FINAL FEATURE STORY

From a very early age I was raised in two completely different countries and I was exposed too two diverse different cultures. “I like everything about Honduras it’s my place of birth and the place I grew up in.” says my mother. The reason I been back and forth here in United States and then in Honduras located in Central America is because my mom had a job that was basically about buying merchandise like refrigerators, stoves, and other appliances that people could use in Honduras. So my mother would buy them from here in Minnesota and then my step dad and my mother would take all of the items to sell in Honduras. So I was always traveling and the nice thing about that is that I was with my family most of the time traveling through many countries it was like an adventure movie. I liked that I got to see two different places and even though I was young, I still understood many things about the cultures of both countries. An at the same time everything was so weird to me because 5 months I would be in a trilingual school in Honduras speaking Spanish, English, and Arabic and then 2 months later I would be here in Minnesota in a full English speaking school. I guess sometimes it was really hard for me because I had to get adapted to the environment and also I was meeting new people almost every day was a really interesting experience because I made friends in both countries that too this day I still have.
When you live in two countries in a short amount of time you could not imagine how much you can learn from two cultures. “I have learned so much from living in two different countries and it just gives more knowledge on every aspect and that has helped me through my life.” my step father said. In Honduras life is really hard because it’s one of the poorest countries in Central America and even though I was “lucky” enough, to have a house over there in a safe neighborhood, and what I mean by that is that there is a lot of criminal activity in Honduras due to the fact that a lot of people don’t have a lot of money, and so they decide to steal for a living but in the neighborhood I used to live in is one of the richer parts of Honduras so there isn’t that much criminal activity even though it happens once in a while and well at least I never had to face getting stolen from and also neither has my family. But there is also positive sides about Honduras that I miss a lot know and that is the beautiful weather since Honduras has a tropical climate, the temperatures are just perfect even though I have to admit sometimes it gets so hot to the point that you feel like you are roasting in the oven. My aunt says “If I had to choose between what countries had the best climate I would always choose Honduras because it’s so refreshing and “rico” which means like nice and beautiful in Spanish.
I also feel like there is more freedom over there, like for example my friends and I we play in the street a “potra” which means a soccer scrimmage game in Spanish, and we can be there playing all day, but here in Minnesota people would think that is crazy and dangerous to play in the street. Also friendship is a big thing in Honduras and what I mean by that is that here the United States because it’s not only Minnesota is really hard to get to know people because it’s such a huge country and in Honduras since it’s a country with a little over seven million habitants then people over there no matter what city you are in they will walk up to you and try to start a conversation with you is so funny sometimes but hey I always see the bright side of it. And also the houses are like right next two each other so your neighbors become like your lifetime friends due to the fact in Honduras if people buy a house then they stay in that house for a long time. “I miss so many things about Honduras like my family, friends, and also the climate is just amazing.” My mother spoke. But I feel that here in Minnesota it is a lot easier to live and what I mean by that is that there are many resources here to help you and there is more guidance overall if you don’t have money or food for example there are places that can assist you with that and that is something that I love about being here in Minnesota now, and is not that I am saying Honduras doesn’t have that help to but it just more scarcer than here in Minnesota. But at the same time I love Minnesota because there are a lot of other opportunities like jobs and stuff of that nature and many other activities that you can do.
Also I like the winter in Minnesota I mean I don’t like the driving, but since I been in a tropical climate that is super warm, and humid and then to change to below freezing temperatures is just so cool to me because you see how from the beginning of fall the leaves starts to change into beautiful, rich, and vivid colors and then they fall, and in a matter of days everything is covered in snow. A lot of my family members still travel to Honduras and the crazy thing is that they travel in a bus like what my mother use to do they buy buses, and then they fill them up with merchandise, but is not just appliances they take, they also take cars, or any other items that Honduran families here in Minnesota want to send to their family over in Honduras. But also they make a lot of money selling their items in Honduras because most of Honduras economy is made up of imports and exports and well merchandise is a big part of the economy over in my country. My aunt says “ She thanks god every day for the opportunities she has been able to get of traveling back and forth and being able to see the changes of both countries economically and environmentally.”
Also some other differences between Honduras and Minnesota are the schools, in the United States public schools are free and they can be really good schools and in Honduras if a parent wants there son or daughter to study in a good school they have to pay some money for putting their child in an actual good school and besides that they have to pay a monthly fee for their child to attend school and a lot of families in Honduras are poor so sometimes their kids don’t even get to attend school so instead from little kids to big kids they are forced to work and some of the jobs are very dangerous. The kids sell fruits or gum and chips on the side of the road and sometimes the kids get in the middle of traffic and then they “knock on your window as if they were knocking on a door” and a lot of kids have died because they have got struck by incoming cars. So I am just glad that I got the opportunity of being in both places because if I was in Honduras right I would probably be having a more challenging life than I have here, even though I must say miss Honduras a lot and I will be going back soon to visit my family, but in the meantime for now I am here in Minnesota in school at eastview high school really close until graduation so I am really excited about that. And well the life I have had up until this point I feel has made me the person I am today and I really thank God and my family for making me the person I am today.