Personal Experience: Citizenship Interview

Throughout the two years, my mom had to prepare for the citizenship exam, so she had to study in order to stay in the United States. At the age of 19 (around 1991) she took the exam and passed and became a U.S. citizen, and from there she went to California where she stayed for a few months with my dad and sister. In California, my mom mostly took care of my sister, while my dad was doing agricultural work—mostly working with grapes. My dad had a friend who he met while he was in California that resided in Oroville, Washington who told him there was a lot of work where he was at and he could get them a job if they wanted, so they made the move there and began to work. The reason they moved to Washington was because the California life wasn’t for them; my parents wanted a nicer area where they can raise a family …show more content…
Being raised in a Hispanic home definitely had it’s advantage; I can communicate across both languages very fluently, which means I would get more job opportunities. My mom raised two kids (both who speak English), so she picked up English as well and it allowed her to integrate into the American society where she can interact with others. In the packing shed, her employers really liked her because she was able to communicate in English—of course she had a thick accent, but her English was understandable. Breaking the language barrier was difficult for my mom though, she often found herself frustrated when she didn’t know how to say a word, or how to put a sentence together—she wished she could just download the English language into her brain and speak it instantly, but of course that isn’t possible. Over time while hearing my sister and I interact in English, she caught on to the language, which was a bummer because me and my sister had to start watching what we said because we knew our mother could understand and scold us for saying things she didn’t want us to