DEPARTED FROM
London, England
ARRIVED IN
Boston, Massachusetts
YEAR
1986
AGE
9
TRANSCRIPT
TRANSCRIBED BY Simrin Shah (x 2)
On behalf of SAADA, I wanted to thank you for participating in this interview for the First Day's Project. If you could please introduce yourself and tell us what you remember from your first few days in the United States.
Well, my name is Payal Shah, and we flew from London to Boston on January 2nd, 1986. I was nine and a half years old. It was me, my mom and dad, and my sister who was four and a half years older than me. So, from England, we barely got any snow. But I had heard that the US, especially the Northeast, where we were going, got lots of it. So, I was a bit disappointed when we arrived that day that there was actually no snow, but it was just really, really cold.
We were picked up at the airport by my uncle, my dad's brother, and another family member in their station wagons. I was actually shocked at how big these cars actually were. Because I had never seen anything like them in England, especially the bench type row in the front with the driver, where you can actually seat three people. I mean, nowadays, we don't even see these cars, they're not very popular. But back then they definitely did the job of transporting us from the airport, as well as all of our stuff, which I think we managed to fit into 18 or so boxes. I mean, that was pretty impressive; four people, our whole life, transporting in 18 boxes. So, from the airport we drove to our uncle's house in Somerset, Massachusetts, which is a small suburb town, in southeast Massachusetts, somewhat close to Rhode Island. And it was a very quiet town in a neighborhood where all the houses kind of looked the same. We stayed with my aunt, my uncle, and two cousins who were a few years older than me, but we stayed in their split level house for about six months before we moved out in a place of our own.
What did you do during your first week in America?
So, again, it was the first week January 2nd, to be specific, and everyone was kind of back to work and back to school after the holidays, and things for us kind of just, I remember, moved pretty quickly. Within the first few days of being in America, my uncle and my parents took me to get registered at the local elementary school. And within the first week, I was officially a fourth grader.
What was it like joining a new school in a new country at the age of nine?
It was definitely similar to kind of what I was coming from. Coming from England, there was obviously no language barrier so it was definitely an easier transition. But there were definitely some parts of my transition that were hard. I think one of the things I remember particularly was when all the kids stood up every morning and face the flag with their hands over their heart and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. I mean, that was obviously something very new, something we never did, obviously, in England [laughs]. So that was kind of a little bit of a transition, but I don't even remember like, maybe within weeks or months, I mean, I was kind of doing the same thing.
Were there any cultural differences that really stood out to you?
Yeah, I guess, again, like, because I spoke English, it was similar, right, obviously, but there were some differences because, even though it was the same word, same vocabulary, it was an entirely different accent. Especially, if you're from that Boston, Massachusetts area, like they are known to drop their R's. You know, it's very distinguished, right. So it's the American accent mixed with the Boston accent. So that was definitely something very different that I kind of had a hard time picking up, but I'm actually kind of surprised when I look back at how quickly I actually assimilated to the accent. I dropped my English accent. Very quick, and I think it was probably me just being desperate as a kid trying to blend in.
Are there any specific memories that you're surprised you remember?
So, Super Bowl XX. Okay. 1986 was the year of Super Bowl XX. What a way to get introduced to American football. From the moment we landed, I mean, again, remember, it was January, I think the Superbowl back then used to be held at the end of January. So, it seemed to be the thing that everybody was talking about. Especially we were in Boston, Massachusetts. The New England Patriots were taking on the Chicago Bears. And that was a big deal, right, the New England Patriots was their team. I mean, I remember so many things that —again, my cousin who we were living with, he was, I think at the time a 10th grade boy who was so into football. So this was kind of like the buzzer on the house for those few weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. I remember the Chicago Bears dancing and singing too. They created a song called the Super Bowl shuffle. And there was a player, number 72, he was known as the refrigerator because he was just this big football player. And I just thought it was really funny. But I thought it was funny, because I remember all of these little little details about this one game. But I couldn't even tell you who played in the Super Bowl last year. I mean, I’m not a fan [laughs], by any means, but I just think it's funny how this was like one of my first memories and I remember so many details about this one game, but every other Super Bowl I've watched, I don't remember a single thing.
Is there anything else you'd like to share about your first days?
Yeah, it's funny, like some of the things that I think, when I look back, I came to America obviously speaking English, but came with such a heavy English accent. And I remember when I first started fourth grade, I had a lovely, lovely fourth grade teacher, she was just the nicest woman, but [pause] she just loved my English accent. So much so that she would always, always ask me to read out loud, like, whether it's stories or whatever we were doing, she would always ask me like, she would basically volunteer me to read out loud. And I hated it. I mean, I just wanted to blend in and kind of like, stay in my corner. But I just laugh about it now. Because as much as I hated it, I just think it was the funniest thing.
But yeah, definitely coming to this country as a child was definitely more stress free than I think what my parents obviously experienced, from just cultural, financial, establishing themselves, uprooting their whole family and moving to another country, finding jobs, all of that I think, obviously, my experience was a little bit, obviously a lot more stress free than what they went through. And because of their support, and my family’s support, who was here, helping us with this transition, it was an easier process for me. Especially when I look back now being an adult and a parent myself, like how difficult it probably was for my parents. But as a child, especially, knowing the language, it was definitely an easier transition. And the cultural differences, I mean, yeah, you see them but then they're not so much different after you blend in. So those were my experiences from my first days.
Thank you for taking the time to share your story.
