My Story, Starting A New LIfe, An Introduction Part 1

Time to introduce myself. I was born in Germany and lived my life there until I was fourteen. I should have known it was coming, the big move that is. We, my parents and siblings and I, had applied for a green card 5 years prior and I guess it was finally our turn. We received a letter to appear at the American Consulate in Frankfurt, almost 200 miles away, within 1 weeks time. There we were fingerprinted had our pictures taken and went through a full medical exam. We then went home and waited again. The next letter we received informed us that we had two weeks to check in at the JFK airport in New York. That meant that we had less than 2 weeks to pack up our old life and start anew. Each of us kids were allowed to take 1 suitcase and 1 box (3' x 2' x 2'), that's what my life was reduced too. We left home, the streets were lined with the people from our small town (about 35 or so), it was a somber farewell.

(An old photo of my hometown in Germany)

The excitement replaced with the reality that I was leaving everyone I had ever known behind, my extended family and all my friends not to mention my older brother and my older sister including her husband and 3 children. I had a 4-hour drive ahead of me cramped in the back seat of a station wagon with my older sister and my little brother. I was just grateful that the boxes were going by boat. We reached the airport and boarded a Pakistani airline, the seats were tight and the isles were almost non-existing, but it was my first time on a plane, so the excitement started taking over, I was on a plane. After a 16-hour flight we landed at JFK, the long line for immigration seemed to go on forever, once completed we went to our hotel for the night, my head hit the pillow and I was out. Next morning we were up bright and early to catch our next flight from LaGuardia to Chicago OHare then one more flight to Salt Lake City. My parents' friends greeted us at the airport, now one more car ride to our final destination. All I can remember was how hot it was and how bright the sun was so late in the evening. I was used to cloudy skies, we never saw much of the sun back home. We lived out of our suitcase at our friends' house for just over a month before we were able to move into our house. What a happy day that was, our boxes still hadn't arrived, but we had our own space again. Because of some really nice people we had some dishes furniture and an old black and white TV. School had started and it was a completely new experience, not speaking English didn't help that. With the help of our old TV and some hard work, I learned a new language. 2 years later I met my now husband and my life took another turn.

I hope you have enjoyed part 1 of my introduction. Please follow if you want to see part 2 and an upvote, resteem or comment would be awesome. I'm so excited to start posting here on steem. Thank You!!!