How Life in My Home Country Differs from Life in the US
countries sometimes can be totally different, but I am sure
that in both of them life is completely exciting and
unforgettable.
Divino De Oliveira is a student in the Literacy Volunteers of Leon
County ESOL Program. Julia Sura is his tutor.
A Substantial Move in My Life
Some decisions can change your life completely. One of
them is when you desire to move to another country
different from where you grew up. My family and I made
that decision, and, I knew it was right. We moved to this
beautiful country, but we left behind many things that I
remember with homesickness. It was not easy, but I am
happy to live here now I know it is a God’s blessing. Since
I was a little girl, I grew up with the idea that someday I
would move to this country, because several of my family
members were living here.
I am from Cuba. It has a complicated government. It
gets worse every day, and the poorness grows. Therefore,
we needed to get out of there and the process took a long
time. Finally, two years ago, when I was 17, I first left home
and came to the United States. My family and I got very
happy, because we and the other family members that had
been living here for a long time finally were together. I met
several cousins, aunts, and uncles for first time. On the
other hand, I found everything beautiful and greatly
different to the town I was from, where I could walk
everywhere and the neighbors always greeted me with a
“Buenos dias” on the way to school. I found different
people, places, foods, ideology, government, culture, and
the new language, which was the hardest thing to get used
to.
Having a new beginning in life can be hard, even more
so if it comes with the difficulty of not being able to
communicate. I came without finishing the 12th grade, so I
started High School as a senior. I studied like a maniac and
got good grades, but I could not pass the FCAT. So I started
studying English at “The English Center” and taking GED
classes.