Part of me

 I was born and raised in the most beautiful city in the western part of Ukraine,  Lviv. My whole family lives in a cozy town house in a friendly neighborhood. We never locked our doors in case someone needed something, so they could get in and take it. There was one town house in the neighborhood from which people were always moving to the U.S. For whole my childhood, I knew four families who lived there.  Kids from all around were thinking if they moved to that place they would go to America. It was the dream of our lives.  America was the country where people never cried, lived their lives  happily. I never had a chance to live in that town house, but I had a chance to move into USA. Chicago is where I started my independent adult life, and it is from this point I started to realize how many things I miss from my country.

At this moment, I am living in the part of Chicago which is called Ukrainian village. There are a lot of cultural centres, grocery stores, cafes and diners with Ukrainian food, but even here is hard to feel Ukrainian traditions and customs the way they are in Ukraine, especially on the holidays. The most celebrated holiday in Ukraine is Christmas. Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on January 7^th, with traditional food, carols and certain ceremonies. For us, is very important to have each of these specifications; otherwise, it is not going to be a real Christmas.  Every new year I have been in the U.S. I was working so hard to make Ukrainian Christmas the way I used to know. In Ukrainian traditions there is Holy supper on January 6^th, with twelve dishes without meat, eggs or milk. I tried such a big amount of products from all over the world until I found what I liked the most. Only from that moment, my dishes started to taste just like my mother and grandmother used to make them.

However, reaching of good results in cooking didn’t bring the holiday spirit. To me, Christmas is not only about food. It is also about a warm, cozy home with beloved people around and traditional songs. I have close friends in the U.S. with me, and I call them my second family, but they can’t replace my dearest ones. Very often on holidays I think about them, about all the chaos right before a holly supper and about my mother, who was always making us to do something. I will never going to forget my grandmother’s carols that she would sing after supper. She wanted my sister and me sing with her, but we never did.  I am still not singing carols, but I will be glad to listen my grandmother’s singing again. All of these things used to make Christmas for me.

The most interesting part of the Christmas holiday is that Ukrainians do not exchange the gifts. I think it is because we don’t have a Santa. Christmas in Ukraine is all about the appearance of Jesus Christ in this world, so it is a very religious holiday.  On the night of December 19,             St. Nickolas brings us the gifts. He puts them, just like Tooth Fairy puts money, under the pillow only to the ones who were nice for whole year. The naughty ones only receive tiny branch from the tree, which helps to beat them up for all bad things that they did. I still have a little dream. I want to find a gift from St. Nick under my pillow one more time. I am so tired of receiving them through the mail. It kills all the magic. The child inside of me refuses to accept it.

Since I came in to U.S., I discovered and learned so many new things, which make me feel better about myself. I can compare two different worlds, two different cultures and take the best each one. Moreover, now a Christmas holiday season that is twice as long and a twice as many gifts. I feel very comfortable in the US, but every once in a while I have nostalgia for my homeland, where I left big part of me, my past, my thoughts and my family.

My Educational Life

My educational life changed drastically after I came to the United States. I remember the first time I heard that I could study in the United States. I thought it would be like China. I didn't know what would happen in the future. When I left for Chicago, it saddened my parents that they would not see me for about one year. The decision to study in the United States changed my perspective on education including choosing classes, American learning style, and teamwork.

The first time I contacted an American school, the biggest issue I had to deal with was choosing my classes. For my first instinct, I felt that studying in the United States was a really troublesome thing. Before I chose classes, I had a test that would confirm my level. After this test, the teacher told me that I could study in this college, and then I needed to choose classes according to what I wanted to learn. Then I needed to think about which classes that I wanted to take, and which classes that I needed to take. However, my Chinese friends told me that they couldn’t choose the classes that they wanted to study in China, and they could only follow the schedule. Additionally, I needed to buy textbooks for my classes, and students didn’t need to buy the books in China; the school would give us these when we registered.

 

Another difference between my Chinese school and my American school is the way that the American school makes me so relaxed. In our classrooms, students are allowed to drink, eat something, and even use our cell phone for the dictionary. In addition, classroom discussions are very free, and students can ask questions at any moment in class. I never felt this way in China. Moreover, I even created a club that named Global Student Club with my friends at school. The purpose of the club was for international students to improve their English, and also we invited some English speakers to join us. Furthermore, members could meet more people in this club. This club is just like my little world. I feel relieved when I meet my friends there. All of this let me feel free and joyful, because I have never thought about joining a club, let alone creating a club when I was in China.

In addition to feeling more relaxed, I have also learned about the value of teamwork. In my first semester, my teacher taught me the meaning of teamwork. In China, my teachers always told me that I should try to finish questions by myself. In America, my teachers told me that I should finish questions with my classmates. Not only that, when I supervised my club, I also learned that how to talk with the members and I think this skill also can help me in the future. I never thought about it while I was living China because I didn’t realize how important the personal relationships were.

Therefore, I have changed a lot since I came to America, not just in my daily life, but also in my educational life. Although I am not the most serious student at school, I believe that I will become more serious in my studies. In my future educational life, I will use the teamwork skills that I learned from classes. I heard someone say that college was just like a small society, so I can learn plenty of knowledge before I go into the real world. 

Shayan Tavanakhatiri

ESL 100

3^rd draft                                         

                                                                        La Familia

Humans are social creatures. Normally, after a child is born, the family raises them until they decide it’s the time to leave the family and continue life on their own. When I was living in Iran, I was very close to my family, and I used to see other relatives, like aunts and uncles often. My parents and siblings were a big part of my life, and I couldn’t survive a day without seeing them. In Iran, the country I was born and raised, I had a lot of time to spend with my family and we used to eat together very often, but here in the United States, I don’t have much time to visit or call my relatives even the ones that live here.

In Iran, family gatherings were a significant part of my life. Family gatherings are very common in Iran because it is a big part of Persian culture. There are a lot of holidays in which families gather around, especially in elder members of the family’s house, and spend plenty of time together telling stories and laughing. My family, aunts, uncles and I used to see each other at least once every other week; this could take place at our house, my uncle’s or aunts’ house or even at our villa, which was located outside of the city. My cousins and I used to be very close to each other; they were like brothers and sisters to me, but since coming here, I barely have the time to even call my cousins who live in Louisiana, not to mention those who live in Iran. School and other things take most of my time now that I live in Chicago, so I can’t be as close as I used to be to my family.

In addition to the gatherings, having a Persian meal with my family or friends is something that I really miss. My father used to cook koobideh kabob, and my mother used to make cucumber salad, which I really miss. I also miss the villa we had outside of the city, where we all used to gather and eat those delicious homemade food. Of course it is easy to find Persian food in Chicago, but it isn’t just about eating that food, it is about having it all together. In my new life in Chicago, my schedule barely allows me to eat with my aunt and uncle. When I have the time, they are at the work, or when they have the time, I need to study. When all of us have the time, which happens rarely, we have to order food from a restaurant because we don’t have the time to cook.

Moreover, I used to be very close to my parents and siblings. Every day, we used to talk about every little thing that had happened to us that day. My parents, especially my father, used to give me advice frequently. Whenever I needed advice or had a question, I would ask them, and they would patiently explain any situation to me. At first one may think that it is not a problem thanks to technology, but it is not like that. The problem is I can’t talk to them whenever I want due to different time zones. While people were watching super bowl on Sunday at around 6 p.m. in Chicago, people were sleeping in Iran. There are only a few certain times in a day that I can call them or Skype with them. Loss of communication with my family has been very hard for me since moving to Chicago. 

  

Hence, what is lost in the translation for me is that I wish I could go to those family gatherings and eat homemade Persian food while telling stories and talking to my parents and sisters. I really hope in the future I’ll be able to visit my family a lot and repeat those unforgettable experiences. O

therwise, I have to get used to this limited style of communication with my family.