Born Again

Rafael Zhong

ESL 100

3^rd Draft

September 30, 2017

        Born Again

Migrating to a new country is one of the biggest challenges for any person. For those people who had the experience to move to a new country, it is like a rebirth. When I was a child, my parents had a plan to move to the U.S. to live a dream, where everything is possible. After spending my whole childhood and adolescence in my hometown Brazil, it was time. When all the paperwork and the documents were ready for a new life. At the beginning, everything was exciting and unique for me. The first month I did not realize how much I had left behind moving to another country. After a while, I had a strong agonizing feeling inside and I could not do much to change it. The hard and lonely times were just about to start, and I realized having fun and enjoying myself had never been so difficult since I came to the U.S.

In fact, soccer means almost everything when referring to someone from Brazil. Once a week my friends and I used to meet to play together, and it was so wonderful. This is the sport when anger and love are involved at the same time in a match. Different than Brazil, in the U.S. I cannot have the same emotion while I'm playing. There are some factors that make the game not enjoyable like how it used to be in Brazil. First, most of the time I do not know the players on the field. Second, the players take every match too seriously. Some of them think we are disputing a championship. Third, I am not able to play on my friend’s team anymore. Also, it was very common my friends and I celebrate our friendship after every game with beer and barbecue. Now, there is not more the part of a Brazilian soccer culture and soul that I had back in the days. A friendly soccer game day with a delicious barbecue followed by a cold beer. 

In additional, partying is significantly important in a student’s life just like getting high grades. Different from the night life-style in The U.S, in my hometown it's more open to the teenagers. The legal age to be able to have the access to the night clubs, bars and purchase any kind of alcohol liquor needs to be18 years old. Going to the bar was one of my favorite hobbies before I came to Chicago. The ability to meet new people, laugh, relax and have fun at these places on the weekends does not exist anymore. Nowadays, it's not part of my hobby, and was not my decision. Hopefully, after my twenty-first birthday I will have the pleasure to join and learn about the night life-style in the U.S. 

In conclusion, spending time having a conversation with friends about anything is just fascinating. The feeling of truth and support of a real friendship is priceless. When I was in Brazil, I had many friends from my childhood. Basically we grew up together, and went to elementary and high school as well. This connection between us is inexplicable with words. Not just friends but brothers from different mothers as we used to say in my native language, Portuguese. In addition, we are not longer able to sit down in a circle and just share our thoughts. The time and my beliefs changed after I got into an airplane and came to North America. Adapting myself to a new culture and learning a different language was a challenge for me. Making friends is not one of my best skills and the fact, most of the students in the U.S. have their own group of friends.

The positive and negative sides about immigrating to other country are uncountable. In fact, losing and learning will always be the foremost in an immigrant’s life. In my own experience, because of the the circumstances, I am not apt to get back what I lost. On the other hand, I have learned many important life lessons since I move to Chicago. One of them is to enjoy spending time with myself. It has became essential in my life. Many people ask me questions about my past and I really miss those times, but living in the past is for a museum. Now, it is time to live in the present and because of certain decisions I am grateful to live in the dream country. Learning to overcome the loss in translation of my country and culture has not been easy, but these obstacles have made me a stronger person.