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My mother, my sister and I slept in the same bed. My mother was exhausted each night,
我、我妹妹和我母親睡在同一張床上。每晚母親都拖著疲憊的身體回家，
but we told one another about our day and listened to the movements of my grandmother around the house.
但是我們互相交流一天的事情，聽著旁邊房間祖母的動靜。
My mother suffered from nightmares, all about the boat. And my job was to stay awake until her nightmares came so I could wake her.
我母親一直夢魘困擾著，都是關于小船的。我的工作就是保持清醒，在她做惡夢的時候叫醒她。
She opened a computer store, then studied to be a beautician and opened another business.
她開了一家計算機商店，學習美容，將來開一家美容店。
And the women came with their stories about men who could not make the transition, angry and inflexible, and troubled children caught between two worlds.
女人們過來談論關于男人的故事，他們無法完成過渡，生氣，頑固，問題小孩困在兩個世界之間。
Grants and sponsors were sought. Centers were established. I lived in parallel worlds.
尋求資金和資助人，建立了中心。我生活在一個平行的世界。
In one, I was the classic Asian student, relentless in the demands that I made on myself.
一方面，我是典型的亞洲學生，對自己特別狠；
In the other, I was enmeshed in lives that were precarious, tragically scarred by violence, drug abuse and isolation.
另一方面，我糾纏于現實的危險，被暴力、毒品泛濫和種族隔離弄得傷痕累累。
But so many over the years were helped. And for that work, when I was a final-year law student, I was chosen as the Young Australian of the Year.
但這么多年來，很多人都得到了幫助。當我曾為法律系畢業生的時候，我被選擇作為當年的澳大利亞年輕代表。
And I was catapulted from one piece of the jigsaw to another, and their edges didn't fit.
我直接從一個片段跳到了另一個，沒有漂亮的連接。
Tan Le, anonymous Footscray resident, was now Tan Le, refugee and social activist,
Tan Le一名Footscray普通居民，現在是難民，社會積極分子，
invited to speak in venues she had never heard of and into homes whose existence she could never have imagined.
被邀請演講，去一個從未聽說過的，去一個無法想象是否存在的地方。
I didn't know the protocols. I didn't know how to use the cutlery. I didn't know how to talk about wine.
我不知道禮儀，不知道如何用刀具，不會談論葡萄酒，
I didn't know how to talk about anything. I wanted to retreat to the routines and comfort of life in an unsung suburb --
不會講話。我想要退回到原來，無名市郊的舒適生活--
a grandmother, a mother and two daughters ending each day as they had for almost 20 years,
祖母、目前和兩個女兒過著20多年的平淡生活，
telling one another the story of their day and falling asleep, the three of us still in the same bed.
相互談論著過去的日子，漸漸入睡，我們三個還在一個床上。
I told my mother I couldn't do it. She reminded me that I was now the same age she had been when we boarded the boat.
我告訴我母親，我做不到。她提醒我，她帶我們乘船出國的時候，正好是我現在的年齡。
"No" had never been an option. "Just do it," she said, "and don't be what you're not."
沒有任何選擇。“放手去做”，她說 “做真正的自己” 。
