Personal Narrative: Growing Up In The United States

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Growing up in the United States I always felt that I had two competing identities, not unlike numerous other Americans, due to the ethnic background of my parents. My whole family is ethnically Russian. My mother was born in the Soviet Union, whereas my father is a second generation Russian. Despite being born in Columbus Ohio, Russian was the first language I knew, and I didn't even speak English until kindergarten. Being Russian is a big part of my identity, and when I was younger I would travel to Moscow regularly to visit my grandparents and relatives. As a child I celebrated various holidays such as Christmas and Easter on different dates. Thus early on I realized that I was different. The fact that my father was a Russian Orthodox priest who dressed in …show more content…
Most of the people I would associate with outside of school were ethnic Russians, and all my friends at school had foreign parents. Whenever I was outside of my Russian circle, especially at school, I always felt that I was different from my peers. As I got older, American culture started having a heavier influence on me, especially after making friends with parents who lived in the US for generations. My identity crisis occurred when I was thirteen and travelled for the fifth time to Russia. Now in Russia I was ‘the American.” Vendors, relatives, and friends all had trouble understanding me. I now had an English accent when I spoke Russian, and lacked age appropriate Russian vocabulary. The new friends I made that summer all immediately called me the "American kid" based on the way I dressed and spoke. Sitting one night on the steps of a Russian apartment, I thought about how in America I was known as the "Russian kid" and how in Russia I'm now the "American kid". I thought about my whole life and had a moment of realization about my dual identity. And this dual identity changed how I looked and perceived the world for the rest of my

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