User:Gulsah
From The Peopling of Astoria, Queens
An Immigrant’s Experience: My Story
I was seven years old when I first got on an airplane. I was excited and nervous, afraid and happy all at once. I did not know nor did I understand what I was actually doing, what would happen to my life from that flight on. In the September of 1995, I was seven and I was on a plane heading to New York City, the immigrant haven of the world. My family had decided to move to the United States after my father received an offer to become the Turkish ambassador’s chef. My parents, three sisters and I packed all our belongings and closed our home in Ankara, Turkey, in less than 2 months time and headed to the land of opportunities.
People immigrate for different reasons; some for freedom from persecution, some for religious freedom but most for economic reasons. Most people who immigrate to that United States dream of a better life, riches and comfort: the American Dream. My family’s motive for immigrating to the United States was also for this common reason. After being offered a better job in New York, my father took up the opportunity with out thinking twice. Unlike most families who immigrate to the US, we all came together at the same time. Everyone started from scratch and we all had no one but ourselves to hold on to and get support from. We had no family here when we arrived and we still have no family here. This is why it is even harder for my family and I to lose our ties to the “old country”. We want to go back and see our family, our land, our country and our people as much as possible. Although it is impossible for us to go back every year, we visit Turkey every two years during the summer. The 30-45 days we stay there is never enough and the voyage back is always very hard for both the people we leave behind and us.
Although we have been here for twelve years, my parents can never forget what we have left behind. The adjustment process was much easier for my sisters and I, than it was for my parents. They never felt at home here especially because they could not speak their mother language and follow their traditions and customs. This is why my parents often speak of going back and living the rest of their lives in their homeland, in the country they were born in. They are always longing for their family, their childhood memories, and their past. Having no family here in New York is the greatest contributor to this mindset of going back. They miss their culture and their homeland but mostly their family and their loved ones they have left behind.
We miss our family and our loved ones but we do not really miss the living conditions in Turkey. Life is much harder there and I know this from my own personal experiences living and vacationing there. It is not easy to find a well-paying job and save money to invest or even live a comfortable life. The standard of living in Turkey is much lower than it is here. This is why I do not want to go back to Turkey to live there. After living in this country and getting used to this comfortable lifestyle, it will be very hard for me to live there without longing for this life in New York.
The life we lead in New York is comfortable and much better than the life we would have in Ankara but there are many negative aspects and disadvantages of living in this country as well. Not being a citizen of the United States, we never really feel a part of this country. I never consider or call myself American because technically I am not American. The sense of not really belonging always sticks with us. Especially in my situation, I do not feel like I belong in Turkey or here in the US. When I go to Turkey I am the American. I stand out with my beliefs, my language, and my looks. Here, I stand out among the Americans as being overly nationalistic and in love with Turkey. Either way, I stand out from the crowd, which can be frustrating but is often fun!