Coming To America

I remember sitting on my grandmother’s front steps with my dad and my brother when my dad told us that he had run into a cousin of his who was living in the USA who told him about the idea of moving to America. My dad was no stranger to the US since he had come here several times on business trips, including a 1 year trip in the same year I was born.  My dad was a mechanical engineer for the sewing machine company, Singer, at the time of my birth but he made it back to Brazil in time to greet me when I was born.

So how did we end up here? Well, I did not have much of a choice, but if I did I would've come here anyways. We ended up here because my dad had lost his job after 25 years of service at Singer because the company wasn't doing very well. Brazil’s economy at the time was in bad shape, so it was hard for my dad to find another job. Since the job market was poor, he was forced into unemployment for a few years. That’s when he ran into his cousin who asked if he wanted to move to the US.

On a warm summer night in February of 1998 we drove my dad to the airport. I still remember his promise to us, of reuniting the family in one year. He came here alone with only one suitcase and the proper work documents. Thinking back, this was perhaps the biggest change of my dad’s life, but he was up for the challenge. My father never quit and that’s how I’ve always known him. He is the hardest working man I know.

After arriving in New York, my father took a short flight to Massachusetts, where he decided to build a new home and a new life for his family. He found a job right away or I should say 3 jobs. One other thing you should know about my dad is that he is very determined and very dedicated to his family.  Although having three jobs was very stressful, he didn't care because he just wanted to be reunited with the family he had left behind in Brazil.

His first job was at a catering company where he worked for over 10 years.  He also worked part time as a janitor, and worked overnight at a supermarket. The catering job would become very important to us, as this job enabled us to become American citizens (and later catered my wedding). Dad would get up early in the morning, ready for his 1^st job. This job was basically packing for parties during the week, loading all the trucks for the weekends. On the weekends he would work at parties all over Massachusetts including weddings, bar Mitzvahs, company outings, and so on.  After the parties were over, the work was still far from complete. He headed back to the shop to unload every truck, and start prepping again for the next weekend.  As a part-time janitor, this shift was from 5-10 pm. During this time he would do anything from vacuuming carpets to waxing floors. He did it all. His third job was doing strip and wax at a supermarket overnight. It was not unusual for my father to go without sleep for 48 hours.

While my dad was diligently working here, my mom was back in Sao Paulo, Brazil, taking care of my brother, my sister and me. My mother was always a stay home mom. She kept us in line and out of trouble day after day. She worked just as hard as my dad worked, as all stay home mothers of three know how challenging this job can be. She would take us to school, pick us up, help us with our homework, or take us to soccer practices. Even with all of the chaos of raising three children, she found a way to keep the house immaculate and provide a home cooked meal every night. She was always sacrificing for her family and she never complained. While doing all of this, she was also prepping everything for our big transition to the USA along with my big brother. My sister and I were too young to understand what was going on, and we probably didn't really understand it until we were packing up our bags for the move.

It was a clear summer night in March 1999 when our entire family including our uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents dropped us of at Guarulhos International Airport, in Sao Paulo. My father’s promise to us had been fulfilled. After one year and one month, we were boarding a Boeing MD-11 airplane bound to NYC. When we arrived, my dad picked us up in a minivan and drove us to our new home, in Worcester, MA. Worcester was where we settled down as a family for what was just the beginning of the greatest and most challenging journey of our lives.

The family did not speak English at all, myself included. However, my father’s hard work had rubbed off on me and I was determined to learn the language and embrace, what to me, is the greatest country in the world, the USA. I remember riding in my father’s car and reading the road signs or anything that was written in English to try to learn the language. Leaving Brazil in the 70-degree summer weather and getting to Massachusetts in the 20-degree winter weather was a huge adjustment.  One day I woke up and decided to go buy boots and gloves so I left the house armed with my dictionary in hand.  I knew I could learn this language if I just gave it a little time. I walked to an Ames store about 2 miles from our house. I was surprised when I walked into the store because everything was so different to me and sure enough I would need help. Luckily, I came prepared with my dictionary so I opened it up and started to come up with words to communicate to the store associate. After what I thought was a long trip to the store, I was on my way home. My hands were now warm, and so were my feet. My dad’s cousin who helped us get here also helped us get signed up for school. On our first day of school she put us on the bus with a handwritten note to give to the bus driver to help us get to our destination.  At school we had one ESL class (English as second language) and all of the other classes were in English only. Oh boy, was I in trouble. I had to learn this language and I had to learn it fast. After long hours of studying, reading and listening to the TV, I was finally on my way. After the first year I could read everything, and before I knew it, the second year had passed and I could speak most of it too.  By the third year, I was able to put it all together and develop a good understanding of the language. Understanding the language was the hardest part for me because of all the sling terms that I would hear in passing.  Now I’m fluent in English and Portuguese, with a decent Spanish vocabulary and growing knowledge of German (which I just started to learn last year).

In conclusion I want to say that one should not be afraid of making big changes. I know that my dad went to the extreme, but he couldn't just sit there and wait for the perfect job like he had before.  He had to take care of his family. Now my parents are nearing retirement, with three kids who work for a fortune 500 company and speak two languages fluently. We did not become rich (yet), but we learned that hard work can go a long way. Coming to America was perhaps one of the biggest highlights of our lives and what we learned from the experience and our parents sacrifices will forever motivate us and stay close to our hearts. If you take away anything from reading this, I hope you can see that no matter what the obstacle is, anything can be achieved with some hard work and dedication.

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