My name is Sher I Syed and I was born in Brooklyn New York but raised in my parent’s homeland Pakistan. I am majoring in Computer Programming at the City Tech College. My name was given to me by my grandmother but she died after 15 days when I born because she suffered from cancer. I believe life never remains the same. There are circumstances that lead us to changes in our lives, that is what occurred to me. In my parent’s homeland, I studied hard and learned about my culture and religion. However, while I was in Pakistan, I experienced a tragic turning point in my life when my father passed away. My father was everything to me and his lost impacted my life. With my father’s demise, I began to notice some relative’s real faces, which opened my eyes but weakened my trust in people. My father took care of his brothers and sister and supported the financially because he was the only one who had a job in the household. He helped his brothers and sister to migrate to America and helped them to achieve citizenship of America. However, when my father died, his siblings turned their back on me and my family. They wanted all my father’s money and property that he left after he died. My father was a religious person and I wanted to carry his teachings and cultural values within my life. After 2 years, due to issues with relatives and my mother’s health we had to move back to America. When I came to New York, I saw a new environment and a new culture; everything was different than the life style that I experienced in Pakistan. To live here I had to adapt this new culture but also had to respect my cultural values, which interested me on how I was going to be able to balance my native culture while being introduced to a new culture. Indeed, moving to America caused changes to my personal and social life. However, It also set new goals in my life and it gave me the opportunity to advance my studies. Moving to America helped me learn a new language.
Moving to America and seeing a new culture had various effects on my personal life. Before moving to America, I used to wear my culture clothes but when I moved to America I saw new types of clothes and had to wear them due to American culture. However, I still like to wear my native cultural clothes that are Shalwar and Qameez. When I visited Pakistan a few months ago, I bought many of my cultural outfits and brought them with me to America. The relationship with my family also changed. We all can speak English but still choose to talk to each other in our native language. We share new things that we learn and increase each other’s knowledge. I am the youngest child at home including my twin brother. My brothers and sisters help us deal with college life, they show us what we should do in college and how to get higher grades in classes. In America almost every teenager has a life partner and even people ask me if I have a girlfriend but my religion and culture doesn’t allow me to have girlfriends so I stay away from that. However, I have to talk to girls in my class or outside due to American culture but I talk respectfully and in a humble manner the way my parents have taught me.
These are my cultural clothes
Earlier in Pakistan I use to depend on other people (servants in Pakistan, servants do not cost a lot), never tried to do my work alone because I knew that other people could do it for me. I was raised in a really luxurious way, because in Pakistan it was easy to live a luxurious life. When I came to America, everything was different I had to do my own work and things were expensive. It was harder life comparing to Pakistan because it was all depended on me. My life changed when I came to America, from my dress code, to family bond and the experiences of this diverse world.
As I moved to America the introduction to a new culture affected my social life and behavior. My parents raised me in a really religious environment where they never let me go outside and make new friends because they were afraid that I would get strayed or will get in to bad people’s company. I was a quiet person who never spoke a lot even with classmates. I did not have friends and had to stay home all time. Sometimes I go out with my family but never let me go out with other people. However, when I came to America I saw advanced culture that has not many restrictions. Socializing is key to success in America and I was bad in it. When I started high school, I realized that I needed to improve my social skills. I started to make friends and began to socialize. I have many friends now and they treat me with respect. It does not matter to me that the person is bad or good if he or she treats me with respect, I will too. I still have problem in public speaking, its nearly impossible for me to talk freely. I never was able to speak openly even with my friends. I keep my friendship in limit according to the person how he or she treats me. I never judge a person by their skin color or background. I also realized people over here are really open-minded comparing to people in Pakistan. My first year of high school was really bad because I did not have any friends and stayed quiet all time. When I saw myself alone, then I decided to make friends and make myself socially active. In high school I made too many friends and learned new things about other people. I experienced the outside world. Moving to America changed the way I speak, made new friends, helped to get rid of my shyness, and gotten to know the outside world.
While I was in Pakistan, I saw people struggling in daily life. There weren’t good educational system and jobs opportunities because Pakistan isn’t a well-developed country where people can get good jobs with high pay rate. In Pakistan, if you had to study, you would have to go to the schools where you have to pay a lot of money that average people cannot afford. There were not any student programs that could help them to get financial help or any future development. When I moved to America, I saw new opportunities in studies and in my career, then it motivated me to work hard and to become successful. My elder brother also has a computer major and he teaches me programming when he is free. My main goal is to open a company that provides opportunities for programmers to get job easily and with fair pay rate. This could help advancement in programming field. When I started high school in America the first problem that I faced was language barrier. I hardy knew English. I could read and write English but it was first time I experienced to speak English. I used to get extremely nervous during class participation. When the teacher began to ask me questions, I started to get afraid that now I’ll answer in my broken language. My first experience was really bad because my voice was shaking and I was completely nervous. My reading skills in English were already good because I used to watch movies and anime. I learned British English in Pakistan but teachers were not that skilled that they could even speak English, which created trouble in learning English. I had gotten advance ESL class in high school and I passed the NYSESLAT in my first year. I really didn’t know how to write an essay or to do a graphic organizer. It was my English teacher who taught me how to write an essay and to do graphic organizer. Due to my hard work and my teacher’s teachings I was able to pass the CUNY assessment test and got admission in New York College Of Technology. Moving to America helped to remove the language barrier, provided me new goals and opportunities in studies and jobs.
Losing my father and introduction to a new culture in America had really big affect on me change in dressing code, family bond and experience in new world. Also affected my social skills and made changes in my behaviors that I was shy and never spoke to people but now I am changed. Furthermore, it also gave me new opportunities in studies and jobs and set new goals in my life. As I experienced new things in life, I began to learn the affects of cultural change within myself. Cultural diversity changed my life in positive way where I’ve also been respecting the teaching of my father and my native culture and will take it with me for whole life and pass it down to my generation.
