My fond memory of Taiwan(3)/Carlos Pueblo

My fond memory of Taiwan(3)/Carlos Pueblo

It is a good memory of my humble background in Taiwan, as a matter of fact, it has been a continuously improvement of my life time. I have described the first two fond memory of Taiwan, the local religious feast and the credit on the local grocery store. Now, I am going to various student loans. It is very interesting of a hardship indeed.

My father's monthly income was about $20 U.S. dollars to feed a family of nine at that time of the 50's. There was a six year compulsory publican education for us to attend until the junior high school and thereafter. My parents have paid their first priority for us to get to the college. When my elder sisters were at the senior high school, he started to borrow the tuition and fee from his old classmate, a successful business man in the capital city of Taipei. At the time of my junior high, the fee was about $10 per semester and some book fees and high school was $15 per semester. My brother and I were attending senior high school in Taipei away from home even though we had had a help from my mother's brother, our uncle. to have the room and board free. There were still additional cost of living expanse. My mother would make a small pocket to hold the $15 cash and seamed with my sweater to make sure it was safe for me to take a whole day train to the school. He was forced to be retired at 60 with a lump sum pension payment of $5,000. He told me that he paid back to his kind friend with half of that amount, $2,500.

I went to Taiwan Normal for my college education. It was a tuition free university; however, I was still required to arrange my room and board. In addition to that, I had to make up some courses which I failed during three summers. My sister Amy at that time was a high school teacher and making her $20 a month stipend. She was very kind to loan me about $350 total to pay the additional cost for me to get out of the college within four years. 

I was very anxious to leave Taiwan for a graduate study in the U.S. In order to get a Visa, I was required to provide $2,000 to show my first year financial support. I received two loans of $75 from my elder sister and an adopted mother while a classmate's father loaned me $2,000 simply because his son's recommendation. I paid the loan off as soon as I had had a bank account at Auburn, Alabama. 

I always like to thank my father's friend who made a loan to help us to get education and also Ronald Wen's father who believed of my credit score at that time. They all have provided me the precious opportunity to make my successful life in the U.S.