Adapting to a new life
Michelle A.g.
When we are young we don’t understand what exactly is going on around us, we do things as we are told and don’t have another option because our parents or other adults make decisions for us. I was 4 years old and I had no idea how my life would take a turn. I was born in Durango, Mexico. Durango will always be my home, but what I didn’t know was that I would later on see another place as my home too. My dad had come to the United States to work to build a house in Mexico so that when he got married he would have a place where his family would live. Later on, my parents got married and my dad would go to Mexico and come back to the United States to work. We would come to the United States to visit him as well, but then when I was 4 years old my mom finally decided to come live here. My parents took this decision and sacrifice I could say because they would have to leave their parents and the life they had in Mexico behind for my older sister and I. This decision was made because they wanted a better future for us and they wanted us to have many opportunities.
I have the memory of us on the bus on our way to see my dad. The image of my reaction coming to the United States is so vivid and clear I feel like it happened just a few days ago. I remember that during that trip I sat by the window and once we entered the U.S territory I was fascinated by the big buildings and how different everything was from where I come from. The town we lived in was small, dry, and had a lot of dirt everywhere. While looking out the window of the bus I had my mouth opened, I felt like I was on a different planet that was bigger and better.
Once we arrived in Boulder, we stayed for about a week at one of my uncles house. Later, my dad bought a mobile home we have lived in for 11 years now. Back then I was happy I still didn’t know what was going on, I thought I was here to visit my dad and that we would go back to Mexico. Once August came I started going to preschool and I liked it because I was around other kids and the school I went to had kids that also spoke Spanish. However, it felt weird because I was still not used to the new environment and culture. I started to learn English, which was pretty hard because I was not used to the language, but I am grateful I was able to learn it pretty quickly. On the other hand, my older sister had more trouble learning the language. Adapting to the language was probably the hardest thing for my older sister and I, especially trying to translate things to my parents at a very young age. When my parents first bought our mobile home there was a very small amount of Hispanics living here. We didn’t know anyone and it was a very big change for my family and I because most of our neighbors only spoke English and back in Mexico we were used to interacting with our neighbors. At first we felt alone because we didn’t have that anymore. As the years came by the amount of Hispanics buying homes in this same neighborhood increased and the environment felt more like home. The excitement I had at first was starting to vanish pretty quickly. I was having a lot of nostalgia and all I wanted to do was go back to Mexico and stay there. My favorite time of the year is when I go to Mexico and see my family over there. It has always been hard for my family when we have to come back to the United States because we don’t want to leave Mexico and come back to our reality.
In my shadow box I put two pictures one is a picture of the mountains of Boulder and the other picture is of the mountains from Mexico. I decided to put both because they represent both of my homes. I grew up here in Boulder and over the years I learned to look at it as another home. I am happy to say that I have two homes: Durango and Boulder and in both places I have wonderful memories.
