Julissa Benitez
Professor Medved
Literacy Narrative Essay
02-16-2018
Unforgettable Experience
Sunday, July 20, 2014 is a date that I will never forget. It was the date that I came to the United States, I was excited to know another country but my joy ended when I realized that I could not understand directions at the airport.
That was one of my desperate experience in my entire life because of the language. I was coming from my country El Salvador and everything was going well until I realized that I did know where I was, so I had to ask somebody for help. Well, guess what? I did not speak English!! I felt that the world was coming at me. I did not know what to do or where to go as you know the airport is huge. I knew my family was waiting for me outside but I could not get out of there. I though how silly I had been for not having learned some expressions of help in English and to make matters worse my cellphone had low battery could not make any call. I knew where my family was waiting because they told me some directions but I did not know how to get there.
After walking to one place to another to calm down, I decided to walk straight trying to find by myself the place where my family was supposed to be waiting for me. I walked, walked and walked but I never found the directions they told me. Jesus Crist I did cry!! About fifteen minutes later I heard a woman who was speaking Spanish, actually I cannot express how happy I was. I ran to ask for help and there she was, that woman was a blessing to me at that time, I told her what had happened and that I did not know how to find my family. Then she lent me her cellphone very kindly and I was able to call my family. My aunt was already worried because they did not know anything about me, so she began to question me because I was taking so long. They could not even imagine my journey. Thank god the woman was a kind and nice person who was by my side looking for my family. I will always remember that woman that woman from Honduras, her name was Angela. About a half an hour later we found my family, I was so happy and grateful to that woman for helping me to get there. Someday I would like to do the same for somebody who needs my help as I needed it.
Finally, we arrived at home and I told them the story. The laughed at me when I told them I had cried at the airport, for me that was the worst part but for them that was the best. My uncle said that there was no reason to be worried because English was going to overcome it one way or another. Two months later I took the ESL program (English as a Second Language) at the Suffolk Community College, the first month was so hard because I did not understand very well but then was different everything feels natural, I was learning a lot and I was so proud of myself.
In conclusion, I realized how hard is come to another country where everything is different from mine and how difficult is not to speak the language. I think that experience was what pushed me to want to learn English as soon as possible because I did not want to found myself in that kind of situation one more time. We have many immigrants in this country in this country but not all of us have the same learning opportunities as others and that one may be the reason because they are the most discriminated. If you have the opportunity to learn every day do not waste it, take advantage of that, afterwards you will not be able to return the time.
