WEBVTT

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At the end of 1989 we were all
fired and given the option:

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“Either you go back to Vietnam

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“and receive 3000 marks compensation,

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“and we’ll organize the flight,
or you can remain here

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“because the contract is not finished, but
you’ll have to find a place to stay yourselves.”

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Then I went back to Rostock
to my German girlfriend.

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I didn’t know how I was going to live.

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I didn’t even know that you could get
unemployment benefits.

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I had around 3000 marks in savings.

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I used it to buy a car,
a big tank of a thing.

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It was an Audi 100.
Very old.

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Then I would go to Berlin,
Kreuzberg and to Hamburg

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to get goods and deliver them
to the Vietnamese traders

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who sold things on the street: cassettes,

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giftware, tea sets, video cassettes,

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all of the things that were sold on the
street soon after reunification.

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I managed to earn pretty good
money that way.