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When my daughter was a little girl, she would draw 3 people and a dog. She would always ask me and my husband if she could have a dog. so one of my nephews called my husband to tell him that he had a dog and was going to give it to my daughter as a present. My nephew gave her the dog as a surprise 4 1/2 years ago. She was very happy to see the dog.
At first, I was not happy because I didn't want a mess in the living room or in the kitchen, but then I got used to the dog and I'm happy now that I have a dog. The dog's name is Chealsy. Chealsy tries to make me happy by getting her toy ball and tossing me the ball with her nose. Sometimes when I don't pay attention to her, she keeps on bothering me until I pet her or play with her. When I used to be depressed, she would look at me and cheer me up. Also she would do funny stuff that would make me laugh. I'm glad I met this dog. Now my life changes when she is around. I take a lot of pictures of her because she is so adorable. Now Chealsy is always with us. Even on the weekend when we go places, she comes with us in the car. She likes the car, and she is just happy when she goes outside or gets a ride in the car. We spend a lot of money on her food, treats, biscuits, toys, and medicine. We sometimes cut her hair and give her a hair cut.
Berkeley Law School
I was born in El Salvador.
I came to the United States a long time ago. Since I came to this country, I haven’t had time to come to school. When I came here the most important thing was getting a job, which was really hard to find. I remember the first place that I was looking for a job was at a restaurant. When I went to the restaurant and asked for a job, the answer was, "Are you a resident?” when I said "No", they asked, “Do you know how to speak English?” When I said "No", they said "We are looking for someone who speaks English and also has immigration papers."
But I continued looking for job, and after four months, I got a job in a restaurant. The salary was too low, but I worked there for many years. When my children were born, I decided to change my schedule to work at night time because I wanted to take care my three beautiful sons and also I wanted to take them to school. I always explained to my sons that they had to study hard to be accepted in a good university, and they did. They worked hard and got good grades and they were accepted to U.C. Berkeley. Now my older son is a lawyer, and my second boy became an Engineer in computer science, and also my younger boy is studying at Berkeley Law School to become a lawyer too. So it was very hard for me when I came to this country, but now a feel happy that my sons are successful.
"Mother and Child" Pablo Picasso, 1921
My name is Maria Morales. I came to the United States with my family more than 20 years ago. When I came here, my oldest son was 2 and half years old, and my second son was 5 months old. At first, like many people, I lived with my relatives while my husband looked for a job. It was difficult for him to find a job because his English was not good. When he applied, the person who interviewed him said he needed to speak English fluently to work in the job he wanted. At first he had to work in a small liquor store at night and study English in the day time.
Sometimes I worked too in a small word processing company for a few months making tax forms. After almost one year of studying English and working in different areas, he found a job a City College of San Francisco as a Computer Analyst. I stayed at home to take care of the house and children. When my second child was in preschool, I tought I was ready to go back to work but became surprised that I was pregnant for a third time, and my dream of working disappeared again. My last pregnancy was very difficult because the whole time I was very sick and almost lost my daughter. She was born at 6 and a half months, weighing 3 pounds.
She had to stay in the hospital for almost 3 months, I visited her every day and then picked up my sons at school and go home. When the doctor released her, she was okay to go outside the hospital. I took care of her in my home. She grew up healthy and nobody thought she was premature.
After that, I continued to take care of my children and waited for them to grow up. My daughter and her second oldest brother graduated from College and my oldest son is finishing next year. After my second son finished his master degree, he got married and now has two sons. He is happy with his family.
Now I have time to go back to school to study English because in this country we need to communicate with other people and learn different things. Speaking English has helped me learn how to bake cakes, knit hand crafts and more. I look back on those years and I think they were difficult, but worth it. Staying at home to dedicate myself to take care of my children was the hardest but the most rewarding job I could ever have.
