Becoming an Asian American
In 2005 I was around 6 years old and had just finished kindergarten. When my parents decided to move to America. It was difficult since I had to leave 6 years of my childhood, my dearest grandparents and everything I knew to follow my family to America to start a new life. With only a few suitcases fill with our childhood memories and clothes we left Taiwan. On the way to the airport, my heart was pumping so hard I could feel my heart beat. Every single pound in my chest. I kept wondering why my parents would want to leave behind everything that was important to start a new life just 11 hours away. After a journey of a thousand miles, we arrived on to the other side of the world at LAX, from the small country of Taiwan to the united states not knowing what was to come.
Moving to America was my greatest adventure. I didn't know what to expect. One of the biggest struggles of moving to American was not being able to speak the language. When I first moved here I didn't know anything except the basic words like yes and no. I was enrolled at holly avenue elementary school after a month of being here. I still remember the first day of first grade when I walked into class wearing blue jeans and a polo with a pair of Adidas superstars. Once in class, my teacher started asking me questions but I couldn't understand a single word she was saying so I just stared at her. This continued on for couple more months until I started to pick up some English here and there from both being in ESL and being around classmates, but what really taught me English was when I took interest in the book "MR. BUMP". After I checked it out from the ESL classroom I took it home and spent hours after hours trying to read and understand the full meaning of the book. This book was what spark my interest in learning English, and is what taught me that when you work hard you succeed.
I have the utmost respect for my parents. Without their support, I would not have accomplished anything at all today. I have been classified as "Chino", "China men" or "yellow kid". There are a lot of stereotypes that come with being an American born Chinese. Some of the other included being a genius at all things school related or having demanding parents that want you to become doctors. Evan with all the negativity, I am proud to have immigrant parents that have taught me some of life's most important values. My parents received negativity from everywhere. They were told by their family back home to go back because they thought my parents wouldn't make it. They struggled to make friends here because they weren't familiar with the culture and language. Even with all these negativities, my parents moved on without looking back. Being the only son of my traditional Asian parents they pushed me towards a higher success level. Since I was young I thought my parents just wanted me to successful and be rich but I was wrong. Their whole goal was to watch us become successful. To my parent's my sisters and I being successful didn't mean we were wealthy but it meant me and my sisters being comfortable and living a happy life.
Growing up my parents didn't speak much English because they sacrifice so much to be in America for my sisters and I. They worked nonstop so we could have a happy life. My older sister and I became their translator. We didn't know any more English than she at the beginning, but she figured that since we were young, we could learn English faster. Because I was the translator, I was well aware just how precarious our living situation was. This made me mature a lot faster than other kids with parents that did everything for them. Sometimes I just want to tell my parents how great full I am for them regardless sometimes force responsibility of having to be there to translate for them. Knowing more then I should know about my parents and our living situations as a younger kid has made me more capable now and knowing I'm capable of taking care of my parents in the future when there older.
Moving to America and being around the people I'm around has made me independent, hardworking and not to mention more capable as a person. I wouldn't say that moving to America has made me a better person but it has made me who I am today.
