As a kid growing up in GuangDong, China, I never expected I’d need to restart my life over not once, but twice. I was born in Venezuela but due to our financial situation, my parents brought me back to their native China when I was a year old. I spent eight years there without my parents and grew up speaking Chinese with my aunt, my family, and my friends. I took these relationships as a given. Little did I know that my friends could be like leaves, scattered to the wind. When I was nine, I started a new life when I returned to Venezuela. Everything I experienced there is still in my heart. My view of friendship completely changed.
I had a wonderful childhood in China with many friends. I was naive and I did not know anything about the outside world. In fact, I even imagined the world outside of China was on another planet and I thought I’d need a spaceship to travel there. My friend joked that if I left China I would die. Although he was joking, I really was afraid of leaving my friends and my aunt’s family. After years of hard work, my mother returned to bring me and my brother to live with our parents in Venezuela when I was nine years old.
When I went back to Venezuela, everything was different. I could not speak the language, and the culture and lifestyle were different. I could not communicate with my classmates at all and so did not make any friends. Eventually when I understood them, I still did not know how to answer. I was not happy like I had been in China. Without the ability to communicate, I lost my confidence. I missed my Chinese friends. I missed China.
When I told my parents about my situation, they comforted me and explained that they had experienced this before. I began to slowly accept this fact, too. To make new friends I started to learn Spanish from Mi Jardin (a book for Spanish beginners). I studied almost all of the time, and soon I was able to read the same books as my classmates. But it was not enough, I still did not have a real friend. I wanted to be noticed and have someone care about me, just like my Chinese friends who always thought well of me. Then one day, I placed first in a school wide math test. Suddenly I was recognized and sought out for help in math. And now because I spoke Spanish, I could communicate and forge new friendships.
Before I knew it, I was a true Venezuelan who had Venezuelan friends. This helped me to understand that the word “friend” is not singular, but signifies a larger community. Being part of a community lets me know I am part of a group that cares for each other. When I came to the United States, the friendships I made in Venezuela helped transition more easily in NY. I focused on becoming the best student and showing people the type of person I am. I value friendship very much. I studied and worked hard to improve myself in order to have real friends. I humbly turned to the teachers of the school or classmates when I had any problems. I shared my Chinese culture and my life in Venezuela with them and they listened to me like I was a storyteller.
From my innocent childhood in China to my current life in New York City, my time in Venezuela has influenced me the most. I thank the friends I met in Venezuela. From them I learned the difficulties of being in a foreign country, and how to find and create a new community. I have done something many people could never imagine for themselves–started a new life over and over again. Immigrating to Venezuela taught me many things. My life experiences helped me to learn how important my friendships are and gave me the courage to build new connections to thrive in difficult situations. Through hard work I learned Spanish and English, and have a great community of friends around the world. I am confident that should the winds of change call me to someplace new, I will thrive there, too.
Here is my cover letter for this essay 🙂