Almost 10 years after my arrival to the United States, I finally gave up my loyalty to Ethiopia and was sworn in as an American citizen yesterday. For the past 10 years America has served me beyond words. I have received a wonderful high school and college education. I have received the best medical care. I have met wonderful people, some whom I call my family. I have had the best church, and have had awesome jobs and internships. I am so thankful that America has welcomed me with open arms and given me a lot of amazing opportunities in which to learn, grow, become self sufficient, etc. I am so happy and blessed to officially be an American Ethiopian.
When I look back at the past 10 years of my life, I can’t believe how much has happened. A lot of good things mostly, along with some bad ones here and then, and a lot funny things too. All the good, bad, and funny things have been my experiences, memories, and mistakes. I have learned and grown so much from them and they are part of who I am today. So today I want to share with you some of the funny things that happened to me as I was adjusting to my new life in America.
The cows and the farms
It all started when a 14 year old girl who didn’t speak English got dropped off at a boarding school in Iowa–in the middle of nowhere surrounded by corn fields, cows, and pigs. I was completely lost and confused for many reasons. I was thinking, “How come America has a farm? Pigs? Cows? Corn? What? I never saw those on movies, I only remember seeing beautiful cities, homes, sky scrapers, spoiled kids (Home Alone) but not farms.” When I imagined my school in America, I thought I was going to be attending a big school in a big city with a lot of kids. But I came here and found out that I was attending a very small school in the middle of no where. I quickly got over it though.
Americans have really strong teeth
When I moved in my dorm at the boarding school, my dorm mother was kind enough to put a care package with hot chocolate, candies, and pop corn. After I ate the candies I moved to the pop corn, I opened and it saw oily, seasoned, kernels, so I tried to eat them (unpopped) and thought to myself, “how the heck are these Americans eating these things? They must have a very strong set of teeth.” My roommates then walked in on me trying to eat unpopped pop corn and showed me that I was supposed to microwave it first.
Uniform pants
A couple days after my arrival, my American mom told me that we needed to go shopping for some uniform pants. I said no, I already have lots of pants I don’t need any. She said no you need some, so I went along. When we got to the store, she started picking out navy blue pants and I was so relieved. I thought she meant underwear because in my language pant means underwear. I was embarrassed when she told me we need to go buy pants because I thought, “oh no she must think I don’t wear underwear.”
Big girl / skinny girl
I sarcastically called a big girl skinny. In my country it is a good thing when someone is big. It is seen as a sign of wealth and therefore big people are respected for it. Thin people are made fun of, and I was constantly teased for being too skinny when I was growing up and wished I was bigger. So when I met this girl I thought she was beautiful and told her she was too skinny and needs to gain weight. If I had said that to my big friend in Ethiopia she would have laughed and taken it as a compliment. It is also very common to refer to skinny people as fatty, and big people as skinny, as well as referring to men as she.
Movie vocabulary
I did not understand swear words in English were bad, so I used all the bad languages that I learned from movies left and right.
Gullible victim
A classmate taught me that anus and wash cloth were other words for I love you, so I believed him.
Moving to America at the age of 14, not speaking English, and trying to do well in school in a language I didn’t speak was incredibly hard. But I am glad I have these stories I can look back on and laugh at myself.
