Moving to America is one of the biggest decisions any family or individual makes in their lifetime. America is known as the land of opportunity, and offers freedom from oppression, high income jobs, social mobility, a better lifestyle, and of course, money. These are the exact reasons why my parents and I moved to America in 2000.
I was born in Thailand in 1996 in an army hospital, and although my family is originally from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Thailand was the location of my dad’s financially stable and growing business. Although I was young, I still remember the area we lived in, Bangkok. It was a nice, quiet neighborhood with huge homes and clean streets. The city was bustling with people and great business. Thailand had the greatest economic growth rate than any country during the late 90’s. Unfortunately, this golden age did not last long, for the 1997 Asian Financial crisis caused countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia to experience great foreign debt and bankruptcy before the collapse of the currency. The economic downturn deteriorated our family’s ability to maintain ourselves financially, which is why we decided to move to America.
America has a culture of its own. Although primarily a mixing pot of different cultures, these cultures combine and unite to create a separate culture from the world. Moving to America was a struggle due to our inability to communicate in English to anyone, and finding a job with a foreign degree is even tougher. Emotionally, my parents, especially my mom, experienced intense anxiety from the move. She constantly worried about finding a job and our ability to settle down in this foreign land.
Our family can also be considered migrants since we traveled from state to state until we finally decided to settle in New York. We moved from California to Florida to Texas to Missouri to New York. Each state had a family member in it, with whom we stayed with in our job and house search. The states did not lead up to our expectations, until we finally decided on living in New York due to the cultural and economic aspect. At first we lived in Brooklyn near a South Asian community, which made the process of assimilating easier due to the existence of others who spoke our language and understood the trouble we were going through in order to settle down.
From Brooklyn, we moved to Long Island when we were settled in with paper work, spoke a little more English than before, and found jobs. Long Island is an entirely different community from Brooklyn. The suburban area is very quiet, and clean, just like the community in Bangkok. However, Long Island is more of a Caucasian area, so my family and I, along with my new born sisters, quickly learned to adapt to American culture, such as the food, schooling, and language. As time went on, we learned about the rapid change of diversity in Long Island, especially in Valley Stream. What was once a Caucasian community is now dominated by minorities of all ethnicities, from South Asian to Asian to African to Hispanic. We realized that immigration has a major impact on the function and progress of the community, and that maybe all immigrants do not travel to one specific area directly, such as Chinatown or Jackson Heights, just to see and meet people just like them.
New York is a relatively easy place to adapt to in comparison to the other states we were in due to the great volume of immigrants just like us who needed to settle down. Along with these lost and confused immigrants are helpful people who can aid in the process and assimilating to the culture. However, 9/11 was a devastating day for all Muslims worldwide, the day we were labeled as terrorists till this day. We were in New York for about a year when the event occurred, and it was a tragedy that severely altered the mental and physical wellness of our family and relatives. I remember seeing my parents in a depressive and stressed state everyday for a couple months. My dad shaved his beard, which has religious importance, in order to decrease the visual appearance as a Muslim. My mom stopped wearing the headscarf, and we even changed our style and wardrobes in order to look more like Americans. In school, I remember being embarrassed about stating my religion and country I was from because I knew that I would be judged for being a part of the Muslim culture. However, the situation enabled us to blend into the American mixing pot of cultures and religions. We were more Americanized as a result of that one day than from living in America for a year.
Before all of our travels and immigration, my relatives formed new relationships and bonds with people outside our ethnicity. Relatives from both sides of my family have created a far more diverse ethnic history than my immediate family. My mom’s side is the source of my Caucasian and Latina ethnicity, and my dad’s side is the source of my Middle Eastern ethnicity. My great great grandfather was born and raised in Spain, and married my great great grandmother, who was from India before it split into Pakistan and India. My grandmother was born and raised in Italy, and married my grandfather, who was from Pakistan. My grandfather from my father’s side was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, where he met my grandmother while she went on a trip to see Mecca and Medina, which are historic and bustling religious centers for Muslims.
Having said all of this, I never realized how cultural backgrounds and stories from family generations ago could be so interesting and crucial to the development of our own sense of pride and identity. It is amazing to think that families face all the hardships and emotional obstacles in order to improve the well being of their immediate family and future relatives. All I can say is, moving, whether it is across a country or across states, is extremely stressful and difficult, but it definitely pays off in the end when you sit down in your cozy suburban home.
