Alone in the United States: Settling into a New Culture - Essay Example

Personal Mythology As a new American, I am hard worker and believer in the American dream, knowing that if you work hard, dedicate yourself to the task at hand and face your challenges head-on, you can do anything in this country. Growing up in China under the watchful eye strict parents, I always knew that there was more to life than the tiny village that I grew up in and I spent my formative years working towards my eventual goal of moving to the US and living the American dream. As an immigrant alone in the United States, I have had to face many challenging adapting to the American culture as well as life in the incredibly diverse yet incredibly different City of Angels. As Robert Root shows us, creative non-fiction is a challenge to write and the following is my personal story about growing in China and wanting a better life in the United States of America (Root 2009). Growing up in China An ancient civilization and an emerging economy in the heart of Asia, China is quickly developing one of the strongest countries in the world. Chinese products can be found all over the world and my country has exhibited phenomenal economic growth in a very short span of time. China has developed its economy while resisting pressures to democratize and has continued to develop inline with Maoist socialist thought. I read somewhere that the Chinese model of development is called “authoritarian capitalism” (Gat, 2001). I agree with this assessment and while I understood the potential for success in China growing up, I was also very aware that if I really wanted to succeed and have the personal freedoms that I so desperately craved as a young boy in China, I would have to pick up my life and move across the ocean to the United States of America. The American dream was a powerful force for me as a young boy. While I was aware that the opportunities were great, I also knew that the opportunities in America were greater and at the age of 17 I immigrated alone to the United States of America. I was drawn to the ideals of the American way: endless opportunity and personal freedoms which I knew I could never have in China. Although it is true that China today has shown incredible economic growth and it seems like opportunities to make money are everywhere, the people of China are not free and do not share the freedoms that people in this country have come to take for granted. China’s history and traditions are too strong and the people there today look to the West with a mixture of suspicion and envy. I came here because I wanted to make my life in the United States and benefit from the mixture of opportunity, quality of life and freedom. This is my story (Nolan, 2001). Moving to America I came to LA from China when I was only 17 years old. I was unsure of where to start my American adventure and had initially decided to move to San Francisco because that was where my mother had family. IN fact I have relatively who I have never met and who live as Americans and have never once been to China. While I was very eager to move to the United States of America and start a new life full of excitement and opportunity, moving to San Francisco seemed like the perfect place to begin my adventure. Although I was so close to moving to San Francisco and starting my life there, I chose LA finally because I was committed to growing up by myself and I wanted more challenges than I thought that San Francisco could offer me. I was an international student when I arrived and started my class at the Cal State LA ESL program to study English as a Second Language. When I arrived in LA, I could not speak any English, therefore, I got into a lot problems. Because my abilities in English were so limited I had a really tough time going to school, buying food at the grocery store (the food was different from what I was a used to as well), renting a car and finding a part-time job. I was early on very scared about the transition over to the United States and after I got here my worst fears came true. Something as simple as going to the grocery store and buying groceries to eat was difficult and stressful. I did not have any family members to help me in Los Angeles and I did not really have any friends either at that stage. My priorities at the time were learning the language, going to school, buying food, car and studying. Find a part time job was always a goal but I knew that I would have to improve my English if I wanted to work and earn a living. Although this period in my life was tough, I persevered because I knew that my experiences in America were going to get easier. I was in Los Angeles! The home of Hollywood, MacDonald’s, beaches and Baywatch! I had finally made it. My faith in the American dream helped me get through this difficult period in my life and made me a better person. Without this blind faith I may have given up, quit and returned to China when things go to hard to handle. The American dream sustained me. After successfully completing the Cal State LA ESL program, I went to PCC college after that and then transferred to Cal State LA where I got an AA degree. I also improved my English to the point that I got my first American job. As young and devoted employee, I worked my way up from Assistant Clerk with a logistics company to acting Supervisor for a new venture. I was promoted by the President of the company and rewarded for my consistently hard work and good attitude. As an employee, I have devoted countless hours to better myself and am proud of the work that I do. As an outgoing person, I have met many successful business people and have learned many skills from the best Americans I could have found to help me develop into a successful business person. Most people in China who want to go to the United States do not ever really get the courage to actually go. Chinese people are incredibly interested in the rest of the world and we are the closed, oppressed people that most people make us out to be. In fact, China wishes to engage with the rest of the world and most young Chinese people like myself look to the United States with a mixture of fear and excitement. I was the first member of my inner family to make the move and fly to the United States to start a new life and see what the land of opportunity is actually like. China is the most populous country on the planet and the economic opportunities there are enormous. The problem with China is that the state has ignored the individual freedoms of its people in order to move ahead socially and economically. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it does make a lot of young Chinese want to immigrate and start a new life somewhere where personal freedoms are available (Economist, 2009). The American Dream is a strong myth with the potential to make people move from all ove rthe world to the UNited States. It made me was aware that if I really wanted to succeed and have the personal freedoms that I needed as a young boy in China, I would have to pick up my life and move to the United States of America. The American dream was a very powerful force for me as a young boy. For many people around the world the American dream is just a myth. For me and countless other new Americans here in Losa Angeles and across this massive country, the American dream is more than a myth and is reality. I have witnessed just what can happen if you work hard and try to succeed in teh United States. I have learnt English, successful completed an ESL program as well as an AA college degree and have obtained more than one job in the United States. It has not been easy but it was made me into a bigger and better person. The American dream is more than a dream. For me, it is my reality. Concluding Remarks As a new American with little money but much pride and a desire to succeed, my mother imbued in her children the belief that hard work brings rewards and that American society is one in which anything can happen. China is not the same. People cannot necessarily always succeed through hard work. When I first came to this country, I had difficulties learning English but can now confidently say that I have almost mastered the language and overcome this important personal hurdle. Additional personal challenges include settling into a new culture, meeting new friends, developing an American identity and growing up without my family in a far away land. Although I do not always have the most material possessions, my mother always told me that America was the land of opportunity and that it was here that dreams could become a reality (my father had very different, skeptical views of the United States). It is this belief which has sustained me as both a student and as a future American citizen. BIBLIOGRAPHY Gat, A, 2001, “The Return of Authoritarian Great Powers”, Foreign Affairs, July/August. Nolan, Peter, 2001, China and the Global Economy, Palgrave, London. The Economist, 2009, Pocket World in Figures, 2009 Edition. Profile Books, London. Root, Robert, 2009, Fourth Genre, New York, Longman. Read More