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Damascus, Syria
I was born in Syria. I have nice family. I have one sister and one brother. I lived in an apartment, and I had very nice neighbors. He was a nice boy. We were playing together, talking a lot in the hall way. Suddenly he decided to travel to the USA because his dad and his brother live there. He was thirteen years old when he moved to USA. I didn’t see him until he came back to visit his mother after six years. He visited my brother in our home. I talked to him just few sentences. I was very shy, and he was too. The next year he came to Syria to attend his brother’s wedding. He came with his family to visit my family. They talked to my parents about proposal and engagement. My parents in the beginning refused that idea. They told me I was too young and I’d just finished high school. Besides he was twenty, he hadn’t finished his studies. But after thinking for a long time, my parents agreed. The engagement period was four years. I studied chemistry for four years in the university. He studied computer science, and he started to work. We got married after I graduated. We have been married for one year, and we’re very happy.
Dia de los Muertos
Death is the second step from birth to death. Do you think about the death some time in your in your life? If you do, you must be the happiest person in the world. Thinking of "la muerte" is the best way to live life. You learn how to be a loving parent, avoiding danger, and see the difference between right and wrong. In my opinion, we must be prepared for that transition, because nobody knows when or where it is coming. We have to learn how to walk hand in hand with death in this life. The day when we learn those steps, we will see the difference and we are going to say, “Welcome, death, any time.”
I’m Mexican and we have a special day on November Second. On that day, most of the people go to the cemetery. They take flowers to the loved ones who rest in peace. The living remember the dead, and the good times they once had together. Most of the time people talk to each other not realizing that the real conversation is with the soul.
The soul lives in or out of body and never dies and will be eternal in the minds of the ones who love us in life.
A house in Oakland, California
I immigrated to the United States. When I came to San Francisco, the airplane flew down. I saw the beautiful city. After I arrived here, I lived on Jones Street. My older sister owned a laundromat on Jones Street. I went to the store, and I saw a person. I got scared and ran away. One day I saw a man. He brought his coat to wash. "One dollar," I said. The next time he saw me, "One dollar", One dollar," he said. He laughed. I smiled. After a few days, the man drove us to my relatives who lived in Oakland. When I saw that the homes in Oakland were very small, "EWWW," I yelled. But, when I went inside the house, I saw it was very nice.
"The Risen Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene" by Rembrandt
I was a single woman living out the United States. I had gone to school for a long time. I had been working in an American factory for four years. The economy of the USA affected us. The company closed and I had to look for another job.
I couldn’t find another job like the one I had before, but I had worked for a long time in my religious community. When I talked to the priest, he offered to me stay at the office and help in different things: as a secretary, as a religion teacher, as general assistant. I accepted for a small payment.
I had had a boyfriend, but not at that time. I met a Mexican-American man and we began going out. He had gotten a job there. He asked me to marry him, I accepted. Our families met them. We got married, and we came to live at USA.
I found myself in the biggest change of my life. I have been working for a livelihood, and so far, I've only had jobs with speakers of Spanish only. Although I’ve studied English, I haven’t felt very confident speaking it.
Actually, now that I’ve come back to school after some years, I’ve seen how the world has changed. Technology is going too fast and a lot of things are different than before, especially in computers. I feel that everything is possible.
I feel now that have risen in my life.
"House" by Andrew Wyeth
When I was a child, I had a dream. My dream was to learn English, so when I came to this country, my first step was taking classes at City College. This took place in 2005. But I couldn't continue because I had to work very hard that year. One day a friend of mine who can speak English very well told me something that I've never forgotten, "If you want to learn English as well as me, go to school every day of the week." And that exactly what I did. At the present I can't speak accurately, but I can communicate with a lot of people from other countries, and that is great for me. I hope someday can speak English to understand everything about life in this country. That is still my dream.
Hi my name is Rosie. I was born in a small town in Honduras. The town wasn't crowded, it was clean and safe. So all of the children in the town played together outside. I lived in a really big house with my parents, my brothers, and my sister. I was the youngest of the family back then. We had a small ranch, but it was in a different town. Our ranch was really close to this beautiful celestial river. We would go to the ranch every weekend. I loved it with all my heart! We also had a coffee farm, so we were always busy. We had to work very hard, I always remember it. It was a lot of fun for my brothers and I because we would fool around during work time.
My favorite season was summer because we would go to the ranch and swim in the river everyday, even after school ended! So after that I became a teenager. I went to college, and there I met this handsome young man which after a few years became my daughter's father.
I am going to write about my experiences living in this country. I have been living here for almost eight years. I came here with my husband and my five year old daughter with the idea to work for one or two years and then all of us return to my country. Soon I started at work here. I really enjoyed my job. I liked my job because I was in Customer Service and I enjoyed the contact with the people. At that time, my husband got a job too, and my little daughter started school. Gradually, we adapted to the ways of this country. My little daughter started to speak English very fast, and she was happy because she had a good home with Mom and Dad. Now, my family has grown. I have three wonderful kids which are my entire life. Now, my work is to take care of them. But I feel the responsibility to educate myself and to be the best person I can each day. I come to Mission Campus every day because I want to learn. I want to be a good example for them. I want to go to their schools and understand everything their teachers have to say. I don’t want to have an interpreter. I want to speak English fluently and clearly. Every day I pray to God to be a good Mom and to guide my children on the right path. I wish some day they will feel proud of me. I want to be an inspiration for them, so that they can move forward. I hope that they will become wise adults and some day they can go to college and reach their goals. I know they can do it, and I want to be there for them.
I was born on a farm in my country, Colombia. At the age of 6 years I started school. I had to walk about two hours from home to school. After school, I went back to do my homework and, after that, I fed the chickens and pigs. Sometimes I had time to play with my younger siblings, but any time that was left was used to help my mom with the house work. I used to play on weekends with my brother around the house, and we both enjoyed climbing the mango and orange trees to eat the fruit. We had a wonderful time enjoying the countryside. One day my father decided to move to the capital in search of better opportunities and a better future for us, and we stayed at home with my Mom.
After a short time, she decided to move to my grandparents' house, to keep them company as they were a little sick and could not do farm work. Two years after, my father returned from the capital to take us with him. When we reached the great city. All of it surprised me since most of what I saw was new. The city had huge buildings and many people. Also it had a lot of cars. That's where I finished my middle school, and soon after my father died. I was fourteen years old and my siblings were younger. It was a very difficult time for us. My mother did not have a job. She had depended on my father. Also we didn’t own a house so we had to pay rent. I had already decided to look for a job to help my mom and my siblings. I got a job at a supermarket where I had the opportunity to finish my studies at night and support my family for 5 years. I graduated from high school at age of eighteen. Two years later, I got another job in a chocolate factory. It was my last job before coming to the United States. I met my present husband through a friend. My husband provided the opportunity coming to this country and have a better future for me and my family. Coming to this country has been a great experience of a lifetime, full of new challenges. I'm studying English at City College where I’ve been learning a lot. Here I've met people from around the world, who have different cultures and languages.
I'm not at all bored with my story and I feel that my life thus far has had a bit of change and adventure.
I’m from Mexico. I was born in a little town in Jalisco, Mexico. It’s called Puente Grande. Its name comes from a bridge that was built there in 1716 by Spanish people with an estimate of 700 pesos of gold. It has four towers, two in each side. Below each tower there’s writing of the information about who sent the money for its construction. That information is very difficult to read now because it has disappeared through time. Its writing isn’t very clear. Each tower has a statue with the image of Spanish people on top. This bridge has a length between 80 - 90 meters. It has only one way. There used to be one of the most beautiful rivers of Mexico under the bridge. It was called “Rio Lerma Santiago.” I remember when I was a child, all my friends and I swam all weekend. Also many people went there to wash their clothes in it.
When I left my hometown 10 years ago, this river deteriorated. I say that because its water wasn’t as clean as it used to be before and it became polluted. I’m going to show you one picture of how it looked 10 years ago. This is very shameful!
I don’t understand why some governments don’t give special attention our natural resources and inheritance. It’s very important to take care of them.
I’m going to tell you about one legend that the elderly people tell about who built this bridge too. The legend tells that: A man knew a beautiful girl on the other side of the river. Both fell in love and they started to meet each other every day and had beautiful nights.
But the problem was that he had to swim across the river every day to see her. He was very upset because his clothes got wet all the time and he couldn’t build a canoe because he had been very poor his whole life.
One night he was thinking about how to resolve his problem when suddenly a man ridding a beautiful black horse appeared in front of him, and asked.
"You know who I am?" The man said, "No, who are you?" The rider answered. "I’m the devil, and I can help you. I can build a bridge for you in one day if you want, but I have one condition. You should give me your soul. Do you want to accept my offer?"
The man answered, "Okay, I’m going to accept your offer, but I have another condition for you. You must finish it before a rooster sings. Do you accept my offer too?"
The devil answered, "Well, I will."
It was going to be the midnight when the devil started to build the bridge.
The legend says that the man was scared to death because the rooster hadn’t sung yet, and the devil was going to put the last rock over the bridge when suddenly a rooster started to sing and the devil couldn’t put the rock in it. The man was very happy because he had won two things. A bridge, and his soul again. He had beaten the devil.
I’m from Sulawesi in Indonesia. I was born in an small village called Kulisusu. When I was little girl, I liked to play in the mud under the mangrove trees in the ocean. Almost every single day I went with my friends. We were looking for clam and shrimp when I was pinched by mud crab. Owww!! It was terrible. The claws hung onto my thumb. I screamed. It hurt, really hurt. Finally, my friend came to remove them. Then we walked home, I held my right thumb because it was bleeding. When I got home my mother said, "I'm sorry about it, you have to learn how to catch them without getting pinched." (Thanks a lot, Mom!!) After this experience, I knew exactly how to catch mud crab and MORE as well. They're very strong and also dangerous. I'm so glad even though it hurt, but I had so much fun with my friends. So if you plan a trip to mangrove trees, let me know. I'd love to join you. Thanks for reading my story. Have a great day.
