I live in the same house with two people that are completely different from me: we eat different kinds of food, we speak different languages, and we watch different things on YouTube.
They’re the most familiar strangers in my life. We live under the same roof, yet we are living different lifestyles. They are my parents.
My parents immigrated to the U.S. in their 40s and they have had a hard time fitting into American culture and communicating with people around them because English is their second language. So it becomes my responsibility to talk to our neighbors, order food when we go out and answer the phone…
I need to correct their pronunciation of certain words, and whenever they have any questions about English or American culture, I always need to explain it to them.
But as time moved on, school started to take most of my time and attention, and I started getting impatient and annoyed about the extra work. I would yell at my parents and try to get away from all that distraction. I would get jealous that most of my friends can just enjoy being a kid and their parents would do everything for them, but why is it my responsibility to take care of my parents?
Until, one day when I woke up late at night getting water, it’s already 2 a.m., I could still see the light in my parents’ room, they were studying English late at night!
I realized my parents put sticky notes of English vocabulary all over an entire wall to help them memorize better, and I saw them trying to watch all the shows and movies I like, just to try to share a common language with me.
When I was young and my parents taught me my first word, they never got mad or annoyed with me. And now when they are getting older, why would I get so impatient when I have to do the same thing back?
I know my parents spend their entire life working so hard, just trying to give me the best life I could ever ask for. Being first generation immigrants, thousands of miles away from their homes, they are struggling for most of the time. How could I be so ungrateful to help out my family for a little?
But now I love spending time with my family and trying to help out as much as I can. I enjoy listening to their childhood stories, I enjoy watching the movies they like and I’m eager to learn about their culture and language.
My parents are my best teachers—they guide me on how to grow up into who I am today and now I can help them to grow old.
Photo by Linda Li/The ECHO
