Odd One Out Imagine a happy place where everything was all right in the world. You have a loving family and loving friends whom you get you play with all day long until you get tired. Now, imagine that happy place being taken away from you, all in one day. That’s how I felt when I found out I was moving away from my family and friends. When I was young, I did not understand why I had to move away to a place that was completely foreign and unfamiliar. I can still remember the frustration and disbelief I felt when I was told I was moving from Philippines all they way across the world to the United States of America. I cried, I kicked, and I fussed hoping that would make a difference but it did not. It didn’t matter how I felt or whether I understood the reason, because I was moving either way. Moving from Philippines to America was a challenge for me because of the language, I had trouble fitting in and I struggled to make friends. The move happened very fast because one day I was back home in the Philippines playing with my friends and the next …show more content…
It did not help that my parents were very strict on what I could and could not do. When I got to America, I was about 11 years old and this is the time where I wanted to be just like my friends and I wanted to fit in. Fitting in to me meant doing whatever my friends wanted to do and coming from a strict family, getting permission to go over my friends house and hang out outside of school was almost impossible. Even the smallest things such as painting my nails were banned for me. During that time, my parents put a lot of restrictions on what I could and could not do compared to rest of the kids my age and because of these restrictions, I struggled with making friends. It was hard to find things in common with the girls my
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
I looked at myself at the mirror, drops of water coming out of my eyes like as if it was a rainy day in May. Hearing the news got me so upset and depressed. I sat outside and looked around the place that I have grown up and that meant a lot to me. When I heard that our family was moving to America I was not happy about that.I was angry with my family because I did not want to leave Ethiopia. I did not want to leave my friends and family in Ethiopia. It scared me that I had to leave my old life and start a new one. A month later, it was time to go the airport and get ready to go to the new country. I was nervous; my heartbeat got louder and louder as walked closer to the airport. As I bit my lip, my eyes were dancing to every corner, my legs were shaking, and my hands were sweating. I was sad that I was leaving the place that I called home and that I had to leave all my childhood memories. At the same time, I was excited because I always wondered what it felt like to move to a different country and adapt to a new world, culture, and language. At the airport, I was happy finally come face to face with the big white things that use to fly over my house. I was stunned to see how big they really were. All of the sudden my sadness turned into excitement and I could not wait to start a
The plane took off and were in the air leaving the place I had only ever known. I remember when my parents told me and my two brothers that we would be moving to the United states. At the time I didn’t know where we would end up or how we were even getting there. All I knew was I would be in a totally different landscape with a lot of ethnically different people whom I have never met or seen before.
Since the moment my oldest brothers moved to the United States my family knew we could not be apart from each other. Four years past, enough time to finally go start a new life with my brothers in the U.S. In between those four years I was born, my sisters would always talk about my unknown brother to me. Then they told me we were going to move. I was barely two years when we came to the U.S. It was February 25, 2004 when we said goodbye to my grandparents, mom and dads family. It was a long ride from Mexico City to Nogales, when we arrived in Nogales my brothers friend, Alejandro was waiting for us in a minivan. Alejandro told us that the toughest part was coming. He said we had to split up, my sisters and dad was going to walk through the
Coming to America about six years ago and adapting to the new world proved to be a real challenge for me. Aside from the cultural shock, I had to adapt to the usage of a foreign language in almost everything, which in turn forced me to work harder in my studies than in the previous years. My parents sacrificed a lot for their family. They left their country, their own business, and their family behind so that my sisters and I could have a better future. I came to America when I was in the eighth grade. I did not speak English fluently or understood it very well. When I got the admission in middle school my counselor gave the course selection sheet. I did not even know what courses to pick because the courses were almost alien in nature, or
The most difficult time of my life was when I had to leave my country after having spent fourteen years living in India. As a kid growing up in India, the most significant event in my life was my grandparents deciding I would move to America right before I would start high school. Sadness fell on my face when my parents told me, as I never imagined going to America and leaving all of my friends. There are decisions that can unexpectedly change your life. Mine was coming to a new country and adapting to a foreign environment. After learning how to get through the last four years, I already have experienced a major life change, almost how it will be in college, being separated from friends and having to make new ones.
The year of 2014 late summer I came to America with dreams and hopes, expecting the better for me and my family. I have family that had came before me; however they weren't that respectful for someone that had been living in Mexico their whole life. I used to get put down by the way I looked, talked or how I acted. I recall that they would talk in english about me , and make fun of me , so I wouldn’t understand what they were saying. I have cousins that don't even appreciate all the sacrifices that one as a parent has to make , so they are able to give a better life for their kids. On the good side of the story I would always keep in mind how I came here? thanks to who?and why?. So I realize that I fitted in the Hispanic community by attending to Hispanic events, playing soccer, and cooking hispanic food.
It’s been a little over a month since I got to America from Mexico. I live in New York City now. It’s nothing as I expected it to be people in the city are very rude, one day I was walking to work which is a clothing factory a teenage boy, who looked very wealthy told me, “go back where you come from” and “you don’t belong here.” That’s when I met the nicest woman I have ever met, her name’s Jane. She saw everything that happened, she knew I was scared of the boy and that’s when she gave me this flyer. She told me to come to her organization meeting at this church where she would help me adjust to New York. Surprisingly, the meeting was during a time I didn’t work and I heard a couple of the girls that I work with chatting about it. So, I
I was born in Bogota, Colombia where most people are catholics. Thus, I was baptized at the age of five. I also went to a catholic school from kindergarten up to second grade. However, I barely attended church because my parents were busy throughout the week to go to church. Then, at the age of nine my family and I moved to the United State.
The environment in which i was raised on was a pretty and calm back then. I came from a not rich or medium class but a low class. That place was that i was raised where i came from is mexico matamoros tamaulipas not a really good or great place now but where i lived was the best place ever. lived there all my childhood until i was six. My parents wanted a better future for me a better education a better life for me so we moved to the united states. I still had my both parents and in still do except at that time we had bad economic situations. My dad had to head up north and look for a job in florida i didn’t want him to go especially because it would be hard for me not being able to see him. Sometimes i wouldn’t see my dad for a year or two
Sometimes I can still smell the multiplicity of aromas that inhabited the first nine years of my life the erotic spices, the faint smell of motor oil. I can hear the sounds of the crowded streets of Mumbai the sounds of music and horns honking. My family and I are from Mumbai, India where my mother and father owned several small cell phone stores, and repair shops. A few of my earliest memories were going there as a child to help my father with the different task, and cleaning around our shops.
Moving to another country without knowing the language and culture at the age of 15, was one of the most important decisions that I had to make in my life. I left my mom, family, and friends because I knew that leaving them would prepare me to become an independent person. Moving to the United States gave me the chance to learn a new language, and a better future.
Last years, I was in Iraq, in Baghdad, in my house with my mom and sister. It was a beautiful weather, when the phone rang and my mom answered, immediately the smile became on her face when she heard we would travel to another country. After the phone closed, she came to us and said,¨we will finally travel to United States,let us go to prepare the backpacks, we do not have more time to waste¨these news were amazing, but I became sad that we left my cousin, my friend in Iraq. Next, we prepare to go to the pline, we moved in pline to Ardon, then to Germany, and then to United States. It was a fun trip in airport and also a tired one. Then,
Last year, August 1 was nice day we were at home eating lunch and someone who work at UN call my dad and he said ''you will travel to U.S.A after two week'', he ask my dad are you agree to travel to U.S.A ? My dad said ''yes I agree''.
When I learned I was moving to another country because my dad got a new job opportunity there, I was overwhelmed at the fact I was leaving everything behind and broadening my horizons elsewhere. I was emigrating from Pune, India to Minneapolis, Minnesota and I was 7 years old.