My Holidays And Family

My life was split over two distinct culture as my family moved back and forth between Syria and the United States. My family immigrated to the U.S. in the early eighties and moved back to Syria two years after I was born. I completed my first and second grades in Syrian public schools before immigrating to the United States in 2001. I was first placed in english second language classes, which I completed in 9 months. I then continued my fourth grade in regular classrooms. These two years exposed me to various cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds. I interacted with people from all around the world, which cultivated my cultural awareness and shaped my identity. However, I was harassed several times because of my ethnic and religious background. A student once told me “go back to your country, we don’t want you here”. It had never occurred to me that I was perceived as foreign even though I am a U.S. citizen.

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9). Through all generations of my family leading up to today, my family, on my mother and father’s sides, all practice the same faith. All of my family is Catholic, most of my friends growing up were catholic, and everywhere I looked, my faith was an important part of my life. I went to private school for nine years; the same one many of my cousins and my siblings attended. All of the people around me when I was a child prayed and worshiped like I was taught to do. They were the ones that influenced me to go deeper into my faith. Through the daily religion classes and weekly masses, to the teachers and priest that influenced my morals and values, I look back on those days as times I cherish. I had learned to open my heart and let others in to take a part in my life. I set boundaries for myself to be a respectful person and keep my faith. And most importantly, I am a life worth living as we are all made from the same image of God. Private school is the reason I am the person I have grown to be today and I will become tomorrow.

At the beginning of summer my parents already started planning vacations for our family. My dad especially worked on planning our trips in detail. We planned for weddings, visits with family and our friends, and one trip my dad was especially excited for, the eclipse trip. He asked me and my brothers if we would be willing to go with him because my dad loves spending time with us. I have two brothers having me being the middle child. My younger brother wanted to go but me and my older brother told our dad we were not as sure having my mom sit this trip out.

Summer 2014, it was a memorial summer, the time between secondary and highschool, when you have to say goodbye to your old friends and prepare to go to a new school, meet new friend, live in a new environment. In class, I only hang out with 4 dudes, so we planned to have a summer trip to say goodbye to each other. It supposed to be a 7 days trip, but we gotta cut it down to 4 because lack of money. The first day of the trip was good, we had an amazng time, we checked in at the hotel very late at night, I was very tired so I just jumped to bed instantly. Closed my eye, I can heard the the sound of the wave outside because our hotel is next to the beach, I started to fall asleep, wait I felt the wind coming toward me, no im falling down, I screamed, opened my eyes, it just a dream, I checked the clock, it was 5:30am, nobody was there, “Oh!”: I said, they must have gone to the port by now, it was a idea of one of my friends, sailing overnight on a fisher-boat, I thought it was a stupid idea so I refused and decided to stay at the hotel. I looked out of the window, the sun was starting to rice, I opened the window, I can smell the sea, it was so peaceful, I can see some couples walking, “This is heaven.” I thought to myself. Picked up my phone, I went to the bathroom, locked the door, I sat down on the toilet, played some pointless game on my phone, it was very hot in here so I started to sweat a lot, usually I spent like 30 mins in the toilet just surfing the internet but this

On August 4, 2017 I went on vacation to finally meet my family in Mexico. My grandmother Margarita Barrera Diego and my uncle Adolfo, from my dad side, were waiting on me and my siblings at the airport. It was such an emotional moment for us since most of my grandmothers children were raised in the United states of America, she didn’t get the chance to experience having her children in Mexico and being a mom, thus making us her grandkids the chance to be a mother and to get to know us more.

From the outside, my life consists of all happy moments. My friends, family and teachers all see me as a bubbly, positive girl that is full of curiosity and energy. There is this one secret that only I know. Holidays scare me. Starting at the age of fourteen, I began to realize that I have a fear of holidays. As holidays start to approach, I become nervous and anxious. I love Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years, but my fear consists of my parents. As an only child and having all my extended family members living in Malaysia, I spend holidays celebrating with my parents. Holidays for me can either turn out to be good or bad. When I was little, my parents would have a big fight or argument at least once a year and it typically happened during the holidays. These fights always ended with my parents not talking to each other for days. My parents would talk to me about their problems and as an only child, I did not know how to deal with it. When these fights happened, I use to think it was my fault. I would cry while they would argue and continue to cry when I took a shower. The thought of my parents being mad at each other, made me sad and frustrated because there was nothing I can do. As I grew older, I realized that these fights were not my fault. I should not put the blame on myself. I learned to understand that married couples sometimes fight and adults have so much daily pressure they carry on their backs that little situations can become big situations due to their

I woke up to a raging fire on my farm and my Papa gone, and I realized things were about to change. I had all the things I wanted, and I never was grateful for these things. But when my Papa died and all of our riches were taken, we were forced into Mexican working camps. Now we were poor and had almost nothing. All those things were taken away from me. I have come to appreciate everything I have. I thought I would have riches forever, but now I realized that you shouldn't take things for granted, and be grateful for the things you have.

:”as i’m cleaning my room the only thing that on my mind where we going for or third vacation”.’but at the other end my mom had a task for me to so i had to wait”

For my summer vacation I went to three main places .In the beginning of summer at the first part I went to Twin Falls Idaho with my Dad . We rented a car and explored the state .Apart from seeing a bunch of potato farms we saw lots of volcanic rocks and a HUGE canyon it had massive trees growing out of the rocks and at the bottom of the canyon there was a canoe trial and a golf course .A week later I found me and my family were going to Poland . The plane trip was around 11 hours ,9 hours to Germany and 2 hours to Poland The plane wasn't really relaxing the passenger in front of me had his seat pulled back the whole flight so I had no leg space .My sister was also a pain because of the constant nagging .My Grandma had come to picks us up since we were staying at her house for the next 3 weeks . When we arrived at my grandparents house it's as if i traveled back in time to the 1940’s everything was so outdated and behind, . Since my grandparents lived at a farm I had the urge to explore . I walked around the massive barn that was hiding behind the house and while exploring I stepped into a massive pile of cow poop .Luckily for my sneakers I only stepped into it with my toe . I walked into the bathroom to start scrubbing the poop of my sneakers .When I finished that I walked into the kitchen where everyone was sitting to find out my grandma had a prepared enough food to feed a block full of people.

Christmas was my favorite time of year growing up, but not for the reason most people infer. To most kids the presents were the best part of the day, but my favorite part was having a minute long conversation with my father. Although he’d ask the same questions every year, I didn’t care. Being able to talk to him made up for not being able to see him. I’d always dream about what It would be like to have him around during our conversations, my imagination would dance around the thoughts of the perfect dad, like the ones you see on TV. He’d be there for every broken heart to every good day I’d have, but he wasn’t. I was in for a rude awakening when he came home, i’d be face to face with a hard decision that could ultimately tear up a relationship with that side of my family.

Life is a rollercoaster, but I am grateful to be living it with my family and friends. My family has taught me many lessons that I will always apply to my decision making for the rest of my life. Loyalty, honesty, and respect has been taught to me ever since I learned how to speak. The communication between my family and I is very important because I know that my voice matters. Support will always be something that my parents continue to give me even when I fail. My family and friends has shaped who I am today and I will always be thankful for having them in my life.

One week before Christmas, my family and I took a trip to the beach. We went to a magical place called Mochima National Park, located in the Venezuelan Eastern. That was the first time I took a vacation with my family. A small holiday that literally made up for all the previous years that I did not have holidays with them. We all cooperate to rent a house in the port of that small fishing town. My mom felt happy with all her children together, and I was also happy to be there with my family on the beach.

Now that I’m older and more mature, I believe that I now understand the meaning of Christmas better but I am not as excited for the holiday than I was as a child. Last Christmas Eve, I was excited for my brothers and grandparents coming down from the city. I would have to wake up really early in the morning to clean the whole house, such as, sweeping the halls and cleaning the dinner tables. While I was cleaning, my mother started cooking and taking out the turkey out of the fridge, that has been prepared and marginated since the day before. I would take small breaks just so I could watch her because she was using my great grandmother's recipe which consisted of using twenty tomatoes for the sauce. My eyes would burn as she cut the tomatoes and onions since the acidity mixed together, then she would put them in a huge pot along with putting in chicken broth and hispanic peas. When she started to heat up the sauce, the aroma filled the whole house and my mouth water already imagining what it would taste like. The sauce was my favorite part of the food since it was so savory and delicious, it was hard not to enjoy it. My mother would bathe the turkey with the sauce and each beadlet of sauce would either be soaked up or slide off the turkey’s back, it was very beautiful in a weird way. After bathing the turkey, she would put the turkey in the oven and on occasion she would do the same progress again, but just in the oven. The next step was making mash potatoes, which went

The most important thing for me in my life is my family. Although we are separated during the week, we would hardly see each other. Deep down, they are the reason why I look forward to Fridays and Sundays. These days are not Just any ordinary day for my family because we get to come to gather and have fun we bond as any other normal family dose. Another reason why my family is important to me is because my mother is my motivation to finish the week she is the first person I see in the morning and the last person I see at night.

Born in Petersburg, Virginia and raised in Suffolk, Virginia; my life has been spent in both country and city. Even though I was schooled in Suffolk, majority of my family had settled in Wakefield, Virginia; which the place I always recognized as home. I was brought up by my parents and with two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. Together, in combination with my ridiculous amount of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, we had grown up to be one big, happy family that still loves each other dearly. Although, due to the loss of one of the most important members of my family brought about much sadness, we were able to make that love grow even more and it also taught us to take advantage of the time we had with one another.