My Memorable Birthday, That I Only Remember Well To Tell

January 4, 2002, I was turning 7 years old. My parents went all out and bought a lot of drinks and food, it was a bit of a waste to me. A lady came to my house and my mom had her dress me up in one of the traditional dresses. The lady did my hair and put a lot of heavy clips, I felt like I was going to fall over. It was a huge party and very traditional, since everyone who live in my apartment were all my relatives, it was even more huge. I was nervous and my dad told me I had to be respectful and show off as much as I can. I started to cry and he smacked me in the face and he said “you are a Khmer srey”, which pretty much means a Cambodian girl. I had to stand in front of the door and greet the people traditionally while they walked in. They gave me red envelopes, full of money and I had to hand it to my parents. Later, I had to dance in Cambodian and also sing. When the night finally ended I was so exhausted I wanted to sleep, I remember my dad counting the money and it came out to be a lot! I could not touch it, but I could only have five dollars from my dad and he took the rest to gamble. He said, “I was too young to have it, and I was too young to know ho much it was”. My mother was angry at him and said that I needed the money for college. My memorable birthday is not a happy one, but I only remember this birthday clearly.