Chery (Guatemala, Age 17): English 563

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I was going to school when I was 6 year old. On my first day , I was scared because  I didn’t know who were  my teachers and my classmates, when the time passed I , started to talk to my fellow classmates of classes and  I was  their friend and, started catching them with confidence.  I was going through the years and I  graduated from sixth grade (it is like 7th grade in the USA) on 10/30/2009 in Aldea Rancho Bojon El Quetzal San Marcos.

After that, I started my first year of  middle school. I like  to study in  middle school. I started in the year of 2009.  My parents helped me  study from  2 p.m. to 7 p.m.  Then I started to help myself.  I went to school and time went by, and I graduated after three years (it is like 9th grade in USA).

In 2012, my parents and my grandparents were proud that I would go to study in  college. But my plans changed. I had to move to the USA.  I had to leave my studies in Guatemala.

My home was made of brick in Guatemala. We had two rooms. One was for my parents, the other one was for my brothers, my sister, and me. Outside of my house we had enough  space to play games with my brothers. When night came, my mom called us to go to sleep. Every day was the same. My grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins lived near each other. My uncles always went to visit my grandparents every day in the afternoon, and we were always a family.

I imigrated to the United States when I was fifteen years old in 2013. I started my journey on the border of Guatemala and Mexico, at 7 p.m. I left my house sadly, because I could not see my dear brothers, parents, and grandparents when I moved to the United States. The journey to Mexico was very different with the things that I did every day in Guatemala. I had to walk for three hours and took the bus to reach another state of Mexico. Then I walked to take another bus, the bus stopped when I got to my destination. I would  pay the ticket of the immigration train to get to the USA, the train was called “Beast”.  I saw some immigrants follow the bus to Mexico. When the bus stopped, I felt nervous because Mexican people didn’t like the people who come from another country. If the immigration officers found out, the immigrants would be sent back to their countries. I felt thankful to the God because the officers did not find me out.

I was sitting and then the bus ran on the way and it took me to the “Beast”. The train was like the  monster to me. When I took the train, it was at night. I stood at the top of the train, the train was very high, it moved a lot and the weather was very cold, I was scared. Finally, I got off the train and took a taxi to get to Macalin, Mexico. I was in a house, there were  many other immigrants who were ready to cross the River Bravo on the second day. Someone told me to help two children to cross the river.

When I crossed the river, it was  Monday morning. After crossing the river, we walked for 3 hours to get to Texas and I lived in Texas with other immigrants who come from different countries. We lived there for one week. After one week, they took me to the desert, we walked in the desert for three days. I slept in the desert. In the next morning I was afraid because I thought a snake or other animals might bite me.  I brought my food when I started to walk in the desert, but then the food ran out. I had to eat cactus honey to help me survive in the desert. It was stressful. I met some good people, the people helped each other when they could not stand.  But, there were  bad people also, like the leader, he directed us.  If people did not follow the directions, he would punch them.

On the third day, an officer came to us, he asked me where I came from and where I was going. I told him that I was going to New York. And then, they took me to a place where  all the immigrants detained there. After being in that place, they ask for my information, and I gave them my information. After that, they took me to a very cold room to stay for one day. Later, they brought me to a house where all the immigrants lived together. The house was called “Big River Texas USA.” In this house, they helped me to get to New York on Sunday morning. I left Texas, and I got to New York.

When I came to New York, it was 12 o’clock in the noon. I met my uncles, we were so happy that I came to New York.  I haven’t seen them for ten years, they were quite different from before. I felt happy and sad at the same time because I left my parents and brothers and sisters in Guatemala, I missed them. My uncles took me to their house in New York, and I got a room. They told me to sleep there and I would live with them. I thanked them very much, they said they missed me so much.  My uncles took me to visit Manhattan. When we were in Manhattan, my eyes were so dizzy because I never saw so many tall buildings! They look so beautiful!

On September 9,2013, I studied in a  school which is the International High School at Lafayette. I was so nervous because I could not speak English. During the first class, the teacher asked me my name, and I told her “Charly.”  And she told me her name. “Welcome! this is your class and if you need a translator I have computers and dictionaries if you can not you ask your colleagues who speak the same language. Then I started doing my homework she gave me a dictionary to translate words from English to Spanish  to do the job.  I felt I was not progressing with my homework. I asked my fellow classmate  named johnny.What do I have to do in this task and then  he explained to me what I  had to do in this task

He said to  write my name and then said  where are you from then said thank you for explaining and at the time I wrote that I was from Guatemala and calling me charly and then the hours passed and I finished my first day of school. My parents and  uncles were happy because I had started my first dream  to learn English. The second day of school was making more friends and classes that I received were so impressive that were already more advanced than the classes of my country. Time went by and I finished  grade 9 in the year 2014 and then came the holidays of the year. My uncles put me in summer school in manhattan to learn more English . September, 5 I returned to school and then I realized I was in 10th grade I was happy that I already had climbed another grade  and today I feel much more imperative to learn English and I am grateful to my aunts and uncles and my teacher and teachers who helped me learn English Thank you very much for ms. amy, ms. katie, ms. carol, and mr. mathew for teaching writing and pronouncing words in English  all who read this to remember is wanting and not forget where they come we should  standing tall to reach the goals we want.