Introduction
Immigrant stories are central to the identity of the United States. Over ten million immigrants have travelled to the United States in the past ten years. They are the reason America has its' unique quality of understanding and diversity. Immigrant stories are beautiful, powerful, terrifying and eye opening. The way most of them are treated in America is unfair and inhumane. Here is a story of an immigrant who made an incredible life for himself in America.
TK's Story
I am originally from Egypt. I came here in 1994. I met my wife while we were rowing. I met her on the nile. We started dating, got married, then we came here in 94' so she could finish her degree. She was a student at Duke University, and at the same time I had one year left at school in Egypt. When I moved to America I didn’t speak any English, so I started working in the kitchen. I washed dishes. I was cleaning and cooking, and then I started working in hotels.
I worked in a lot of places, where ever she went school, I got jobs, so I gained a bunch of experienced until I had the opportunity to gain my own restaurant in 1997 that's when my uncle came to this country too, and I've been in the business since then. I used to manage this business since I used to work for an italian guy from Sicily. He was the first person to teach me how to cook, and I knew the customers, I knew the staff, the kitchen, just from being around. So I had the opportunity to start my own business and I took it.
I worked in a lot of places, where ever she went school, I got jobs, so I gained a bunch of experienced until I had the opportunity to gain my own restaurant in 1997 that's when my uncle came to this country too, and I've been in the business since then. I used to manage this business since I used to work for an italian guy from Sicily. He was the first person to teach me how to cook, and I knew the customers, I knew the staff, the kitchen, just from being around. So I had the opportunity to start my own business and I took it.
Learning English
The way I learned is pretty funny. I would owe the beginning of my english skills to talk shows.. talk shows have helped me a lot. At the time, my wife, was learning arabic so we were speaking arabic all the time so once you get used to it you can't change it, so it was hard for me to learn anything from her because she was always wanting to correct me and all this kind of stuff.
I could speak with anybody else though, because they didn't care what I was saying. If it was something grammatically right or not. If I feel like they misunderstood me, sometimes I would use sign language. I still use my hands, communication is sort of like how you work in the restaurant. When I'm serving and talking to people and everything that was my real practice, the first time really I felt like I started understanding was from talk show, Jerry Springer. At the time I didn't know it was bad. I just saw some people yelling and talking and hitting each other, it was very exciting. For me, I used to watch a ton of movies but I could understand without the english, the pictures give you the idea. But the talks hows... you have nothing. You don’t know what's going on, but slowly you start picking things up. But then I found out Jerry Springer was bad and that was the end of watching that.
I could speak with anybody else though, because they didn't care what I was saying. If it was something grammatically right or not. If I feel like they misunderstood me, sometimes I would use sign language. I still use my hands, communication is sort of like how you work in the restaurant. When I'm serving and talking to people and everything that was my real practice, the first time really I felt like I started understanding was from talk show, Jerry Springer. At the time I didn't know it was bad. I just saw some people yelling and talking and hitting each other, it was very exciting. For me, I used to watch a ton of movies but I could understand without the english, the pictures give you the idea. But the talks hows... you have nothing. You don’t know what's going on, but slowly you start picking things up. But then I found out Jerry Springer was bad and that was the end of watching that.
Egypt --> America
Of course the first thing I felt different was the value of family. Family in Egypt is a great value. In America, I'm not going to say it's not close but it’s more open minded. For example, In Egypt if I didn't have dinner, my mother was gonna keep nagging on top of my head until I ate. When I was younger if i was mad at my mother I wouldn't eat dinner because I knew she wouldn't sleep until I ate, so I wouldn't eat knowing she would be up. But here it’s different. Oh you're not hungry? Well okay...
It was shocking to me in the beginning. One time my mother in law came, (she's a terrible cook, you know she's a wonderful woman, but a terrible cook) she made pasta and it was the month of ramadan so I was fasting and that was our culture. Back in Egypt my mother would be cooking a million things that we could eat at sundown, so for me here it was shock when my mother law just had a bowl pasta. I kept waiting, like what’s else, and there was nothing else. And then I went home afterwords and got some food, but it was odd.
It was shocking to me in the beginning. One time my mother in law came, (she's a terrible cook, you know she's a wonderful woman, but a terrible cook) she made pasta and it was the month of ramadan so I was fasting and that was our culture. Back in Egypt my mother would be cooking a million things that we could eat at sundown, so for me here it was shock when my mother law just had a bowl pasta. I kept waiting, like what’s else, and there was nothing else. And then I went home afterwords and got some food, but it was odd.
raising the second generation
It’s hard, I think I'd say I try to raise my two daughters, with the American and Egyptian culture. They were both born here and I always feel like they're missing the egyptian culture though. Sometimes they do stuff and I get upset because it’s so different. I do accept the culture here, I've been living here for 22 years, but certain stuff makes my blood jump out of my eyes. Sometimes I have lots of questions because everything is different, and I know its not easy. I have to stay open minded give them their space. I've came to the conclusion that they have to go through their own experiences but I am not going to just shut up. At the end of the say, I'm still going to be a father, no matter what culture, I'm a father they're the daughters. I try to be like my father, he would always respond with something I did, but always respected my decisions.