Reflective Essay: Moving To America

I'm from the Dominican Republic and I have 4 years living in the United States. When I came to the united states I was 13 years old, it was not easy for my brother and me to start a new life in another country without our mother. Learning another language was the hardest things I have ever done in my life.

My parents were rubber tree farmers. The government owns the trees so we didn’t make much money. Every day after school, I had to go and help my parents at the farm. I didn’t have time to study for another language at home; beside, my schools didn’t allow me to take an English class. The simple reason was that I’m not a teacher’s kid.

Challenge Essay Moving into The United States that has a different language has been the biggest obstacle that I have ever faced, especially with the fact that there was a time where I didn’t understand a single word of that language called English. This was a big obstacle in my life since I was raised in Mexico where the prime language, there is Spanish and that was the only language I knew back then, it was until the day had come where my family and I had to move into the United States due to the violence that has been happening in Mexico. I consider those times the most difficult ones of my whole life because I had to work triple than what I normally did in school in order for me to learn a huge complex language.

It took me so long to try and find where I fit and belong. I now know that my identity is something unique and individual and any person growing up, with or without immigrant parents, struggle to find

When I was about the age of 8, I was living in Nepal, My family was a middle class family, which would be considered poor in America because 1 buck here is 100 buck there. Even though we weren’t the richest we weren’t the poorest either, life was pretty good as far as I knew. Until my parents told me that we were moving to America and that it was the best thing for us to do. My head started rushing with many questions. How about my friends? What kind of people are going to be there? Where will we live? I didn’t know whether to feel excited or sad, my emotions were very mixed.

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At first, the social peculiarity given to me by my migration status and language limitations made me a victim of bullying, which made me want to go back to the safety and similarity of my home country. However, the persistent nature engraved in me by my parents did not allow me to give in to the constant discriminatory voices that kept telling me that I would never be "American" enough.

At first I wrestled with where my identity lay. The strong values and traditions of the Indian culture sometimes made it difficult to fit in with the crowd. As I grew older, I began to understand that I was not part of an individual culture, but a fusion of two rich and colorful histories. I recognized that there is remarkably more to an individual than where she comes from, and more to her than where she currently lives. Importantly, being from two cultures allows me to incorporate the best qualities of both.

I had traveled a long distance from Ethiopia in order to be with my parents who had been here for four years, hoping America would help my future. Anxiety started taking over. I was on my way for my first day of school in America. I was scared, nervous words can’t describe how I was feeling. I didn’t know anybody.

However, this path was not as smooth as I thought. The reality is that life for immigrants like me is very tough and full of challenges. I faced educational and financial challenges in the USA, especially the first six months with sudden changes. However, these barriers affected my personal character by making me a hardworking, mature and manageable person.

I was born in a country six thousand miles from here, Mongolia. The better half of my childhood was spent playing soccer in the street with the neighborhood kids. I was content, surrounded by my loving family and amazing friends, until it all changed with an abrupt decision. I had reached the age where I had to think about my future beyond high school, whether I would go to a college, and where I want to be in life. Mongolia was not the most ideal country to achieve success, thus my parents decided to move me to the United States.

Richard Rodriguez, author of “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” grew up speaking Spanish at home for the beginning of his life, and having the great connection with family that most hope for during their lifetime. This all suddenly changed when he entered school. Starting at a young age, Richard was surrounded by all English-speaking people that he could not communicate well with. The only instances where English would be would have been during public outings, and interaction with others. At home, his parents also struggled to speak English making the situation even harder on Richard.

He came home from school one day, his parents were talking. It wasn’t until after they had switched to English that he realized they had been speaking Spanish. Now you would think having been born to English speaking parents, here in the United States, that I wouldn’t understand a language barrier. Growing up I watched my cousin struggle to communicate with others. He lost his hearing when he was 5 years old.

I had no idea how to tell her my name, since she did not know English, but I just wrote my name. I was enthralled to see that she nodded her head. She could read English,, but could not speak it or listen to someone else without wavering and being confused. Three years passed, and I was thirteen. It felt as if it would be a tedious amount of time until I reached home.

As a child in a new country where I didn't know how to speak English, It was very terrifying. My family decided to come to the United States for a “better life”. For many immigrants, transitioning can become very difficult. A few weeks into my eighth grade the class,we were assigned a book to read “Flowers for Algernon” and I really enjoyed it. I loved the book, I would read ahead and I would answer every question the teacher has given to the class.