Personal Narrative: Moving Back To The US

Moving to America, was a difficult transition for me. I had come to the realization that I wasn’t going to see my friends any time soon back in Iran and that was hard to overcome at a young age. I was alone as a child because my siblings are a lot older than me, and my parents’ had the challenge of starting over because they had left everything behind in Iran. However, that wasn’t going to get in the way of me succeeding in school. I have always been a fast learner, by the age of eight I had already learned four languages. Also, I was voted most improved by my classmate every year I was in Elementary School. This might not seem like a big achievement, but as a young student in a new country it was a huge motivation boost for me to improve every

Moving to the states was a huge deal for me, since I have lived in Germany for 12 years. When my dad told me we were moving, I ran upstairs to my room and immediately called my friend Sina to tell her about it. This news broke my heart because I would have to leave my friends and not see them for a while. It was very difficult to leave my friends, but after a few months I got used to it. “Party in the U.S.A.” makes me think about being scared of people judging me and to just go with what others are doing.

Even though it hasn’t been a long time since our family has moved to America, it feels like a lifetime ago. I can barely remember the days of walking around barefoot and only having a small piece of bread to eat, while here everyone has shoes to wear and eats pasta multiple times a week. How my life has changed in such a short time. Everyone and everything moves at such fast pace here, if one blinks they can miss a lifetime. Back in Sicily, the days drug on while everyone went through the motions of their days on the farm. There are many differences between Sicily and here in America, but the first time I laid my eyes on the Statue of Liberty, I knew I was meant to be an American.

It is not uncommon to hear one recount their latest family reunion or trip with their cousins, but being a first generation immigrant, I sacrificed the luxury of taking my relatives for granted for the security of building a life in America. My parents, my brother, and I are the only ones in my family who live in the United States, thus a trip to India to visit my extended family after 4 years was an exciting yet overwhelming experience. Throughout the trip, I felt like a stranger in the country where I was born as so many things were unfamiliar, but there were a few places that reminded me of my childhood.

A person has always been able to choose to what extent their cultural experiences affect their perspective. Amy Tan’s, “Two Kinds,” Bharati Mukherjee’s, “Two Ways to Belong in America,” and Robert Lake’s, “An Indian Father’s Plea,” all show how the main characters have chosen to let their experiences have an effect on their cultural identity. A person’s cultural experiences shape perception based on their own identifications and they may chose to assimilate to different cultures.

She explains her thesis by stating “Others who write stories of migration often talk of arrival at a new place as a loss of communal memory and the erosion of an original culture. I want to talk of arrival as a gain,” (360). The key points of the text include Mukherjee describing her transition between Calcutta and the United States, and what it means to be and American and how culture influences that aspect. The information in the text is significant; the people of America are a part of a melting pot, sometimes it is hard for them to find the distinction between American culture and their own. The information in Mukherjee’s story is clear and specific, unbiased, and is relevant to the purpose of the story. I believe Mukherjee has achieved her purpose of informing her audience about cultural differences; she presents certain strengths and weaknesses within the text.

In sixteen years of life, I have received an opportunity to experience different cultures, learning styles, and languages. To start of, I am an American since I was born here, but the reality is that I was raised in India. My parents’ main motivation for moving back to India was because they wanted us to embrace our traditions, and most importantly, value our family relationships. We relocated back to the US at the start of 9th grade. This transition was a huge factor for transforming me as a person. I am cognizant of the two systems, cherish both, and realize that these multicultural experiences have encouraged me to grow and mature beyond my years. Relocating from a place is not as easy as one can imagine. When compared to the US, India

the next year. we thought that it wouldn’t be a reality. It was just a dream. I and mom , we had

Most students don’t spend tons of time trying to memorize vocabularies, but I do, and i have been doing that for many years now. I have a normal family with parents that love me a lot, we go on to vacations if we have spare time. My new life started when my mom and dad decided to move to America in order for me to get a better education, and mostly did not want me to experience those harsh studying in China. I came to America when I was in fourth grade, and everything was really different from the world I used to be in, the environment, school, and people around me. I felt really uncomfortable at first but I quickly adapted the situation.

The first time I’ve met my parents was when I was five. When they approached me at the airport, I did not know who they were. When I found out that they were my parents, I did not know how to react — I was excited, but also scared. Standing in front of me were two people whom I listened to the voices of for the past five years and spoke casually with on the phone, but meeting them in person was a whole different story.

It was the end of the school year, and I was super excited to go home, jump on the couch and have the snuggly feeling I had last summer. When my dad came home he called me up to his room,

Grey chairs. People walking in a fast pace. Intercoms announcing flight times. Grey clouds. Those were the images I remember five years ago when i was at the airport crying. I did not want to leave but i had to. The last moment i had with my mom was very heart breaking. I can see my mom trying hard not to cry before letting me go. But as her oldest daughter, it was really hard and tears started streaming down her face as I entered the doors towards the waiting area of the airport. As I walked inside, I kept turning my head looking back at my mom and waving goodbye. I started crying, but I know I can’t do anything. I’m already on my way to a different country, miles and miles away from my mom. Moving to the U.S. was one of the obstacles of

To gain more information on my family’s history, I spoke with my father, Lalji Patel over the phone. I choose to speak with him because he knows a great deal about my ancestors and has also experienced migration first hand. First, my father shared information to help me better understand who my ancestors were. My great-grandfather is Dayabhai Patel and he married my great-grandmother, Modhiben Patel at a young age. They had a son in 1941, Bhimjibhai Patel, who is my grandfather. My grandfather married my grandmother, Rangaiben Patel at the age of twenty-three. My great-grandparents and grandparents were born and raised in Bhavnagar, India. This is also where they got married. Soon after their marriage, my grandmother gave birth to my aunt, Hansa Patel in 1968 and four years later gave birth to my father, Lalji Patel. In 1994, my father married my mother and four years after, I was born.

The poem “India Association Plans a Newsletter” by Sharat Chandra has a lot of meaning to it behind retaining home culture in another country. Throughout the poem, Chandra discusses on how the second generation children should still preserve their own culture, and not forget about the heritage you came from. The poem itself can be understood in a way that is meaningful for all new immigrants who want to sustain their own heritage in another land which is why today’s reader should pay attention to this poem. Personally, I feel the poem can tell today’s readers about the problems with being too Americanized. Sharat Chandra uses metaphor, imagery, and symbols in “India Association Plans a Newsletter” to convey a sense of what relieves the younger generation from falling back too behind on their own culture, and not completely wash it down just because you are living in a different country.

“I cannot imagine physically stepping out of Florida.” The words of my fellow classmate rang in my head. I could not fathom the thought of staying in one place; this seemed too foreign and strange to comprehend, as though it was against my nature, my identity. My mind and body have been in motion throughout my life; flowing, and changing as I grew up in India, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE and America. Each holds a foothold in my identity, without complete immersion in any. The motions in my life-helped shape my perspective, behavior, and beliefs but most importantly, it made me realize my identity is an ever-shifting stream of energy. It is built upon a process of imitation, innovation and challenges from a multicultural compilation of