Personal Narrative: My Return To The United States

I am crossing the border to the U.S because my parents think it will give us a new beginning and a better life. I think they’re wrong. Our life in El Salvador was fine: We had a nice house and we were healthy. Here, none of that is true.

July 4th, America declared independence from Britain. Ironically, on July 4th, 1997, my parents came to the U.S , declaring independence from their own country. Christians in Egypt were beaten up, wrongly convicted, and killed. My parents did not want to raise their children in such a corrupt society and desired to come to America to pursue a better way of life . On November 26, 1999, I was born and my parents knew that this would mean a worse financial crisis. My dad spent most of his day working overtime and even then, he still had to ask for financial support from his brother. After saving just enough money to pay for rent, we rented a one bedroom apartment with roaches, fleas, and ticks. We lived off of food stamps and some government

Today I will be talking about the first time I came to America and how it has changed my life. When I was five years old, I started first grade in Turkey. I was afraid because my parents signed me up late and I thought I wouldn’t be able to make friends. Both my parents came with me for the first day of school and I made them wait outside of my classroom because they couldn’t come inside the classroom. The first time I entered class, all the kids were with their friends and the teacher had assigned me in between two girls. They were the sweetest people I could have had, and I wish they were still in my life now.

Not in a million years would I have thought I would ever move from my neighborhood in India to another house, let alone another country. If you would have come up to me and said I was moving, I probably would've just laughed at you, blinded by my obliviousness. But sure enough, one day, and I did not see this coming, my mother told me we were moving to the USA. Just out of the blue, no warning, just bam! Luckily for me, I was near a sofa when I heard this news, so I fell down on the sofa, not the ground. Shock would be an understatement for how I was feeling at that moment. I looked around, at all the pictures, all the furniture including the sofa I was sitting on (which I was quite fond of), all my toys, everything I could lay my eyes on. I thought I was going to die of shock, if not sadness. I was going to leave my entire life, all my friends, all my relatives, everything I treasured behind for an uncertain future in America?

I was raised under a belt held by my father. To this day I can still recall the days I witnessed my father 's abuse to my family physically and emotionally. My family was tightly gripped by my father; which resulted to my sisters and I fearing him as we grew up. As a child, I was the one who got hit the most. Some say it was because I was the most stubborn, however; all I could remember was exploring, living, and laughing. I did not know what was right from wrong.

I was born in China and came to the United States when I was young. Our family was fortunate to have the opportunity to come to America due to my uncle. He sponsored us to come here so we can all have a better life. I don’t remember much of China and only have memories of my childhood in Sacramento. Sometimes I wonder how my life would be like if I never came to the United States but overall I am very blessed to be here. I’ve always remembered that I had a good life up until high school. I didn’t know then, but I found out five years ago that I had depression in high school. I really wished that my teachers would’ve known and helped me. Yet nobody knew including my family members.

My American Dream will come true because it is so easy to achieve. You want to know about it? Its really interesting and you probably can achieve it to. Its self comfort and happiness with yourself. If I'm not happy with myself in the future than I am not living my American Dream.

This topic is truly interesting and exciting topic, especially for the one who considers himself as a person who is already so much different than anybody else. Why? There aren’t many high schoolers who have just emigrated to the States like me. I have not seen that many students who have just emigrated from their country. There are myriad of difficulties that people like me have to encounter and have to go through. And like any other students throughout these 2 years of my life in America I have faced tons of difficulties and went through many hardships as well. And of course sometimes, I failed to overcome these. However, the bright side of these painful years is that it has given me many lessons and solutions. And one of the thing I learned

“We’re staying at a hotel this week, girls.” As I heard the words sorely coming out of my father, I was hit with the reality of where I lived and the situation the city faced. Six men had been shot countless times across the street from my house. A bloody and holey reminder was left, and up to the residents to clean up. The city was Juarez, Mexico; at some point, the most unsafe city in the world. A few weeks later, as my mother was driving to the store, three men held her at gunpoint for her purse and the keys to her car. The next day, my parents announced we were moving to the States.

My family has always been very united but one day my dad emigrated to America, I was 5 years old and missed him a lot because I thought he was missing out so many important events of my childhood and all the new things I was going through, but he would always tell me that one day I would come to America and I remember I would get very content about it but as I was growing up I was making new friends, meeting new people and “living life” that I forgot about the idea of coming to America. As years were passing by, my family began to tell me that I had to enjoy every second in my country since it was probably my last year in Honduras and I believed it at first but then it never happened so I was so busy with school that I never thought the day would come.

I came to the U.S four years ago with my family. It was really tough to survive in the U.S without help from community or family. I have been working full-time with a minimum wage to help my parents pay bill and buy some grocery. I also have been taking full-time credit student during last four years. Every day of mine during last four years is working and studying.

I can vividly remember the days when I thought my future was grim, without hope. My first 17 years of life was spent in a refugee camp without freedom. I was a stateless person in Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal, I had no place to call home. But, things changed for good. United State government decided to bring me and my family to the US in 2008. It was a huge blessing and great honor. When I first arrived in the US in San Antonio, Texas, among the people I met was retired US airforce Major and his wife a retired SSgt who became father and mother to me. Through them, I came to make friends with many veterans who has served our great nation, who has sacrificed for the sake of our liberty.

The day seems like will be a pretty good day. I was in my school. The classes were finished for the day. That day we had quizzes and and the professor we let out soon. I was wit my friends we were laughing, talking, and joking .When I arrive to my home, my parents told me that we can move to USA to get our resident and also to study. To be honest, in my class of English I was so bad student. I never understand this particular class, now, I nove to USA. Rhis notice was really challenging in my life. What I suppose to do in

Life gets tough at times and it did for me as well. I remember I was 10 when we decided to move to America. We moved in with my Uncle and we were extremely grateful to him for giving us space in his house to stay. My parents stayed in one room while me and my siblings stayed in another room. Since my uncle lived alone, he didn 't have enough mattresses for all of us so my siblings and I would use comforters to sleep on. Despite everything, I still like Michigan as it is beautiful and peaceful. Moreover, the weather was great, I experienced the feeling of snow for the first time. I remember I would try to pick up one flake to get a closer look at it and it would melt every time, but I never learned. Even though I was trying to enjoy these experiences,

In my life l have lived with and learned from different people from around the globe. I was born to a Mexican father and an American mother. Since living with fifty different foreigners from multiple countries and following my father’s footsteps leading tours for foreign students; I have certainly been around my fair share of cultures and learned to appreciate different people.