Finding Yourself
Finding yourself is a part of growing up; a part that is hard, long and confusing, and now imagine having to find yourself in those harsh teen years with one more factor: am I American or am I Mexican? This is the question that a lot of young adults have to ask themselves in consequence of being brought at a young age to the United States. In this paper I will discuss the experience of five people including myself that were brought in to the states at a very young age all with their parents dream of giving them a better life and future. How can you feel a part of your country if all your life you have lived somewhere else? Being part of your country means knowing your culture, your language and your people, but how do you do that when you have lived in a different place most of your life. All of the people interviewed where brought into the United States before they even started kindergarten. Most of them only know the part of the culture that there parents have thought them, but it is not the same as to live it experience it. Though there might be many Mexicans in this city is not the same as to interact with them in their country, see them for what they are not what they have integrated to. All of us have tried to keep our culture alive, celebrating Christmas the "Mexican way", opening gifts the 24th at midnight instead of the 25th, eating tamales instead of turkey and dancing to cumbias. Also the gifts do not stop on Christmas, we wait for el Dia De Los Reyes Magos to eat our rosca. We all want to feel Mexican we all want to be proud of where we were born, but we also had to integrate this new culture. We do go out trick or treating, and sorry but we do not celebrate el Dia De Los Muertos. So what are we? Are we Mexicans are we American or are we a little bit of both just like the people that were born in this country and that have Mexican parents. The truth of the matter is that we all feel like we are Mexican-Americans, yes we were born in Mexico, but we were