The Hard Time

This challenge can be the biggest one of your life. Are you sure you want to move to the US?” That is what my parents said to me, and exactly what I thought when I decided to move to the US. Removing myself from a comfortable environment in Brazil was hard, and the American culture took me by surprise. However, it has proven to be a rewarding experience. At first, I encountered obstacles. The Language barrier, relationships with friends, and cultural differences were the most difficult part of getting accustomed to the US.

The English language was a huge problem for me. I remember when I arrived in the US for the first time three years ago. I had to make a connection in New York City, where it was not easy to communicate because I didn’t know English. I had just thirty five minutes to get onto the next flight which was heady to Chicago. I didn’t know where I was supposed to go. I had never spoke English before, and that made it difficult to read the signs. I asked for help using my hands, but everyone I tried to ask was not nice to me. Later, I found a Mexican woman and I used my very poor Spanish to communicate with her. She gave me the information I was looking for. Finally, after a hard time, I got in Chicago. Another example, I had a hard time with English, when I was taking an Improvisation class in Chicago. Even though one of my goals was take this class, I had to give in the second week. It was too difficult to improvisation something in English. People who were taking this class with me, thought I was confident even though I didn’t know English. They were right. However, I didn’t want to lose my confidence, and that made me give it up.

It was not easy to make friends and develop relationships here in Chicago. Although I’m an going easy person, it didn’t help when I tried to meet people.I had many friends in Brazil. I had people I could call anytime and talk to. After I moved to Chicago, I feel really alone. When I had problems in my beginning married life, I didn’t have any girlfriend to share or give me some advices. After while,I discovered the facebook site where people usually communicate with their friends. I remember in the first week I didn’t have a lot of success. I had only two people who wanted be my friends. The funny thing was that both were men. After one month, I started getting some invitations from girls, which made me feel little bit better. After one year that I registration on face book, I had made a couple of friends one of whom today is my best friend.

Another example, was the cultural differences were huge. The first big difference I felt, was an event called Carnaval. I had been following Carnaval in Brazil for many years. Celebrating Carnaval, was one event that I missed since I moved to the US. American people called Carnaval “Mardi Gras”. It is not the same as Brazil. People don’t go out with fancy, spectacular costume as we see in Brazil. In Chicago, people don’t care so much to have fun in this day. I felt sad in my first year when I couldn’t celebrate the Carnaval. It was as if I missed a part of myself, which was my culture. Also, I had hard time adjusting was the away American people interact. I didn’t know how to say hello and how to say good bye. In Brazil it is normal to hug and kiss the person’s cheeks, but in the US I got embarrassed one time, when I tried to kiss a person I met, she turned her face to other side. In the US it is normal to shake hands. It was hard to get accustomed to American cultural interaction.

It was not easy to move from Brazil to the US. I was in shocked with the difference of culture. It was a long process to make a good friend, and a hard time to understand English. I should learn English before came to Chicago. Now I understand my parents’ thoughts. Life can be very difficult in another country. Every change in life takes time to adapt to. It happened three years ago, and I still in process of adjusting. Maybe in more couple years I will be fine.