406 Jaisha (Pakistan, Age 17): English

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Jaisha

Age 17, Pakistan

Hello, my name is Jaisha. I was born in Pakistan. The name of my city is Gujrat. I lived in the village with my family. My village is very big and in village there are big houses and streets. I joined the school when I was 3 years old. The name of my school was Vega. After 1 year I changed my school. Then I took admission in another school. The name of that school was Wisdom House.

I was very scared of being going to school in the beginning of the days. I didn’t scared from the school actually I was scared from the teachers. My teachers were very strict. That was the reason I cried every day and didn’t go to school. My teachers complained about me that she did nothing in the school. In my class there are many boys than girls. They were very naughty. They always bullying in the class and make fun of the teachers and the students.

After school there was very fun because there were no teachers with us to taught us. After reaching the home I changed my clothes and goes outside for playing with my friends. I didn’t do my homework because I don’t like to study,study and study every time. My teacher was strict she gave me punishment and  said,do sit stand for 100 times thats your punishment for not doing your homework. Next day my mother came to school and I was crying to go with her but she didn’t took me to home. I was really angry. My mother was very strict about studies. She said, “If you will not doing your homework then your father will do yours homework”. I said, “It’s not a bad idea”. My best friend was Hania. She was my cousin. We were in the same class for 12 years. We graduate from the same High school. She was intelligent than me. I always felt guilty that your cousin is very intelligent  than you, why you are not. In my childhood  I walked in the streets of my village with my friends and disturbs our neighborhood by ringing their bells. At night we play hide and seek in the moon light.

When we were going to sleep there are many sounds that coming from animals like barking of dogs,donkey’s sound and the sound of the cars, motorbikes and rickshaws and tractors. There is a Islamic month we called it Ramadan. I love this month because in this month we fast for whole day and at the end of the day we made different kinds of dishes and foods. When I was not mature me and my friends we married doll. We weared dress to doll and made video of the wedding.

My father was living in the United  States. When he came to Pakistan I took him with my uncle from the airport. There is a festival after Ramadan its name is Eid-ul-fitr. We celebrate this festival with full of enthusiasm. One day before of this Eid, we put henna on hands at night and sometime we go outside for shopping. Next day we get up early in the morning and my grandmother makes halwa puri for us. This dish was sweet and also it was salty because halwa was sweet and puri was salted. We gave this food to our relatives and friends than boys go to mosque for offering prayer and after praying they greet each other. This Eid was really amazing. On this Eid we cook different kinds of dishes and made delicious foods like biryani, kabab, samosa, rasmalai, kheer and many other cultural foods. We wore new dresses and go to other relatives houses and took money from them. We call this heidi. Heidi is a money that people gives on the Eid. On the second day of the Eid we go to our grandmother house and celebrate Eid there in another village.

When I was in 5th grade,we went to the Kharian Cantt. This city was very clean because this was the area of the Army. There are big parks and shopping centers. My brothers and sisters took admission in Army Public School and in Garrison School. These schools are the best school of that area but still I didn’t changed my school. In the beginning we were not feeling good in the cantt but with the passing of time we adjust there within one month. In the evening a teuter came to taught us and also a teacher for teaching of the Quran. Both were very experienced teachers. In the evening we rode cycles in the streets. These streets were better than  the village’s streets. We went to the parks at 6pm and return home at 10pm. There was very bustles in the park. The sound of the train was hurt our ears. Because the station of the train was very close to our city. On every weekend we went to our village back.

We made our passport and after some years my father applied visa for us. US embassy gave the date of march 3rd for interview. Exactly the same day I had the final exam of my graduation. Unfortunately, I didn’t take my exam and go to embassy for interview and I was really very sad for it. I was very scared of giving the interview. They asked some general question and said that you have to get the DNA test. Then we gave the samples of the DNA. Then we got the result of the test and again we went to Islamabad and gave result of the test to embassy.

Next day when I went to school my teacher yelling at me that you missed your paper just because of US. After regents we had vacation for 3 months and in these vacation we have to perform practicals of biology, physics and chemistry. At the last day of the practical, my friend she was leaving the country to Sweden for vacation. I met to her. Now I felt very light because there was no burden of studies, there was only holidays.

In these vacation I went to my aunt house in Islamabad. This is the capital of the Pakistan and it is very clean. We went to some famous places like heritage museum, shakarparian and Jinnah park. This park was very close to our house so we went there every day at evening. We also went to the Faisal mosque. This is one of the biggest mosque in the world. The climate of Islamabad was very pleasant. It was the month of June and July. It was very hot and in Pakistan there was shortage of electricity. Every Night mosquito bite us very hard and our UPS will not charged fully because of loadshedding. I get up early in the morning and offer fajr prayer. I enjoyed that movement when birds were chirping and cool breeze blows. It was really a nice, charming and pleasant weather. My mother told us that we were going to US. We got the passport and I gave thanks to God by offering prayer.

I was happy and sad too. I was happy because this was my wish that I came to United States because in US there was no load shedding of electricity and also it is a very beautiful place and I was sad because I don’t want to leave my relatives especially my grandmother. I was very attached to her. She love me as her own daughter. The US embassy gave us only one month they say you have to go America within one month otherwise your visa will be expired after one month. We don’t know what should we have to do, we were very anxious. We had no enough time for shopping. Then we bought clothes and other important  things. We were in hurry and  we packed everything. At last day my house was crowded with people. My cousins, my aunts, uncle and everybody was there. I met to them and we took the car and reached at airport. My cousin, aunt, grandmother and grandfather was also with us. When I was meeting them I cried very hard then we went inside of the airport and there was a airhostess he was the friend of my father. He helped us very much.

We waited there for 1 an hour and then we were ready for flight and then at 6 o’clock we sit in the plane. When plane flew the sound coming from plane is like thundering. It hurts my ears. My ears were closed for some moments. I can’t heard anything. After some hours we reached at Manchester airport and we stayed there for 1 or 2 hours. I was very tired because this was very long journey. Then I changed my seat with my brother and watched movie. After some hours we reached at Kennedy airport. My father and my cousins picked us from the airport. We went to Staten Island and lived there for one week. Then we came here Brooklyn. Fortunately, I got admission in International High School in 10th grade. I was very scared of being going to school. First day at school every body was staring me. I was feeling uncomfortable. I was so nervous and scared because I can't speak English. In the beginning there was no urdu speaker in my class but my friend Alina she helped me alot and also other classmates they also helped me. But with the time I could understand and speak English. In my class there is an urdu speaker and now I am very happy with my classmates. But still my English is not very well but I will try my best to learn English.