sylvia: mm-hmm, yeah. anthony: ayala cooks tamales de gallina from scratch. outside, fresh pupusas are being made on a hot griddle. jonathan s mom nina makes a dish of jellyfish, shrimp and pork, tossed with mint, carrots, red onion and peanuts, dressed with nuoc mam, the pungent vietnamese fish sauce. and mee kang, a rice noodle dish from central vietnam made with pork ribs, shrimp and chilies. very mixed up meal here. sylvia: yeah! anthony: awesome. lll did you speak english when you arrived here? sylvia: oh, not a word. i couldn t even say hi. so i learned it literally within a year. anthony: yup. sylvia: because i had to. by fifth grade, this one teacher miss spikes just made me feel like i was the smartest little thing in the whole world. she built up my confidence that i could do anything. jonathan: you know, we learned how to speak spanish first before we learned how to speak english. anthony: of course. so you came over in 78, did you say? jonathan: late 7
anthony: soccer is not a plan, my friend. pearland is the quintessential sprawl of suburban americana, and more and more these days, this is the quintessential american family. jonathan, his salvadoran-born wife sylvia, along with his sister kim and her husband, ron, jonathan s mom nina, and sylvia s mom, ayala. so, if you have, like, a, on christmas or fourth of july or a big holiday, how many extended family? how many people are coming over? lll whoa, everyone s laughing. oh, wow, okay. sylvia: a lot. anthony:: i mean, what s a lot? how many? sylvia: 40, 50? anthony: wow. sylvia: i mean, i don t even see us as interracial until people point it out. anthony: well, it s a typical
texan family at this point. sylvia: mm-hmm, yeah. anthony: ayala cooks tamales de gallina from scratch. outside, fresh pupusas are being made on a hot griddle. jonathan s mom nina makes a dish of jellyfish, shrimp and pork, tossed with mint, carrots, red onion and peanuts, dressed with nuoc mam, the pungent vietnamese fish sauce. and mee kang, a rice noodle dish from central vietnam made with pork ribs, shrimp and chilies. very mixed up meal here. sylvia: yeah! anthony: awesome. lll did you speak english when you arrived here? sylvia: oh, not a word. i couldn t even say hi. so i learned it literally within a year. anthony: yup. sylvia: because i had to. by fifth grade, this one teacher miss spikes just made me feel like i was the smartest little thing in the whole world. she built up my confidence that i could do anything. jonathan: you know, we learned how to speak spanish first before we learned how to speak english. anthony: of course.
lll pearland is the quintessential sprawl of suburban americana, and more and more these days, this is the quintessential american family. jonathan, his salvadoran-born wife sylvia, along with his sister kim and her husband, ron, jonathan s mom nina, and sylvia s mom, ayala. so, if you have, like, a, on christmas or fourth of july or a big holiday, how many extended family? how many people are coming over? lll whoa, everyone s laughing. oh, wow, okay. sylvia: a lot. anthony:: i mean, what s a lot? how many? sylvia: 40, 50? anthony: wow. sylvia: i mean, i don t even see us as interracial until people point it out. anthony: well, it s a typical texan family at this point. sylvia: mm-hmm, yeah. anthony: ayala cooks tamales de gallina from scratch.
outside, fresh pupusas are being made on a hot griddle. jonathan s mom nina makes a dish of jellyfish, shrimp and pork, tossed with mint, carrots, red onion and peanuts, dressed with nuoc mam, the pungent vietnamese fish sauce. and mee kang, a rice noodle dish from central vietnam made with pork ribs, shrimp and chilies. very mixed up meal here. sylvia: yeah! anthony: awesome. lll did you speak english when you arrived here? sylvia: oh, not a word. i couldn t even say hi. so i learned it literally within a year. anthony: yup. sylvia: because i had to. by fifth grade, this one teacher miss spikes just made me feel like i was the smartest little thing in the whole world. she built up my confidence that i could do anything. jonathan: you know, we learned how to speak spanish first before we learned how to speak english. anthony: of course. so you came over in 78, did you say? jonathan: late 77. i was 10 years old. and we literally left on i wouldn t call it a boat, it