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Personal Narrative: Eid As An Immigrant

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Having been raised in a Latino community, I have noticed that some of the peers seem to believe that living in a comfort zone for their entire lives is acceptable. My fear of being trapped in this comfort zone is what sparked my interest when my college counselor sent my class an email about studying abroad to learn Arabic in Amman, Jordan, a process that took over six months. For seven weeks following the end of my junior year, my views of the world greatly expanded, and I explored a beautiful culture and language unlike anything I had known before. Three weeks into the program, my host family and I took a trip to al-Balad, Amman’s downtown marketplace, the day before Islam’s celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of holy month, Ramadan. After the call to prayer, a sea of people flooded the streets in preparation for biggest celebrations of the year; overwhelmed by the sheer , I lost my host family as they rushed to get a new wardrobe for Eid. I tried as much as possible not to panic but it was hard not to be scared; Amman was so new to me that it was terrifying to think what might happen if I could not find a way home in Webda. This was the moment I realized that no one was there to help me; my host …show more content…

I had no other option than to interact with people, so for the next hour I went shop to shop trying to find someone who could guide me home; I explained that I spoke basic Arabic and needed to get to Webda. After an hour, I was able to find my way and walked in as my host mom was just about to call my resident director to report the incident. My host father immediately let out a laugh of relief and was surprised that I found my way home. They teased me for being able to get home and called me “muktashef’, which means explorer. My host family was relieved to see me, but also proud that I somehow was able to find my way

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