At 39 years old, with a son, a bakery, and a motorcycle, my cousin, Amanda decided to leave Colombia and live four months in the United States. After a messy divorce, Amanda wanted to try her luck at the “American Dream” and while some may dream of job promotions, her dream entailed only one objective; marrying a white man.
This winter break I spent the majority of free time helping Amanda build online dating profiles. OkCupid, eHarmony, and Christian Mingle just to name a few. With her limited English and knowledge of the United States, Amanda needed me. Her only insight to American culture was watching “Modern Family” a tv show which influenced Amanda’s “American Dream”. She saw herself as the character Gloria, a Colombian immigrant, who …show more content…
“Why don’t we go sit down now?’
Although at first I was furious about being tricked, I soon found the entire situation hilarious. I learned that while Ryan thought I was twenty five, Tom thought Amanda was twenty eight. Despite being shorter than me, Ryan claimed he played college basketball. Amanda claimed we were sisters and Tom claimed he was good friends with Marco Rubio. They were all a bunch of liars trying desperately to impress each other.
“It must be so much fun working as a reporter in Bogota.” Tom said to Amanda. “Who has been your favorite person to interview.”
“Yes, it is so much fun being a reporter, I loved getting to interview...that guy from…” Amanda glanced around, looking at me for any source of inspiration,
“That guy from the Colombian Royal Family.” I said hoping to catch Amanda in her lie.
But lucky for her, Ryan and Tom were as dumb as they were boring. Neither knew that Colombia never had a “Royal Family.” They didn’t question Amanda’s career as a reporter at all. All three of them continued to lie throughout the evening.
“Well, thank you for dinner,” I said to Ryan, now realizing how easy it was to lie. “I had a great …show more content…
“You could have just said you were Gloria, I mean we totally look like sisters.” With my eyes focused on the road ahead of me, I tried my best to ignore Amanda’s flawed plan. “You just don’t understand how lucky you have it.” She continued. “Young, beautiful, college educated, and American.” She said the last part with a sigh.
Yes, she was materialistic, superficial and so much more, but I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. She only has two months left to marry her “Jay” and has not had more than a second date with any man. She was lonely. She wanted someone to make her feel beautiful again. Did it justify lying? No, but Amanda was trying to escape her past and move on. She saw the United States as a second chance and wanted to take advantage of it during her short time here.
So instead of getting angry, I tried to understand her deception. “Why did you used Gloria as your fake name?”
“Ay Carolina, por que, she is so beautiful,” she said looking away from me. “American boys like beautiful, they want a Gloria and don’t want an
This winter break I spent the majority of free time helping Amanda build online dating profiles. OkCupid, eHarmony, and Christian Mingle just to name a few. With her limited English and knowledge of the United States, Amanda needed me. Her only insight to American culture was watching “Modern Family” a tv show which influenced Amanda’s “American Dream”. She saw herself as the character Gloria, a Colombian immigrant, who …show more content…
“Why don’t we go sit down now?’
Although at first I was furious about being tricked, I soon found the entire situation hilarious. I learned that while Ryan thought I was twenty five, Tom thought Amanda was twenty eight. Despite being shorter than me, Ryan claimed he played college basketball. Amanda claimed we were sisters and Tom claimed he was good friends with Marco Rubio. They were all a bunch of liars trying desperately to impress each other.
“It must be so much fun working as a reporter in Bogota.” Tom said to Amanda. “Who has been your favorite person to interview.”
“Yes, it is so much fun being a reporter, I loved getting to interview...that guy from…” Amanda glanced around, looking at me for any source of inspiration,
“That guy from the Colombian Royal Family.” I said hoping to catch Amanda in her lie.
But lucky for her, Ryan and Tom were as dumb as they were boring. Neither knew that Colombia never had a “Royal Family.” They didn’t question Amanda’s career as a reporter at all. All three of them continued to lie throughout the evening.
“Well, thank you for dinner,” I said to Ryan, now realizing how easy it was to lie. “I had a great …show more content…
“You could have just said you were Gloria, I mean we totally look like sisters.” With my eyes focused on the road ahead of me, I tried my best to ignore Amanda’s flawed plan. “You just don’t understand how lucky you have it.” She continued. “Young, beautiful, college educated, and American.” She said the last part with a sigh.
Yes, she was materialistic, superficial and so much more, but I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. She only has two months left to marry her “Jay” and has not had more than a second date with any man. She was lonely. She wanted someone to make her feel beautiful again. Did it justify lying? No, but Amanda was trying to escape her past and move on. She saw the United States as a second chance and wanted to take advantage of it during her short time here.
So instead of getting angry, I tried to understand her deception. “Why did you used Gloria as your fake name?”
“Ay Carolina, por que, she is so beautiful,” she said looking away from me. “American boys like beautiful, they want a Gloria and don’t want an