The wheels of the plane starts rolling and I feel the gravity pulling me into my seat Suddenly, the powerful hum of the engine started a roar so loud that it made me hold on to my seat and close my eyes The turbulence began and the whole plane starts to shake Then, it stopped, I opened my eyes and out of the window, I saw the buildings and the busy streets of Manila Palm trees were everywhere and the bright sun hovered the city Cars filled up the highway in traffic like ants falling in line.
As the plane descended higher up in the air, my view of the city started to diminish. Then, the beautiful blue skies with soft white clouds filled my sight. My ten year old brain was so amazed with what I was seeing that I continued to watch the clouds move slowly and spotted different shapes of animals and patterns through them After everyone settled in, they all started closing their windows and so did I.
l pulled my blanket over me and leaned over on the side where my pillow was and I closed my eyes After fifteen hours of being up in the air, I woke up with the pilot saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to General Mitchell International Airport. The local Lime is 4:34pm and the temperature is 60 degrees On behalf of American Airlines, we’d like to thank you for joining us on this trip.” The sound of metal clunking filled my ears while everyone was undoing their seatbeltr Looking around, I saw people’s fatigued eyes paired up with exhausted yawnsr.
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“ Ok, let me say I’m extremely satisfy with the result while it was a last minute thing. I really enjoy the effort put in. ”
As we walked out and got our luggages in hand, I felt Milwaukee’s fresh cold air. I saw pools of different golden brown trees and bright yellow leaves on the ground. Automatically, I thought of the polluted air back home in Manila and the crowded dirty streets and how different it is here. My mom and my sister picked me up from the airport and we started heading to their house.
My new home After a few days, my mom decided that it is better for me to start school right away so I would not get left behind a grade, and so that I could gain new friends. I suddenly got nervous because I did not know what to expect It is a new country, a new environment and new people after all. However, I talked myself into it and gained some kind of courage and agreed with her. With dread on one hand and fear on the other, I reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly. Everyone’s eyes were on me and without paying attention to any of them, I introduced myself to the teachert She gave me a warm smile and welcomed me to the class Her smile comforted me a little, As I sat down on my chair and started to look around, I suddenly realized a whole range of different ethnicitiest The kids had different tones of skin and hairt Starting to think about what it was like back home, everyone had skin like mine along with black straight hairt.
Almost all of us looked the same It was refreshing to see because it was something new and interesting As the day went by, l was asked about where I came from and my accent, A girl came up to me and mockingly giggled, “You talk funnyt” These things were completely oblivious to me. Having an accent and speaking differently from everyone was something I never thought about. From that day on, I became very insecure about how I spoke and how I said certain words. A few days after, while sitting at the lunch table, I clutched my hands together and began to say grace. “You should only do that at home and not at school,” whispered the girl that sat next to me “Oh, Why?” I muttered, with a confused and puzzled look on my face, “It‘s not appropriate,” the girl said and shrugged Thinking in my head, what was so wrong about praying? Since Philippines is mostly catholic, having a religion and wanting to praise God is not new or strange to anyone in my culture.
Citizens would pray and sing praises of God out loud and it would not be seen as something unusual. I did not think that it could be something that would be considered disrespectful. Later on, while riding the car and looking out the window, I slowly realized that there were boundless of fast food restaurants spread out on every street. Mass of cars were lined up through the drive through “Why is there so many fast food here?” I confusedly asked my sister. “People are busy, fast food is just easy and convenient,“ she replied. I did not think much of what she said because I guess it made sense. However, in the past few days, I had noticed it was all what we have been eating for dinner. My mom would come home from work with a bucket of crispy chicken from KFC or some days, a box of pizza, They were delicious but it was something I am not used to. In our culture, food is the number one reason people get together.
Most specifically, home cooked meals. Reflecting back home to Manila, I remembered my grandmother‘s aromatic beef stew. Everyone in the house would know that she is cooking in the kitchen because the savory smell of her creation would creep in every room. The beef mimics a velvety texture that melts in my mouth without any real effort of chewing. As I sipped the soup, an explosion of flavors filled my mouth. The warmness and richness of her cooking feels like a tight comforting hug. On the other hand, I thought that Americans were just lazy because how hard is it to prepare food? As the temperature dropped, excitement filled my body, The crisp of coldness in the air made the 10 year old me very thrilled about my first snowfall. Being from a country where there are only two weather – scorching heat and non stop rain, the idea of ice sprinkling from the sky was pretty amazing. Later on, while I sat on the couch, white movements from the window caught my attention. I quickly got up from my seat and moved the curtain to the side to get a better view.
Snowflakes were falling delicately from the white sky as it slowly adds to the thick layer of powdery ice on the ground. In an instant, I grabbed my jacket and gloves and ran outside right away The frosty air brushed my cheek as I opened the door and the wind whistled loudly but gently. I wobbled through the heavy accumulation on the ground and as I looked up, a magical View of the trees covered in tiny flurries came into my sight It completely took my breath away, The world seemed to fall silent and the ray of sunshine hits the trees and snow just perfectly which creates a shimmering glowr I took a deep breath while taking everything in and I instantly felt content. Ashort while later, realizations starts to settle in Coming from a small country like the Philippines, I had no idea that America would be completely different, Encountering people with different views and way in life were fascinating and intriguing to someone so young The community, religion, food, and weather were all distinct in some way. It was hard to keep an open mind because I had no idea what or how to think. Migrating in a new country and finding out about their culture made me feel like a complete stranger to this new world However, I discovered that I just have to embrace the unfamiliar and adjust to life. This does not mean forgetting my own roots, but it is about adapting to my new way of life and becoming more aware about the world.
An Exhilarating Trip to My New Home. (2022, Oct 25). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/an-exhilarating-trip-to-my-new-home/
