398 Aiden (Guatemala, Age 14): English

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Aiden

Age 14, Guatemala

My name is Aiden, I was born in Guatemala. Before coming to New York, i lived in the capital of Guatemala. Guatemala is not a very large country located next to Mexico. Guatemala also known as the Land of Eternal Spring and is so called because the weather is mild. In some departments of Guatemala the weather it is very warm and very

cold in other, but in the capital the weather is mild, Guatemala has lots of nature many trees, many animals and birds, and one of the best known bird in Guatemala is a call Quetzal which is also the national bird of my country it is a dark green bird with a red patch on the chest but many of these of born without this stain, yet to they grow  these birds will put the red chest despite,  this have a  long  but a very long tail, initially white and the rest of color dark green.

Three years ago I lived in zone 12 Guatemala City

I lived in a big house but my family and I shared the house with other people and the are was somewhat dangerous. I remember when I started  high school, I felt Something rare because I did not know anyone, in fact I think nobody knows each other, but to pass the time all knew until we become friends, however we were only together for a school year since we moved to zone 11 and the school was far, and I had to go to another school, the old school are called the "Canadian High School" and this school are called "Seed of Knowledge",  as in the previous school, I felt weird  but then I was adjusting well and making friends in that school.

The typical food of Guatemala are the tamales, this meal most times was done in the holidays, for Easter in Cabricán people they made bread in their ovens, and many are giving away some bread to their families and friends. My parents have a house in Cabricán and we live a couple of years there, what I like about Cabricán is that people can go everywhere and when want, but in the capital of Guatemala is very dangerous, and assaulted people at night, those two years I was in Cabricán was one of the most special moments of my life.

My parents are engaged in manufacturing children's clothing, they had a few sewing machines to make clothes and had others working with them, but my father traveled to El Salvador twice a week to sell clothes in San Cristobal, on the border of Guatemala with El Salvador, I remember one time I went with him, but the border is very hot and there are many mosquitoes and mosquitoes somehow make me despair, but thankfully it was only once.I have two brothers who like me were students, my brother was starting his baccalaureate and my sister in her senior year. My parents were born in a town called Cabricán located in the department of Quetzaltenango, Cabricán is a small village which fortunately I can to know, my parents speak the dialect from Cabricán is Mam, but my brothers and I we can not speak the dialect. In Guatemala there are about twenty dialects, however, the most spoken in Guatemala is Spanish and quiche.

My parents were born in Cabricán, Quetzaltenango, but about 14 years my father went to the capital of Guatemala like my mother, my mother grew up without parents and not because they were dead, but because my mom's mother had eight daughters and a son, and because he could not keep everyone decided to give my mother to her brother, the uncle of my mother.

A problem in Guatemala is the lack of work, which makes much of its population begins to migrate to the United States, and also the reason why my father decided to emigrate to the United States. Others immigrate to the United States because of the danger, violence or even because some are extorted. First my father and my brothers came to New York, thank God they could come. About two months later, my mother asked me what I thought about emigrating to the United States, I replied I wish to learn more in school, then we say emigrate to the United States.

A few days after our decision, we went to Cabricán the town where my parents were born, as my mother had to fix some things, one day we were there and the next day the guide took us by car to La Mesilla the border of Guatemala with Mexico, and then a small bus took us to Gracias de Dios, already part of Mexico and we stayed there the first night sleeping, then, at dawn the next day, a small bus arrive by us, that it was not just my mother and I, also others, six, after two and half hours on the bus, we arrived at Comitan where we all stayed in a hotel, all we took a shower and we rest a while, and then at half past five the guide told us that get ready all our stuff because we were going to Tuxtla, then all enlisted and we went, two taxis arrived by us and we went in different stops where the bus was going to Tuxtla, then we got on the bus and after about four hours we arrived at Tuxtla.

When we got to Tuxtla we took a taxi that took us to a hotel, I do not remember what it was called the hotel, but many immigrants were there, the men were in different rooms and women in another room, we spent that night in the hotel but in the morning around five a.m  the guide came to wake us saying: enlist their things because we're going out, then everyone got up and prepared their things, but the guides they did not arrived,  it was until five in afternoon, when the guides came and fed us for get out of Tuxtla and go to Mexico D.F.

Then two cars came for us and took us to the bus station, after a while of being in the station arrived the bus that was going to D.F and we climbed, then after almost twenty hours when we finally arrived at D.f, I was so tired after spending twenty hours on that bus but at least had arrived, then we took another taxi that took us to another hotel where my mother and my left us in one room, then night and half a day the guide told us that we would go to Reynosa to the border of Mexico with U.S., and taken to a hotel where we had lunch and after two hours of being there took us to the winery, the winery is a place where they get many, many migrants and wait a few days or even months to cross the border from Mexico with America, was like at about 6 pm, when we arrived at the winery which was a split level house, when we arrived at my mother took her to a room where they were all the women that arrived there and I was on the level below. It had been a week that had come to the cellar and had not left, after fifteen days of being in the cellar finally we left there, a car took us to another station bus and we went to a small hotel where the same night we left to cross the river, then walked between manizales and stopped in a small space where there were trees near the river, and we hope to cross the river but we listen that the guides discussed between them, the sky was clearing and was then dawning, the guide told us: we can't to cross the river tonight, and we were left in an old abandoned house  where spent us a day without eating and where heat was intense, and even five p.m. took us to eat, but did not they removed us from that place, when night comes we remain there trying to sleep.

Was until five in the morning, when the guides came for us to try to cross the river, yet could not because it was dawning but this time we no longer were in the abandoned house, because we were taken to a hotel and then spent almost a day, came again the guides and took us to the riverside, luckily this time we could cross, after crossing the guides they told us to run !! then everyone started running, but  running a few minutes I no longer saw my mother, and then I started looking and found then she told me she had a stomach ache and could not run, then I grabbed her hand and ran with all my forces pulling she, but after two hours I started to hurt the foot which prevented me keep running, everyone ran to the point that they no watched more, but after my mother grabbed my hand and pulled me, then the forces came back to me and keep running, reach others and after an hour we reached the place where he was to arrive at a car to take us to McAllen Texas, spent us the rest of the night there and until twelve noon arrived by us all to my mother and us led to a ranch and others were taken elsewhere. We stayed at the ranch with six others for two days, and then we took my mother and me to a small house, and stayed there two more weeks, then the guide took us to a hotel where we spent one night and at dawn a car came by us, after ten hour drive we arrived in Houston, Texas where we stayed for one night and one day, we were taken to a last winery where we stayed one night and a day, after a car came by all of us, in the car I spent twenty hours a tight and unable to move me, but then other people were staying in different states and the car was emptying, and I could sit me comfortably, after almost a day in car we began to see the state of New York.

When we begin to arrived to New York I was very excited and my mother started to say like it was called some places where we were going, as she had been here, then we finally saw the building where my father and my brother lived, then we got out of the car and immediately went and hugged my father,  I saw tears fell from their eyes, my brother hugged me and I felt so happy and suddenly I forget everything that had happened and just enjoy  the moment. First thing to I did here was to go to a park with my family, when I came was starting the summer, and had a very intense heat. After a few months I got used to this country, in autumn wanted to enter high school but I don't had some documents he had in Guatemala and my parents were sent to bring but that also took time. Here in New York is something different from the capital of Guatemala, but what if its population is different is because here there are many immigrants from different countries, Chinese, Hispanics, etc. After a while I could go to The International High School at Lafayette and now I'm learning more in school.