Personal Narrative: My Cuban Family

I was born June 14, 1997 in Las Vegas, but just a couple of days after my birth my parents, Yimnel Rodriguez and Stacey Rene'e Brew, split up and I remained with my mother. Yimnel and Stacey were both relatively young, 21 and 22, when I was born. Over time, I grew closer and closer to my father’s family; after my 2nd birthday I moved in with my father. I loved living around my Cuban family. As I grew up, I became bilingual. At school I learned English, and at home I learned Spanish. My father married Belia Araceli Arellano in 1999, she was from Hermosillo, Mexico. They married in August, nine months later my first sister, Yaneli, was born. I always stood out immensely, I was extremely pale and I had blonde hair while my dad and stepmother have …show more content…
A typical worker would only make 400 pesos a month. When converted into American dollars, 400 pesos is around 17 dollars. Living conditions were cruel at times and mass power outages were typical. My father himself said that there were only 3 channels on tv, two of them had Fidel Castro on and the last one was a Russian cartoon. Soviet influence was still among Cuba. Students were often forced to take a class to learn Russian. My father slept on a pull out bed in the living room. Even though he wasn’t in solitude, because the only thing to do was play outside with other children, he was still honestly a shy kid with a low self esteem. In Cuba there is way more freedom for kids unlike the United States. Everyone in a neighborhood would know each other. There weren’t too many danger, parents wouldn’t have to worry much about their child not making it back home. In result of this liberty, some children would eventually become delinquents. Rarely have I heard Cuban police getting involved with anyone. My father didn’t live in a rural place, but he did have family who own houses with large lands. When my dad started school, he would ride his bike