fans made a Lei that reached from the balcony of his room all the way to the ground. The Mayor of Honolulu and the Governor of Hawaii greeted him … welcoming him and his Rock N Roll music.
Rock N Roll was here to stay … and IT STAYED!!
What are your memories of these early days of Rock N Roll?
Where were you living when they tried to stop our Rock N Roll?
What events do you recall during the early Rock N Roll days?
As always, you are welcome to leave your comments below.
The first documentary about growing up military ( and as a Third Culture Kid). Narrated and featuring songs by Kris Kristofferson. Interviews with General Norman Schwarzkopf (in the full version of the film).
As a Saigon Kid (TCK or ATCK) … can YOU relate?!
Can you relate now after watching this? I can, having been both a Military BRAT and a DIP Kid since birth … this film hits home in a lot of areas … both in my youth and as an adult.
While BRATS: Our Journey Home focuses mainly on military brats, it also pertains to all Third Culture Kids from all walks of life … as the emotions and experiences are the same for all.
Both would also make great gifts for friends, family and loved ones you know who are currently Third Culture Kids or Adult Third Culture Kids, or for folks who’s careers and professional life require them to spend a lot of time overseas (military, embassy, corporate personal, educators, missionaries, etc.) … anyone experiencing a multicultural lifestyle, past or present, can benefit from these in many ways.
Seems we all feel a special bond to those Saigon years since we keep returning to our Field of Dreams site…so wanted to share with you all a letter I recently came across in a dusty corner…from the Saigon American Community School Alumni Search Committee, dated January 21, 1990.
“Dear ACS’er:
We are now into the second year of this project. Out of a total alumni of about 530 (class of 62-69), we have managed to locate 88 people to date Let’s see–at this rate we should find everyone by 1995! That is a long time to wait for a reunion, so let’s all make a renewed effort to locate our missing classmates. If anyone has any ideas on how to expedite this effort, please let us know.
Many thanks to Ralph Doggett, Sarah Bush Rogers, Paul Shaffer, Dan Parker, and Marie Perry Wright for their latest contributions to the “Found” list. Keep up the great detective work!
For those of you getting this list for the first time–welcome to the search! We can sure use your help! If you know the whereabouts of any people on the enclosed “Missing” list please do not hesitate to call or send in your information to anyone of the committee people listed below.
Hope everyone had a great holiday!
Sincerely,
Bill Brendza ‘65, Jan L. Rice Grosch ‘66, Marilyn Snow Neiva ‘65, Jim Richards ‘65, John A. Thich ‘66″
I had a challenging year in 1990 when I received this letter and did not keep up with this search. I regret it. So keep talking and looking people…other ACS kids are trying to find you.
When we went to Sagion (and many other places for some of us) as children with our parents we became what has been coined as Third Culture Kids. As Saigon Kids we are part of a group known as the ‘third culture’ of global society.
What defines a TCK (Third Culture Kid) or ATCK (Adult Third Culture Kid)? A person who spends, or has spent, a significant part of his or her development years outside their parents’ home culture (sometimes referred to as Passport Country).
The term third culture was coined in the 1950s by Drs John and Ruth Useem, when they made a study of Americans who lived in India as foreign service officers, missionaries, technical aid workers, and business representatives. It was realised that there were expatriates from other countries who were undergoing similar experiences even though from different origins, styles and social stratification systems. There was a shared common lifestyle that was different from either their own or their host culture.
For some of us Saigon Kids our adventures into the third culture was brief, just going to Saigon for a few years. For others, such as myself, it was a way of life throughout my youth … constantly moving from place to place, both within the USA and to and from other countries. Even during the periods when we were on what the State Department called “Home Leave” … a time, generally between Posts when we could go ‘home’ to visit with family and friends, etc. Strange as it may seem … we had ‘no home’ to go home too. So we would spend our ‘home leave’ time travelling around visiting family and friends in the town we were born in, but had long since left behind, and visiting friends in other places around the country and world or vacationing someplace we enjoyed. Then off to a new Post and culture.
I recall I always felt ‘rootless’. I never lived in a “HOME” … I lived in ‘houses’ all over the world. My parents did their best to make them … homey. But, they were always … temporary. As were the schools I attended, the friends I made, the activities I got involved in … all of life growing up was … temporary. I was always the … new kid on the block. Always having just left someplace and just arrived someplace, where I already knew I’d be leaving again in the near future … I just didn’t know where we’d be going to next yet.
I always felt different … not special, but different. I never quite fit in anyplace. I was for the most part, particularly in the USA, never totally accepted among my peers … as I was ‘different’, I was from many and different places, I wasn’t a ‘home town’ kid. While outside of the USA, I fit in much better because all us kids in the American community (such as Saigon) were all in the same boat … as strangers in a strange land. A bond we all shared and could relate too easily.
Enrolling in a new school was always interesting. It usually went something like this: The teachers would introduce me to the class saying, “Class today we have a new student, he is here from (wherever I just arrived from) and will be visiting with us …. “. Most of the time I felt like a foreign exchange student when attending school in the USA. My final year of high school I attended a boarding school. All the students were from someplace else, so it was more like attending school overseas. But, then came the school holidays … Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. … the other students went “HOME” for the holidays. I couldn’t. There was no home to go home too with my parents someplace half way around the world in southeast Asia … someplace. Peggy Goldwater was one of my classmates at the school. She and her family invited me to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with them. The school shut down for Christmas/New Year vacation … all students had to go someplace … I spent the holidays with an aunt and uncle I’d not seen since I was 8 years old, half way across the country, and met their son (my cousin) for the first time in my life. Then came the end of the school year and graduation. Everyone was going ‘home’ after graduation. For me … it was where to now?! … there was no home for me to go too. My parents were at a Post in a ‘war zone’ … no dependants allowed. So … rootless … restless … and no home to go too … me and my best friend from school bought a VW and toured the country all summer. The only states we didn’t visit that summer were Alaska and Hawaii.
Any of this sound familiar? Have you ever wondered how growing up as a Third Culture Kid shaped and molded your life during your development years … and, how it carried over into your adult life … even to today, possibly? How it developed your character and made you who you are today? What negative and positive effects being a TCK had on your life? Do you have feelings that there is a ‘missing link’ … yet unexplained … of the complex emotions embedded in you growing up as a Third Culture Kid you experience as an adult?
Perhaps you’ll find this book as interesting as I did at answering some off the questions lurking in the back pages of my mind for years. Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds addresses the challenges and rewards of a multicultural childhood; the joy of discovery and heartbreaking loss, its effect on maturing and personal identity, and the difficulty in transitioning home.
To me it was like reading my own psychological profile, complete with explanations of every weird quirk and odd personality trait, good or bad, that I’ve ever displayed.
I had several “Aha” moments while reading this book.
Constantly being dislocated, constantly switching between educational systems and meeting all kinds of people impacts one more than one would care to imagine! A lot of it is definitely positive; there are some negative consequences, too.
Third Culture Kids (Saigon Kids) bear the unintended consequences of decisions made by our parents, by the organizations they worked for, and by a host of a lot of factors we simply cannot control … but which impact us in unpredictable ways.
I strongly recommend all Saigon Kids read this book.
The Bamboo Beacon 1962 school newspapers are now in the ACS Library (located on the Menu on the right side of this page).
This eBook contains issues from January 19th through April 6, 1962.
The eBooks “Bamboo Beacon 1961″ and “Bamboo Beacon 1962″ contain all the issues of the newspaper for the school year 1961-62.
They are best viewed on a high speed Internet connection (Cable, DSL, etc.). If you are on a Dial Up Internet connection they may be a little slow loading as they are mostly graphics. Once they are loaded, you can save a copy to your computer. They will load faster from a copy saved on your computer, then through an Internet connection.
Newest addition to the ACS Library is a 1963 Saigon street map with the ‘OLD’ street names that most of us knew. (ACS Library is located on the site Menu on the right side of this page.)
Since all the street names have changed, I thought this might be of help to some of you in locating places in Saigon. Once you’ve located something on this map, you can then go over to Google Maps to find the “new” street name. Then switch to the Google ’satelite’ map viewer and zoom right in for a birds eye view of the location. It just doesn’t get any better then this!!
Steve Parker is on the ground in Saigon as I’m writing this Post, using this map and Google map satellite viewer to locate the Parker’s old house in Saigon. I’m sure we’ll be seeing pictures on the Blog of Parker’s old house soon.
Boy do I love all these modern hi-tech toys!! This is just so awesome. Steve Parker is in Saigon, leaving in 2 days. He can’t find there old house and some other places because the street names have changed. He leaves a Comment on our Blog. His father, brothers … Burt and Don … and myself kick into action. Rack brains stressing out memory recall circuits of old house and location, locate old map with old street names, zoom in on Google satellite mapping … pin point their old house location … and transmit everything to Steve in Saigon. All within a few hours today. AWESOME!!
Heck, I bet Steve is standing in front of the house right now taking pictures.
[Up date: Steve found the house ... has pictures ... will travel.]
Isn’t being a Saigon Kid … FUN… and totally AWESOME?!!
To all you Saigon Kids….if you are taking the time to read this then take the time TODAY (ok maybe tomorrow too) to scan a picture, post a comment, send an e-mail, google the name of one of the SKs - you have no idea how much that could mean to them!! I have been very fortunate to make contact again with people I have dearly missed and their e-mails have touched me deeply. SO GO DO SOMETHING PROACTIVE.
To Charles or Frank or “whoever you are today” Stoddard - thank you for the CDs and the link to the Wall.
To Ken - thanks for your travelogues - I used to live in Fussen so I love reading them.
To Mary Anne Purvis - thank you for posting your memories of the coup (5th grade right? Mrs. Zubcoff)
To the guys of the Klan, Coop and Robbie and The Wag, thanks for the e-mails - especially to you Tailwind.
And to you Wizard Bob - who for whatever reason is so culturally isolated that he doesn’t know who Harry Potter is…..and who has only seen one movie in his entire life!!!…and it happened to be Field of Dreams where the message is BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME - thanks for building this site.
And to all of you POST YOUR PICTURES. I cannot be the only one who has 29 pictures of the Saigon days. These guys made the photo gallery easy to access - and since I am digital photography knowledge impaired I KNOW. If you need advice on scanning or whatever - ask Bob - he is very helpful and most encouraging - unless of course you send him a photo of yourself in your very demure Cercle Sportif swim attire…in which case he becomes hopelessly communicative (your poor mother, Bob!) and not in a very instructive way.
And to Maile Miller, most of all, thanks for the phone call. Your kind words went a very long way.
