- I haven't met a lot of Burmese people.

- [Remona] Okay.

- But you're also- - [Remona] I'm not Burmese.

- Thai.

Hm?

- [Remona] I'm not Burmese.

(Remona laughing) - Are you Thai?

- No, I'm not Thai either, okay.

Do I get to explain?

Okay.

Let's just say, "immigrant" sounds nicer than being a refugee.

(upbeat rhythmic music) - [Xavier] There you go!

(group shouting) - [Director] You're gonna read the question the closest to your left thumb.

- Where's my left?

(Remona laughing) - [Director] Yeah.

This one.

(group chuckling) (board snapping) - Nice to meet you.

- All right.

Describe a food your family cooked or ate often.

Well, I'm from Argentina, so we eat a lot of barbecue.

- I'm from Puerto Rico, so rice and beans.

For sure.

- [Remona] Yes, rice.

- I don't wanna join the bandwagon, but definitely rice.

- [All] Rice.

(group laughing) Rice with stew.

- Have you tried... (Xavier speaking in foreign language) - I have not.

- That's Puerto Rican, really good.

- [Remona] Chili paste for the Karen people.

- Yeah, it's like- - [Remona] Chili paste.

- when I eat like Southeast Asian food, I'm like, this is like Nigerian food.

(group laughing) - What has been a highlight for you since moving to Minnesota?

The diversity in the Twin Cities.

Love that.

I was like culture shock, I just say.

Like, whoa, there's so many Southeast Asians population here.

'Cause I grew up in Idaho and it's very white.

So yeah.

So it was...

I was born in Myanmar and Thailand border.

It wasn't safe for us to stay in our land anymore, so we're forced to flee.

So I resettled in Idaho.

That's my, I guess my first home.

In Minnesota, like I'd known there was a lot of Karen people, but I didn't know it was going to be the largest.

I moved here for a guy, my husband.

(Remona chuckling) (upbeat rhythmic music continues) - What activities did you enjoy as a kid?

I grew up in Nigeria, and we, a lot of people grew up in compounds.

We were sheltered a little bit, so we'd open a gate, and then we'd allow a goat to walk inside.

Then we just chase the goat around the (indistinct).

(group laughing) Yeah, that's what we did.

- Poor goat.

- Poor goat, I feel bad for the goat.

'Cause he probably just came for food, yeah.

But yeah.

- She was probably happy that you grew up.

(group laughing) - [Olu] Yeah, oh yeah!

- You're good at spinning.

What is a fun fact that most people may not know about you?

Fun fact.

Ooh, I'm a children author.

- [Olu] Ooh.

- Yeah.

Bilingual children author.

So I wrote two books.

- Nice.

- I wrote it for my daughter, and for my community.

I want to see my daughter go to the library, and then see, oh wow!

This book cover, you know, there's a character that looked like me.

Growing up, I never really have a book in the house other than the Bible, like the holy Bible.

I want parents to read to their children.

I never had that one-on-one intimacy with my parents, you know, that connections.

I can never be rich becoming an author just because I just wanna hand out all my books.

Here's for free, for free!

(laughing) - [Director] Okay, so each of these cards has a statement on it.

Everybody else has to write on their paddle, "Yes, that's true," or "No, that's not true."

- Living in Minnesota has given me more opportunities in education than in my country of origin.

- [Xavier] You ready?

- Yes.

- [Remona] Yes.

- [Olu] Yes, yes.

(group laughing) - All right, we all agreed.

- Yeah.

Unanimous.

That was the main reason why my family moved here.

Like even in Nigeria, most people wanna be a soccer player, or a doctor.

- [Remona] Yeah.

- But coming here... Like I went to school for biology, but now I'm a filmmaker.

Those opportunities, I wouldn't even consider them to be something that's possible.

People who, like if you tell them you're a artist, they'll be like, "Yeah, I'm an artist too."

Versus Nigeria where they might be like, "Artist, what?

What?

What do you, how do you, how do you?"

- You can live outta that?

(group laughing) - Yeah, exactly.

I feel like if I did become a doctor, but I feel more like this fits my call, my internal abstract perspective on life.

- Where do you think that change happened?

Because it's interesting, I also went to school for biology.

- Oh, nice, yeah.

(group laughing) - And we're both in media now.

- And you're (indistinct).

- Yeah it was just moving far away from home.

The school I went to was predominantly white, which, there's a benefit to isolation in that you become more confident, and more, you understand yourself a little bit more.

(upbeat music) - Let's see.

I always look forward to visiting my country of origin.

Yes.

- It's fun to go back.

(chuckling) - Yeah, it's very rewarding to go back home.

It's one of those times where you go back to the places that you remember, even though you remember them differently.

- [Dani] Yeah.

- [Xavier] But it's... - I feel like when you're immigrant, to me it sounded like, you know, you have the option versus refugees.

Like you don't.

You became a refugee because a place that you used to call home is no longer safe for you, and you know, you are forced to flee.

Do I get to explain?

- Yes, (indistinct).

- I do?

Okay, okay.

So I'm Karen, (speaking in foreign language) and it's a ethnic group from Myanmar.

We have our own language, the cultures, but we're not Burmese.

The Burmese are more of like the majority, and we are the minority.

I grew up in Thailand refugee camp, and like, you know, I've never visited my home because don't really have one.

Like sometime, I get jealous of people who talk about, oh, "Home", or like, you know, "Where I came from."

You know, they have like all this good memory that they hold onto, and I don't really have one, so.

- Do you feel like you created that sense of home in Idaho?

- I...

It's more of like with the people that I am with.

You know, home is like a more, for me it's like more of a sense of belonging.

- [Dani] Mmhm.

- Yeah, so...

I know some people dream about going back someday, but it's just that the situation isn't getting any better over there.

So I'm like, okay, just, you might as well take advantage of growing and, ground yourself, you know?

I feel like I am by culture, hyphen Karen-American, just because I have lived in two worlds.

- I came here, and I was so proud to be Argentinian, but after so many years, I realized that when I go back, I am not as Argentinian as they are.

So you are in that limbo.

And being limbo with so many other cultures that you change a little bit.

Like I do eat a lot of rice now, which I didn't before.

(upbeat music) - [Director] We asked each of you to come up with a food from your childhood.

So take a bite, and give your authentic reaction to it.

(group giggling) - [Xavier] Ooh, let's dig in.

My God, this is so good.

- Mm.

- Mm.

- Mm.

(laughing) - Sesame.

It's like nutty.

- I taste the coconut at the end too.

- How do you call it?

(Remona speaking in foreign language) (Dani speaking in foreign language) - [Xavier] God, I love it.

- It's a sticky rice snacks.

- When do you eat it?

- Mostly it's for the morning.

With coffee or tea.

- This reminds me of... (Xavier speaking in foreign language) It's kind of like this sticky rice that you have.

We mostly do it during the holiday season.

I love this so much.

This is just a confirmation that I love rice.

(group laughing) - And now my hands are sticky.

(group laughing) - Something I'm taking away is just how different everybody's immigration story is.

Remona, you coming from a refugee camp, and your definition of home being more of something in your heart.

Yeah.

- I don't know.

I guess we carry a home with us.

I carry my home with me.

- [Xavier] True.

- Culture for that.

- This is random.

Do you like cheese?

Is that- - Your people eat more cheese than we do in Puerto Rico.

(laughing) - Ah, there's so much cheese.

The cheese aisle is like huge.

- [Dani] I know.

- I was like, what?

(Dani laughing) I thought that was like...

In Nigeria there's like one type of cheese.

(Remona laughing) Or like two.

- I had never seen a cheese until I moved here.

- You don't have any cheese?

- No, no cheese here.

(board snapping) (Remona laughing)