“Jonas, voy al aeropuerto, ¿quieres venir?” asks my mom in Spanish from her room as she gets her things ready to go. This translates to “Jonas, I’m going to the airport, want to come?” I hardly ever turn down an invitation to go outside with my mom, so I agree without hesitation. This time is different though. I fill with happiness and excitement to see what’s to come in the next few hours at JFK.

At JFK, I spotted my mom’s dad, aka my grandpa, Papa Leon. I love him so much so I ran up and gave him a hug and greeted him in Spanish. Most/all of my family speaks Spanish because they come from the Dominican Republic. Over there, I have more uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. than I can count.

My parents moved from the Dominican Republic to the United States back in 1993, when my eldest sister was only 3 years old to start their new family and lives. Since then, many family members have come to New York to either visit or live as well (fun fact, most of my family members in Dominican Republic refer to the United States as Nueva York/New York.). My childhood was marked by my parents coming home from the airport introducing new Spanish speaking people from Dominican Republic to my 5 siblings and I. These family members always made sure to bring a taste of Dominican Republic.

The “taste” of Dominican Republic that they would bring was much more than just a taste; a suitcase packed with food and souvenirs to be exact. The things would range from custom t-shirts, to cheese (A LOT), to avocados, to empanadas, to sugarcane, to chips, to sweets, to plantains and salami. My favorite things to look forward to would be dulce de leche (candy/sweet made from milk as seen in picture) and dulce de mani (candy/sweet made with peanuts). I was obsessed with these and couldn’t get enough, so I greatly appreciated all of my relatives for bringing them from Dominican Republic. When I traveled to Dominican Republic in the summer of 2015, I made sure to buy the stuff I was given in the United States by my Dominican family members.

The items brought to me by my relatives made such an impact in the way I viewed my culture. I was proud to identify as a Dominican at such a young age because of the exposure my family was able to provide. The sweets are still a reminder of my culture today as we recently got it from a family member coming to New York for a visit from the Dominican Republic.