Personal Narrative: My Life In Venezuela

Until now my experiences in this country had been very special to me. For the first time, I had to be away from my family. I was forced to make every decision without being reliant on the wisdom of elders. For the first time, I saw and spoke to

Coming back to the U.S. for the second time in my life after nine years was perhaps one of the most challenging obstacles I have ever had to face. Not only did I have to accustom myself to the language but also to a newer, differentiated culture. Also, with that came some bullying and taunting that did not pull me down but instead opened my eyes to see what a strong and enduring person I could be. With help from my teachers and my supporting family as they helped buffer my experience and transition to a different world, I was able to overcome the typical immigrant challenge that thousands have to face.

The classic saying, “There’s always someone who has it worse than you” (Shaggy- Keepin’ it Real), didn’t come true to me until I had first-hand experience. As a child, I grew up in the lower middle class. So I wasn’t rich nor super poor. My mother came to the United States from El Salvador in the 1980’s. She has never taken my brother and me to her home country.

Arriving to the United States, to be more precise Houston, Texas. Big, green house with only three rooms for two family’s. The people there were amazing in a day they donated food and supplies enough to survive for a week. My parents struggled to starting us off. We barely had anything. We were a big family with needs. And slowly but surely we had start to adapt. Only 3 minute showers. If

Would you say that life has any sense? Or Is there an answer for everything in life? Three years ago I was completely messed up about this. Gustavo Adolfo Parra Chassaigne that’s how my parents called me and I was born in Maracay a little city next to Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. I used to be the first student of all my high school, also one of the first in tennis of my state and everybody said that my family was “perfect”. So, What did happen to me?

Coming to a new country is hard, especally when you don’t know the language- up until I started school, it hadn’t been a problem for me. With the help of my parents, I was abe to overcome the challenge and become a great student. When I was in 4th grade, I was blessed with the opportunity to go to a better school where I’d recieve better education for

When I was four years old my mom told me that we were going to move to America. Since I was still a little I was so very excited. I lived in Ethiopia where we had little compared to America. As a little kid, I was always told stories of America. We though the country was perfect in all ways. Having been living in a place with many homeless, sick, and orphaned people America seemed like paradise to me. It seemed to me that moving will be the best thing for my family to do. When we moved I was not disappointed. Though things were not exactly how I thought.

-I learned error, I made it the Dominican Republic and was to have given affection, friendship and confidence to people who did not deserve. This happened out of nowhere and It was created a serious mistake in my life, people existed which gave him affection, help and there was no care about anything. I started to love and treat them like family to me, they were people who shared daily, at school, my free time and the more things. Always looking for the best for everyone on Regardless nothing, always I wanted to know how they were, everything.

My family’s euphoria refueled our motivation to chase the American Dream. I finally started kindergarten after 5 months in the United States. I had already finished kindergarten in Mexico, but due to my birthday being after August and because I was yet to learn to write and speak English, I was forced to repeat kindergarten. I was learning to speak English at a surprising rate. Everything was going more smoothly for the family. Although not as an electrician, my father found a job and I helped him with some of the English I knew to fill out applications and communicate with people. I finally started to feel that life in the U.S might be worth

Upon our arrival to The Dominican Republic, my mother informed me that we were going to spend most of our vacation at my grandparent’s house. Immediately, I was filled with exhilaration. After so many years, I would finally visit my beloved grandparents. I had already visualized what spending the summer at their house would be like. Rolling in the sand of the clear see-through beaches, listening to the birds sing and chirp around us as we savor our early morning breakfast, enjoying the sound of waves smashing into the rocks on the shore, and laying in an air-conditioned room when the temperature got too high.

This paper is about the time I went to the Dominican Republic and Nassau, Bahamas with my family and the wonderful lessons I learned or thought about even more. I learned a lot when I was in those two places because there were a lot of examples of the lessons I learned. Both places are very large and there are multiple people who show the lessons in their everyday life.

No one in my family spoke English at that time and we struggled to communicate with anyone. The next morning the plane was waiting so they took us in van with another family, who were African American and they helped us a little with English. When we got to the San Diego airport at 6:00 pm, my dad was waiting for us with his friend. He took us to our new home; we were exhausted, but excited for this new life. The next morning, my dad explained the laws in the United States. We all went to school, but I was held back to the beginning of the third grade. My siblings and I needed to learn more english before we could move onto the next level. It was at this time that I found hope again. I knew I could do great things if I worked hard and learned English. Everything was so different, so new to me. I felt so overwhelmed, but this was my new life and I was determined to make the best of it. My Fear and the two faces in me tell a lot about my past, but I am ready to write a new future for myself so I can do all of the things I dreamed of when I was a young girl in Baghdad, Iraq. That was my past and this is my

One grand adventure that I went on this summer was a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. It was probably the best two weeks of my life and not a day goes by that I don’t think about it and want so badly to go back. I didn’t always have those feelings though… The first couple days were pretty rough from lack of sleep, being in a totally new environment in a country I have never been before, being way out of comfort zone and being slightly home sick. The first full day at our site I nearly had a panic attack because I just couldn't get over the language barrier and that was the first time I have ever worked with kids. I just felt so helpless and that I was’t showing these kids God’s love. But I was because just being there for them showed them God’s love.

I was born in dominican republic santiago in May 21, 1997. I'm 19 years old. My weight is 132 pound and my height is 5.9 feet. My skin color is dark and my eyes color are black. My favorite color is yellow and my favorite singer is Daddy Yankee. I'm a student from Bronx Community College. My major is Liberal Arts & Biology because I want something related with medicine. Now I was thinking about become a physical therapy or doctor with a specialization in pediatric.

The physical move to the United States was the great turning point in my life. In Cuba, the government controlled everything and thus I had no idea what liberty was. I only had a primal urge to achieve it. I had the mentality of a prisoner in solitary confinement, dreaming of liberation from restrictions.