DEPARTED FROM
Kathmandu, Nepal
ARRIVED IN
Fargo, North Dakota
YEAR
2012
AGE
12
TRANSCRIPT
What do you remember about your first days in the United States?
So my first days were pretty slow, because when we came in, it was all snow. We came into Fargo, North Dakota in February, so it was nothing but snow. So it was pretty slow, and we didn't really go out that much.
Did someone pick you up at the airport?
Yes, we had some family over there. Our aunt, she came in couple years before us.
And do you remember where you went after you got picked up at the airport?
So right after we got picked up, we went to our aunt's house. And, yeah, we stayed there for weeks on end.
And after your aunt's house, where did you go?
So after our aunt's house, after the snow started to settle down a little bit. That's when we moved onto the house that was given to us by the social services that was around there for a while.
What was the first thing you ate that was brand new to you?
So the first thing that I ate that was brand new was, I'm not sure how to say it, but it's the little pizza bites, pizza rolls! Yeah, that was the first thing that was very, very new. [laughs]
Did you like them?
It was all right. [laughs]
Was there anything that you ate that you really did not enjoy.
Not really, the only thing that I remember not enjoying as much was the burgers. I'm a vegetarian. So it was kind of like, how do you say it—Impossible Burger? It just tasted like meat. [laughs] Didn’t like that.
Was there anything that surprised you about the United States?
Something that was surprising was that it wasn't skyscrapers everywhere [laughs], that it was actually like real houses instead of skyscrapers, the vision that I had was basically New York City, lights everywhere, skyscrapers to a point where we can't see the end. But that was very surprising.
What were some of the cultural differences, and were there any cultural or and/or cultural similarities?
So the most significant difference that I saw culturally was when I was in school, I went to the classes. For some reason, I felt like the students there were disrespectful to the teacher. Because where I come from, students usually view teachers as—how do you say it—like the second parents, like they take care of you and you're supposed to respect them. We would get up every time the teacher left the class, and all of that stuff. And when I came to America and I saw the kids just [laughs] I'm not sure if it's disrespect, well, I know it's not disrespectful now, but it felt very, very shocking to see that.
Were there any similarities?
Some similarities were, I think [pause], not all of the people that I came across were, well, actually, most of the people that I came across were very helpful, and we come from a communal background where everybody treats everybody else like they're part of the community. And I think that was very—in my case, at least—that was present, everybody was willing to help. Everybody did step forward when I didn't know what to do. I was in some classes where I didn't know what books that I was supposed to bring in, or what utensils I was supposed to bring in, so I got a lot of help there. Especially one thing I remember is there was a class where graphing calculator was needed, and I didn't have mine, or I didn't even know that we were supposed to get it. So the kids there were willing to share. So that was very familiar.
Is there anything else you'd like to share about your first days, or weeks, or months, or year?
So, I thought it was gonna be a video, but…
Well, so you're here as part of a first days workshop. And as part of the workshop, we invited individuals to write or draw something that reminded them of their first days, and it looks like you drew something. So why don't you share what you drew?
Yeah, so I drew a plane that got us to America through the mountain ranges of Nepal, that's Mount Everest. And we got here during the night time, I believe it was around 1am when we landed in Fargo, so I came in at night time, and the pictures that I draw on the side is basically the apartments that we had. And the only greenery that was there was the pine trees in North Dakota, on a February where it was packed with snow, and I really didn't even see a human being outside of the apartment that my aunt was living in. So it was just my aunt, my family, and that was it, no human interaction whatsoever for weeks on end. And the only person that I remember seeing was somebody that came out for a smoke. That was, I think, on week two. So [laughs] that's why I drew a person that's out there smoking, because it's still so vivid, and I remember not seeing anybody but that person, so that's what I drew.
Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with us.
Of course.
