Svetlana Groshans, a 27 year-old from Ural Mountains, Russia, wanted to experience something new, so she spent a summer in America as an exchange student, only to find out she fell in love with the country. She moved here the next year, only planning to work, earn money, then return to Russia, but it’s never happened. Svetlana has established new goals in her life and she cannot imagine what her life would be like if she didn’t immigrate. Presently, she is a student at Stony Brook University and she aspires to become a registered dietician.

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Elsi Herrera came to America from Ecuador at the age of 17. Growing up, she had no intention of moving to America, but once she met her husband he brought her with him. As soon as she got her citizenship and a job she sent back money to her family. A few siblings eventually joined her in America. Elsi loved America the second she stepped foot on the land. She says she knows she is living the American Dream and that she owes all of her happiness to America and the opportunities that she has had here.

Growing up:

My childhood was very good growing up in Calsetta. All my schooling was done in Ecuador; there is good schooling there. Then I came to this country and worked right away, it wasn’t hard for me. When I was younger I never thought about coming to this country it was never part of my mind, I was going to be a secretary in Ecuador and live there forever that was the plan until I met my husband he put in my mind the idea to come to America. My husband came when he was 18 now he’s 67, I’m 44. We met in Ecuador then he brought me to America.

Family:

I am very family-oriented; I was brought up that way. I like doing family things and I am very close with my family. We are 8 siblings; four boys and four girls, I’m the youngest. I was the first of my family to go to America. My children were all born here they don’t like Ecuador they say “mommy its too hot.” I always told my children the story of how I liked to go to the tree take an orange, my grandmother had all different fruits and I liked to go to the tree and eat the fruits straight from the tree. My mother came after me, my father passed away a long time ago. Even though I’m the one that brought everyone here to America and came here first, my siblings are still my role models and I look up to them. My kids speak Spanish and English, I spoke everything in Spanish while they were growing up. My grandkids come to me and ask for milk and I’d tell them to say it in Spanish so they would say milk and I would say “leche” which is milk in Spanish and then they would say grandma “leche.” My favorite day of the week is Sunday because that is when my whole family is in my house.

Neighborhood:

I love my neighborhood, it’s very quiet and very safe very nice to live there. It is pretty diverse. Honestly, I’m not a very friendly person, I’m nice with people I just like keeping to my family. My dream is to go on more vacations: id want to go to Ecuador, I went to Haiti, Puerto Rico, Miami, Hawaii, for vacation—love all the hot places, I love to go early in the morning to the beach.

Why She Decided to Come:

I came to this country at 17. I came because I was very poor in my country, I met my husband in my country and he used to live here; then he went to my country, met me and then brought me to America. I told my mother that if I come to America I will work and make money and I can help the family and it will be better. I was the first of my family to come to America and then they followed after. When I got my American citizenship I brought money back for my whole family and sent for my family.

Transition:

The transition was not a problem for me. The hardest challenge? In the beginning I missed my family before my mother came it was very hard for me to not be with her and then I tried to work hard so that I can do what I wanted to do, to bring all my family here and I did it. The culture was very different, so that was hard for me. Our schools, in Ecuador, taught us to be more polite and say good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight to people, in America they don’t do that so much. The parents don’t teach their kids that so much. My children do say these things because I taught them to since that’s how I was brought up in Ecuador – very important to teach them I think. What was hard was not understanding the prices when I went to the supermarket. To tell you the truth I learned English with my children and from watching television. My grandchildren call me grandma, I speak Spanish to them and they understand everything I say but they only speak English. My husband helped me through it all, transition and through everything.”

Change:

I would change the people running for president, that’s the only thing I would like to change about America.

Jobs:

My husband worked in the hospital in America for 20 years. I used to work in jewelry in Manhattan for 18 years then my husband bought a small beauty salon and then we moved to another one and now I’m here. I own this salon, only me and my husband. I love working here. I like this job specifically because everyone wants to do their hair and nails so I started this salon to help them do that, I used to do it every week so then my husband and I started the salon for others. My husband taught me how to drive- he told me I had to learn.”

Connection to Ecuador:

Oh the earthquake? My family in Ecuador was okay but very close to my old town. Everyone got out okay. Everyone is okay. I have four siblings in America and four in Ecuador. When mom was alive I went back every year to visit. She was very old so I went to take her to the city and left her there for the winter and then in the beginning of spring I would go to bring her back to America by myself. My favorite things about Ecuador are the food, my family, and being happy with them. I’m very sad when anything bad happens in Ecuador because I know all the places where these things happen. They have very poor people living there and it is very sad and very hard for me to hear. I already sent water and things to send to Ecuador to help. I sent it last Sunday to help them out by myself. I did it because they are really in pieces and need all the help they can get.

Culture:

I’m catholic, very catholic. I miss the food most in Ecuador it’s very different than the food here. Food from my country is very good, like rice and meat. I make the dishes at my house, Ecuadorian style. My children love my cooking, they love Ecuadorian style food.

Thoughts and Feelings about America:

When I put my feet in this country for the first time I loved this country. I love everything about it, everything everything a lot of everything. It’s the American dream, you can do whatever you want in this country. I was very happy bringing my children up in America they were all born here and everything was happy. I thank Gd that I came to this country because America has given me the opportunity to have everything that I have. People here are very nice they like to help you. I love American people because if you don’t understand something they try to explain it to you or if your lost they explain how to get to different places and give instructions to help you. There is a lot of opportunity in this country that we don’t have in Ecuador. Everything that happened in America is happiness for me, I love this country and I thank this country for everything I have. I can’t even imagine how different my life would be if I didn’t come to America and stayed in Ecuador I can’t even imagine.

Sonia Cuzco is an Ecuadorian immigrant who migrated to Jackson Heights, Queens when she was thirteen years old because of her family’s business in the town. Her family at the time consisted of a father, mother, six siblings. She talks about the restrictions she felt growing up in an immigrant household and the struggle that her parents especially her mother had to go through to raise a family.

Growing Up in Ecuador:

“I just have a few memories as a child, it was a long time ago”

“In Ecuador, my parents sent me to a military high school, because at that time when they sent you to a private high school people are very rich, especially because my parents were here [America], they could sent me to that place.”

[coming to America] “At the beginning, I was not sure, I didn’t want to come and I was worried because it was a new beginning”

“And mostly I didn’t know my parents, especially my father that well because I grew up like by myself with my sister and [I knew] they were very strict, I don’t know, I don’t know, I didn’t realize anything”

After coming to America:

“No…but I  will say at the beginning it was very hard, because I didn’t know him [father] and I was only a teenager and they were very strict, and I used to be like how I want to say, independent”

“I used to go to school, playing with my friends, going to the park blah blah blah, and at that time when I just came here it was not ok [for the parents], I was to come back home and help in the restaurant”.

“When I came here I used to be working but always like inside, I didn’t really have a chance to go with my friends or be like normal people”

“Definitely at the beginning I didn’t know how to speak English, I didn’t have friends and all of them I don’t know were acting like weird and were from other countries and I was from Ecuador and there were only a few Ecuadorians…it was very hard for me” “For my brother, he was the young one, so it was maybe a lot easier for him”

“I remember there were Columbians, Peruvians, and Americans”

“I used to love basketball, but my parents didn’t let me participate in any after school programs because they didn’t like it”

“When I came here my parents had a little restaurant, they used to work all the time morning and evening”

“I love to study…even when I was in Ecuador, I used to love to study”

“For me when I came here, obviously everything was easy because everything was different for instance for math, in my country everybody in third grade would learn dividing, but when I came here they taught me dividing, etc., so for me it was very easy. For me the only problem was English” “But it was hard but maybe because all my classmates were Hispanics, they could help me”

“I chose business [college] because I was in the restaurant maybe”

Her Mother:
“She got married when she was thirteen, and then she had kids and she came to this country, and they were living in Brooklyn [when they immigrated], and you know how the life is like here she was always in the apartment. She used to say what am I doing? We have seven kids and at that time, my dad was the only one working working, and he works seven day. She started thinking different, she told me Brooklyn was a quiet place and when she saw Queens, she saw it was a business places, I don’t know how she convinced my dad to move and live here, but she did. After, they settled out in Queens and my dad used to go to her work, and she used to “morocho” similar to hot chocolate. Especially in the wintertime. She used to go sell those on the streets with a small cart.  Yah it is very inspirational, she worked very hard. She saw that she was doing very well and then she started making chicken soup and started selling that. After a while, she started to get more customers, and my dad realized she was getting more money than him.”

“They both worked hard, and they saw the business was growing and opened up a little restaurant, and that is when I came.”

“until now they don’t know how to turn on computer or use calculator, they don’t nothing but I don’t know how they still do it but they do it. At the end of the day when they have to add up they do it all in their head. They don’t have cell phone”.

Why Jackson Heights:

“We were here”

“I didn’t choose, my parents chose. At the beginning we used to live in Brooklyn but my mom used to not like to live with all the family. She used to work. In Brooklyn, I don’t know it was another kind of environment. Here it is like busy, I don’t know, and that’s why she likes it here”

“I don’t think so, she told me that there were not a lot of Ecuadorians, there were a few Ecuadorians, but most of my family is in Brooklyn”

“A lot of Ecuadorians before, didn’t have or own any homes but now there are a lot of Ecuadorian people are owning business and houses”

“When you go outside its crazy because there are a lot of business”

As a Parent:

“I will say I am not that strict as they used to be, like my daughter would come home and ask I want to go to any club or afterschool, I say yes…go ahead you can do it, I am going to pick you up after school. I don’t want to do the same mistake my parents did because I used to love basketball”.

“They have similar like me, but maybe when they get older maybe I’ll see differences”

Why immigrate:

“I think it was all about money issue”

“I didn’t want to come because I had all my friends well all my life was in Ecuador, this was a new future for me, but I was happy because at that time I was very poor” in coming here she thought her financial status could be better.

Eytan Galanter
MCHC 1012

Jason Petite’s life in Haiti was different then his life in America. He misses his old traditions and cultures, but keeps to himself in an attempt to provide for his family. Living in New York isn’t easy, but neither is living anywhere else.

Early Childhood
Its easier there you know. Over there you just drink on the streets even when you little. Sometimes the adults would drink with us. Ya know life was way easier. No rules man. We would just live. Wasn’t no police tryin’ to make sure we followed some damn laws. The cops played soccer with us. Sometimes they bought us shit. None of em shot no kid because his hand was in his pocket. Nah its all good im just playing.
My mom raised me and my cousins by herself. She had time to work 2 jobs cuz the jobs were pretty chill. Nothin was fast like here. Mom could take a break from her hotel job, go to her cleaning job, come back to hotel and get us some food then take a nap at home. It was pretty good. She didn’t see us too much but she put food on the table.
The funny part was when my cousins Ray slipped on a banana peel and busted his knee up pretty good. Could see bone. Easy. Ray screamed his head off, then stood up walked home and slept. Didn’t even do nothing. No hospitals around our area, our village ya know. Ray’s knee still busted. Looks comic as hell, bits of skin on an indented ass leg *laughs*. We still cut his ass about it. Stumpy Ray *smirks*

Coming to New York
Man, coming here was easy. Nothin at all changed. Same thing just faster. Just work hard and go home. More rules but its all good. Came here cause that’s where my mom is. Nothin special really. Going to move to Russia later. Take my son.
Why is this place so weird though?
The only bad thing is the cops, and the rules. Cops is like evil over here. Not sure they human some times. People that really don’t care. Its all good though. Its all about getting that money and feeding my family. Ima get better, work my ass off and feed my son. That’s all there is to it. Not complicated. Life ain’t easy nowhere. It aint easy here but its all good. I’ll be good I don’t need much man. Just need my family.
I don’t trust nobody. I especially don’t trust nobody recording me. Who knows what agency you could be from. It is what it is, you is probably a mole so I aint sayin nothin important on recording.

Family
My son is everything. His decision though. He chooses. I don’t care what he does long as he stays happy. Until then I gotta make sure he stays educated and fed. That’s it. Gotta keep his momma happy too.
“I don’t really know my parents. Dad was kind of distant. Love em though.”
Fact is whether its Haiti or New York it’s all about your family. Nothin else matters. Nothing. All that matter is their happiness. It’s pretty simple life just working and shit until they happy with their life. I’ll die for them, so I sure as hell will live for them.

Friends
I think friends don’t even matter. I don’t know what the hell a friend is. Some n**** that chills with you and then tells the next person about it? Nah. I don’t need friends. I had some friends in Haiti and none of em ever did anything for me if I really needed it. My friend Rob once didn’t help me move after I broke my leg because his ass was too busy doing f***ing nothing. Dude wanted to drink with me, but not be there. That’s some sad shit. Nah my friends are my son my son’s mom and my parents. Maybe my boss

Negatives of living here
Yo back in Haiti we used to be able to do what we wanted with our kids. You know teach em how we thought was good. Back then I could whoop him if he mouthed off. Kids never spoke up after. Behaved. This life is mad different. Bro I can’t even slap my kid if he curses out his mom. Shit, I hate that. Some rules are dumb. It’s all good. It’s all good though. It’s all good. Nah it aint, I aint even allowed to raise my kid like I want. That’s some bullshit.
Ya know that the police back there don’t even wanna hurt nobody. They really just trying to help people. It’s insane man. Crazy. They gotta get a gourde or two. Man maybe a dozen but they’ll be chill. No one in Haiti sitting in prison for smoking weed. Cops there smoked some with us. Damn it’s crazy sometimes. My bro back there was part of a gang and the cops still didn’t kill him. Got im to drop his gun and cuffed him. Over here I here the kids getting shot over their toy guns, it’s crazy. It’s funny because I never think about it the other way. Them cops probably don’t think they are doing nothing wrong. Probably think they just doing their jobs good. Maybe they are told to act that way. Probably think they just want to get back to their families too. It’s all good just gotta keep your head down some more. It’s cool I guess.

You know one time I didn’t get a house on the place I wanted to live just because I wasn’t white. My name sounds white so they invited me to an interview then when I came asked me dumb as questions and called me 3 minutes later that the position been filled.

Andriy Sabanskyy, a Russian speaking Ukrainian immigrant, wanted to get out of Ukraine in hopes for a better future for himself and his kids because of the poor living and economic conditions there after the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine became its separate country. His wife was lucky enough to win a greencard lottery to America and they and their kids moved to America. Although it was tough living in here at first because of the language barrier, Sabanskyy received a lot of help from the people around him and is now living happily in Brooklyn.

Poor Ukrainian Life

“First of all, I start thinking not coming to America. I start thinking go from Ukraine. Because it was poor life. I remember, before 1991, 1989, 1990, we don’t have toilet paper. We cannot buy. It wasn’t in store. When I was kid, when I was 10 years old, 11 years old, it was like no jeans. It was big problem, because they didn’t in Soviet Union. If somebody bring it, it was a lot money. For my father, it cost like his salary for two months just for a pair of jeans. For this money, a family can live for two months, pay all their expenses. From memory, when we never have enough money, we can not spend enough. I just remember when I was teenager, I have two or three pair of shoes, that’s it. For my daughter, when she was 15 years, she has like 15, 20, maybe 30. When I was kid, we don’t have it. My parents, they bought first car, they borrowed money. My grandma paid some money. The amount they worked was three years. A car cost ₴7,300 and one salary was ₴100 a month. It wasn’t good, but in Soviet Union, we have three apartments. Three, but you need to work in manufacturing, big factory, for 10, 15, maybe 20 years.”

Childhood Dreams into Reality

“First of all, I was born in Soviet Union. A bit different because it was what it was called Cold War time. And the United States, it was like, big enemy for Soviet Union. And in my childhood, it was like every kids in my country. I think it was my big dream and stay my dream to be astronaut… I want to be pilot… and after school, I try to go to flight school, but I didn’t pass region test. And after this, I go to serve in army. Because it was like everybody have to go at least two years. And from army, I already go to military school and I graduate military school and I was officer. My ranking was second lieutenant and I graduated from military school in 1991 and Soviet Union collapsing at the same time. I just graduate with like one month later Soviet Union collapsing.”

Why He Decided to Come and Settling in Brooklyn

After the Soviet Union collapsed, “Ukraine start to persist to become independent country. Life changed to worse for everybody because it was poor life. And I cannot make big money, enough money. It’s the same like right now. People in Ukraine not rich. I mean, not everybody, like couple percent of people, they make enough money. When you come to United States, of course it’s like couple first years, like four, five, it was so hard time. ‘Cause we don’t know anything, we start to learn it to find out… Step by step, I found everything, and especially in Brooklyn, everybody is immigrant and everybody see I’m immigrant, I’m Russian speaking because I have accent. Because everybody immigrant, it’s easy to live in, especially in New York.

And the reason why we move here is for better life for me and for my kids because now all of my kids, they done with college, they all have Bachelor’s degree. My daughter and my son both are engineer. They make the good money, that’s it.”

Learning English

“I tried to learn English before I coming here, but it was like two, three months. It was not good experience. I learn English in Long Island University, I think, for one year, maybe a little more and the first time it was too hard for me. I start to listen and I don’t understand what people would say. It was like one half year later and I start to speak little later. It wasn’t easy but it wasn’t so hard and probably it wasn’t so hard ‘cause I was in Brooklyn. I living in Brooklyn, it was a lot Russian speaking people, not big problem to communicate with people.”

Jobs and Interests

“When we coming to this country, we have 2200, 2300 dollars and that’s it. We started to work and three months later, three kids coming to us. I didn’t have time to learn something. I have to work, support my family, and now it will be almost eleven years. Nine more years and we have pension for the service. I don’t see any reason to leave it because you’ll never know what happen with you. And if I keep this job, it will be better for me if I have pension. It’s not my job, like dream. If I have money enough, I don’t need to think about everything, probably will go to college and study computer science. Networking. For me, it’s interesting, especially networking protocol. It’s like internet working, how data go one place from another place, for me, it’s interesting. If I have a lot of money, I will do it. If not, I’m lucky with my job too.

A Positive Outlook about Life in America

“In my life, most people just help me out [with] everything. It the same, I’m doing. If I can help somebody, not a problem. It’s not easy to live in United States, but if try to find out something, a lot of people just help you to find out what you want. What’s important to give better life to my kids. Because in Ukraine, I cannot give for them good education, nothing good future. Not just for my kids, for me too. I change my life too.

I think about three years ago, before I just was thinking I’m Ukrainian. But now, I understand, I cannot say that I’m American, but if it will be necessary, I will be defend America. Why? Because my kids and my grandkids will believe in this country. It’s main reason why. I’m not American, but if something happen, I will defend America because it will be for my future. For my kids and my grandkids, because they will live just in America.”

Tina Chen, also known as Xing Yin, came to America in hopes of a better opportunity since China didn’t offer many opportunities for girls. Some obstacles she faced during her immigrating experience was trying to understand American English. Although she didn’t have an excessive amount of Chinese culture engrained in her while growing up, she kept what she did know while assimilating to the American culture.

Struggles of a Chinese Girl

My family contained my mother, my father, and my younger brother. Honestly, growing up, I wasn’t that close to my parents. My parents had desperately wanted a son as their first and only child so having a daughter was very difficult for them.

My parents really loved my brother and [they] wanted to make sure that they could save all their life earnings so he can go to the best educational institutions that money could afford. I on the other hand, had to go to whatever cheap options that they could afford. Being a female, [my parents] didn’t think that I had much to offer them.

Tina’s Childhood

My childhood was different than most of the girls around me. When other students were outside with their families, I was indoors or at the libraries. Most of the girls I knew had limited schooling and they spent majority of their time learning how to be good homemakers, but, I wanted to prove to my parents that they shouldn’t regret having a daughter. I worked really hard in school and excelled in the math and the science subjects. I got high marks and I confirmed my admission to the best universities so I can study computer science and build a life for myself outside of China.

My favorite memory was when I was celebrating Chinese New Year when I was really young. My parents were usually busy and didn’t have time for birthdays, anniversaries, and other occasions, but Chinese New Year was the one holiday that we always celebrated together. This particular year, my mother and father took my brother and I to a family friend’s home out in the countryside. It was a friend of our father’s family that we hadn’t seen in a while. He had a few younger children we befriended right away. We had a great time playing with one another. We prepared delicious food and we did the traditional Chinese New Year activities. Other Chinese New Years were just as important, but this was especially memorable just because we spent it with other people instead of alone in our apartment.

Why’d I Leave?

I was sick of all the changes that were happening in China like the revolution. I knew that being a female in this time period would limit my opportunities. I was an intelligent, hard-working woman and I really wanted to prove my worth somewhere where I can be the best version of myself as possible.

I decided to apply for some job opportunities in computer companies that were based in the United States. I knew this was the best shot I ever had for me to get out of China and creating a future for myself. My plan was to first go to the United States, have my career, make some income, and bring my family to the United States.

Expectations vs Reality

I expected life to be simple in the United States, especially New York City. I thought jobs would be lined up in every street corner and finding simple things like housing would be a piece of cake. I was about to find out that that was definitely not the case and that I would have to work harder than I ever did in China to make the lifestyle that I wanted to have so desperately.

Assimilating to American Culture

It was easy for me to be so comfortable living in China, but here my comfort was definitely tested. I didn’t know the language as well as other people and I didn’t know simple things like where to find groceries, where to get a book, where to borrow money from.

I was lucky because unlike some other people, I did get to learn English in school, but the English that the Americans spoke was different. They were speaking very quickly and it was difficult for me to understand what they were saying initially.

Living in Flushing

There were a lot of people of Chinese descent so it was a little easier for me to transition to living in the United States. There were lots of people who had already gone through the process of assimilation and they offered me advice. It was easier for me to interact with people who spoke the same language. The stores were owned and operated by Chinese people and the services in the area were tailored to Chinese immigrants. It’s similar to how Flushing is today, except now it is a little bit more gentrified today.

The ethnic community gave me more confidence by letting me have a healthy balance of my own culture and American culture. I was more comfortable speaking in my native tongue so it was good to be around people who knew my language. Also after a long day of work with people who only spoke English, it was a relief to relax with people that grew up in the place I grew up. It was easy to get accustomed to American culture because I could use the experiences of the other people to help me find solutions to issues I face.

Losing Some Chinese Culture

I knew having my native Chinese name would cause unwanted attention in the workplace and it would make it difficult for people, like my colleagues, to allow me to be a part of their class and their community. I wanted to fit in with my American peers. I thought by changing my name to something that sounded a little more American would not only be easier for my colleagues to pronounce, but also for them to accept me as someone just like them in the workplace.

My family did not put too much emphasis on our culture. It was something that my brother and I learned through trial and error and what we learned in school. The only cultural thing that we really celebrated was Chinese New Year and practice of not questioning our elders or authority. Other than that, I don’t have any Chinese roots to trace back to because I abandoned it when I came here. To be honest, sometimes I regret not being as cultured as my other Chinese peers, who have had Chinese culture engrained in them from a younger age.

I haven’t really gone out of my way to pass down Chinese traditions to my kids, but they have seen me practice my own beliefs and have adopted some of them for their own. For example, respect for elders is very important to me. I see in their own interactions with elders how they have adopted this into their own beliefs in the way they respect my parents and my husband’s parents. I also know my kids have learned to value education. They work hard in their classes and extracurricular activities. I would like them to pass down the culture, but I don’t expect them to. It’s the natural order of life that some of our culture is lost in order for new aspects to be gained with every passing generation. I hope that the values of Chinese culture remain with my kids, but I hope that they take the negative parts about it and amend it with their positive morals and values.

After being in college for 4 years and is about to graduate Brooklyn College to attend medical school, Sherilyne Zhang takes a walk down memory lane and reminisces on her cultural upbringing. Ms. Zhang touches upon her childhood as a second generation immigrant and how her parents’ dream to give her a better life came true.

Family in the Motherland
“I would say that we are close and it definitely got easier because technology advanced in that area, and now we can call each other and stuff. They have Wifi and stuff like that, which is kinda weird. We try to call each other either every two weeks or once or twice a month”
First Generation immigrant vs. Second Generation Immigrant
“All the time!, They just looovveee to talk about it. You can’t even complain to them because they always say we had it twenty times worse back at home, and you have nothing to worry about it. I complain about public transportation and how it takes an hour to get back and forth or just walking somewhere for fifteen to twenty minutes. And they’re just go off about how they had to walk to school and then walk back home for lunch and then walk back for afternoon school…”
The Dual Life
“So I guess I would say it was a mix, it was fifity fifity. It was more Chinese at home because my grandparents and my other relatives wanted to keep the traditions and customs we had going on so we would pass it on to the next generation. They wanted me to remember the things about my heritage and culture… I guess it was more American, because my parents stressed about adapting to American culture and assimilating. They didn’t want me to stick out as much. They would tell me to lay low and not stick out like a sore thumb”

Culture Clash (individual vs. Family)
“Having two different sets of morals and values is difficult on someone to figure out when to apply what…for example one thing would be the American value of being independent, individual and being unique versus the Asian value of being focused on your family. Every decision you make has a decision on family, and everything you do has to be for the betterment of the family. Even though I ventured out, and I am my own person, at the end of the day I have to also remember that my family is my base and that is what makes me, me.”

Sense of Community in Flushing
“I would say that in my opinion, culture is what made it tight-knit especially the immigrant population. Because everyone has similar cultures and striving for the same end goal- The American Dream. But I would say that the first generation is much more tight-knit compared to the second generation because we don’t associate with each other because we are Asian, it is usually cause we grew up together.”

Culture Shock
“It’s not like I didn’t know other people existed, but to be actually surrounded by different people is like a different aspect. They have such different experiences and different backgrounds and different values and different beliefs and different belief systems. Which really places the importance of recognizing that there are other people in the world, and you’re not just in your little bubble.”

The Future
“I definitely want to the instill the Chinese values that I grew up with, because I do value a lot of them. I think it is important for people to experience other cultures from a young age, and to understand that there is another side of the world. Not everything is just about you and your culture.”

Nancy Hua was originally from China and lived in a close-knit community with her parents and grandparents. At the age of 15, she and her parents left almost everything behind and moved to Flushing, NY, USA in search of a better life. Although Nancy was skeptical and unhappy with the initial move, ten years later as she says her story she says she enjoys America now while maintaining some key rituals and traditions from her Chinese culture.

The Good Ol’ Days

We lived in a very rural neighborhood, like in the countryside I suppose you can say. It was very hot; there was a lot of the rice patties. So we lived in a house and when you drive you could pass by the rice patties. But you know, like very close to nature, not like here.

I miss the motorcycles and the bicycles. Getting around in China, everyone’s a crazy driver but you can walk to most places, or in my village you can. Every child in China has ridden in a motorcycle.

Why I’m Here

It was more my parents’ decision than mine. I wasn’t that happy. I was already in school. I didn’t want to start all over.

The Journey & First Impressions

A lot of the stuff from my room I didn’t bring because there wasn’t enough space. So I didn’t really bring much of anything.

I thought I would be kind of miserable. I thought it was going to be a lot of white people and not a lot of Chinese people like me. I thought that in the city a lot of things would be expensive and people won’t talk to you like how we did in our village.

Relearning the ABCs

I just chose my English name here. My name is Sui Ying. But when I came to America I could choose a nickname in English and I chose Nancy.

And even though we learned English in school, we don’t really take it that seriously. It’s just like a second language.

My classmates didn’t really speak to me because I couldn’t speak to them.

Here I think the teachers are more understanding. In China they are like more strict than your parents.

Transition and Assimilation

When I first came here I had a very Chinese accent and people would ask me to repeat what I said and they’d always ask me “Are you from China?” And some of them would say “Are you Korean? Are you Japanese?” And then I would be kind of offended because I’m clearly Chinese but I think that’s just because when I first came here they don’t know me.

After a while, this place is okay because in some sense you have a lot of freedom here because you can go places on your own – public transportation – you can go with your friends. Here there’s a lot of things to see and here you can do it by yourself. You don’t need to rely on anyone else.

We celebrate Chinese New Year still. We go to the Buddhist temple and we pray for good luck in the new year.

I speak Cantonese Chinese at home. I still have to speak to my parents in Chinese. If anything I lose a lot of the writing memory because I haven’t written in Chinese in a while. But because my parents’ English isn’t so good, I had to speak both Cantonese and English.

Food

There’s a lot of Chinese supermarkets so food didn’t really change. Mostly we eat rice every day so the dishes here are also the same because my parents make it also the same. With the rice, we have a lot of choi, it’s like a vegetable, we eat like other meat, fish, frogs, snakes, and lobster.

Dimsum is a tradition of how we pass the afternoon. They roll the carts with all the dimsum dishes by you and you just pick what you want. There’s one called phoenix feet but it’s basically chicken feet but it’s dyed red.

China vs. United States

America is a very big place full of strangers that you don’t know but there is a lot of opportunities there because you can do anything you want.

In China there’s more expected roles for you to go into. Like a lot of the men, they go into business. And the women, they’ll go into housework or like banking. Like there’s a kind of differentiation between what a woman does and what a man does. Here I don’t feel like that’s the case.

Flushing

I think it’s become more commercialized. It almost looks like they’re trying to mimic Manhattan. Maybe it’s like the lights, the more people seem to be moving in, there’s more hotels in Flushing than when I first came here, so there seems to be a lot more people now.

What Could Have Happened

If I didn’t move here, my life would be like my cousin in China right now. She is already married and has kids and maybe I would have a different job. I’d probably still be living with my parents because my family lives very close together. And I would probably be less independent than I were now.

To Infinity and Beyond

I think it would be easier for my future kids because if they are born here they have the security of knowing that they’re a citizen here and they grew up with the culture already so they don’t have to learn to be part of a different culture and kind of miss the old culture.

I would like to maybe own my own house here. I don’t know if I’m going to maybe find someone here or find someone in China. Most likely they would have to be Chinese or Chinese and American because they would understand my culture better and better interact with my parents.

Now

I still think I’m Chinese more than American. Maybe it’s because I came here when I was a little bit older I still think that China is where I grew up so that’s like my home and this is America, where I am living right now. Where you were born, where you grew up in is your home.