After reading “How Being an Immigrant Shaped My Life” by Sonia Pressman Fuentes, there was one part of it that really stood out and that I can relate to.
"The dictionary says that to immigrate is "to come into a new country, region orenvironment, especially in order to settle there." The operative word for me in that definitionis new. To immigrate is to come to a new country and to have new experiences. And, likeeverything worthwhile in life, to be an immigrant is both a blessing and a curse.
It's a blessing because it's challenging and exciting to do something new, somethingdifferent, something everyone else isn't doing. It's a curse because it's scary to embark on anynew activity. So to be an immigrant is to be continually caught in the tension of theexcitement of being an outsider to a society, and the stigma of being different from thosearound you. To be an Immigrant is to constantly reflect on who you are, where you comefrom, and how you are different from those around you. When you're an immigrant, you don'treally belong anywhere--and you're never really at home anywhere."
When I read the part about being an immigrant is both a blessing and a curse I couldn’t help but reflect on this. I never really think of how I feel about being an immigrant. This surely got me thinking.
To me it is a blessing to be an immigrant because there is a sense of adventure. It’s like embarking on a huge, magnificent journey to a whole new place and I get a sense of adrenaline. It’s as if I am an explorer and there is this journey that can impact my life in a way that I could have never imagined. It is a blessing because a challenge is being thrown at you and it’s a challenge that you are willing to take. That you are willing to succeed in. It’s a blessing because you get to experience something that you would have never experienced if you hadn’t immigrated. You get to interact with people that you probably would have never had the chance to. You become multicultural and multilingual, which I think is one of the best parts.( I really love learning new languages.)
But of course there is the “cursed” part of being an immigrant. Pressman-Fuentes does a good job at naming these curses. I think the first one for me is not being able to adapt well. Having difficulty learning the language. (Although, this is not really a huge problem anymore.) When my family watches home videos I can notice that when I was starting to speak English I would speak with a very thick Mexican accent. It seems to me that it can no longer be noticed but it definitely slips out sometimes. It is a curse because there is this tiny part of me that fears I might forget aspects of my native culture (I think my parents have helped in preserving some of these aspects so I should probably not be worried to loose them.)
Another part of the paragraphs above that really struck me is; “When you're an immigrant, you don't really belong anywhere--and you're never really at home anywhere” This is true because when the mixture of two cultures are in you and you have embraced both, you don’t really know where you belong. You find yourself confused when it comes to defining “home.” Another reason why I agree with the quote is that I sometimes notice myself randomly saying, “I want to go home” when I am clearly in my house. So is home the place you are living in? The place you were born in? Somewhere else where you have not yet traveled to? or is there no home, am I just a “nomad”?
To me it is a blessing to be an immigrant because there is a sense of adventure. It’s like embarking on a huge, magnificent journey to a whole new place and I get a sense of adrenaline. It’s as if I am an explorer and there is this journey that can impact my life in a way that I could have never imagined. It is a blessing because a challenge is being thrown at you and it’s a challenge that you are willing to take. That you are willing to succeed in. It’s a blessing because you get to experience something that you would have never experienced if you hadn’t immigrated. You get to interact with people that you probably would have never had the chance to. You become multicultural and multilingual, which I think is one of the best parts.( I really love learning new languages.)
But of course there is the “cursed” part of being an immigrant. Pressman-Fuentes does a good job at naming these curses. I think the first one for me is not being able to adapt well. Having difficulty learning the language. (Although, this is not really a huge problem anymore.) When my family watches home videos I can notice that when I was starting to speak English I would speak with a very thick Mexican accent. It seems to me that it can no longer be noticed but it definitely slips out sometimes. It is a curse because there is this tiny part of me that fears I might forget aspects of my native culture (I think my parents have helped in preserving some of these aspects so I should probably not be worried to loose them.)
Another part of the paragraphs above that really struck me is; “When you're an immigrant, you don't really belong anywhere--and you're never really at home anywhere” This is true because when the mixture of two cultures are in you and you have embraced both, you don’t really know where you belong. You find yourself confused when it comes to defining “home.” Another reason why I agree with the quote is that I sometimes notice myself randomly saying, “I want to go home” when I am clearly in my house. So is home the place you are living in? The place you were born in? Somewhere else where you have not yet traveled to? or is there no home, am I just a “nomad”?
I really enjoyed reading your blog Katia.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are older and start a family of your own have you thought about if you are going to expose your children to those aspects of your native culture?