Moving To American Culture

Though it may be the simplest question in the world for others, being asked where I’m from is an inquiry I’ve always found hard to answer. At least if I was asked where I was born, I could say Kathmandu, Nepal. Having grown up as an American citizen in Asia, I have never been able to answer the dreaded “where are you from?” Though many people equate a life overseas to wealth, my parents moved to Asia under idealistic obligation, not business opportunity. We lived on the stipend of a volunteer, not the salary of a contract employee. My parents thought it necessary to live at the level of the people they wanted to help. I didn’t find out until moving to the U.S. that we had been living in “poverty” by middle-class Americans’ standards.
When I was four years old, we moved from our small home in rural Nepal …show more content…
It became clear to my parents that we no other option but to return to the U.S. to be with him and make sure he was properly looked after. In America, being enrolled in a school for the first time in my life, I soon found out what culture shock was really like. It was throughout this time of culture shock that I would look to my music for comfort. After long days of feeling like a foreigner, I would go straight to the piano and begin pounding out Mongolian melodies. These compositions I which I would make up as I went along would convey feelings of disillusionment and homesickness. Though it was a difficult time, I made rapid advancements in my musical talents. I want to take these talents as far as they will go in college. Also, I found it very easy to relate to newcomers to the school district (especially those from foreign countries). I make it my goal to help welcome and integrate them into the culture. I currently tutor non-native English speakers and hope to continue in educational fields when I leave high