Eisa AlMazrouei

Professor Corri Ditch

English 113B
February 19, 2015
Bicultural Problems
The US is a free country where people are not bound by restrictions. There is freedom of
thought, freedom of speech, freedom of expression. And for someone who has lived in a place
full of restrictions and boundaries, moving in to this environment was a drastic change. Being a
Muslim brought up in UAE, I had a culture shock after moving in to the US.
There were so many new things, new ideas, new notions to adapt to. Back at home,
women were treated as inferior to men. Women are always veiled, protected from public glare.
They are always modestly dressed with not even their hair being visible. But here in the US,
things are different. Women are at par with men in all the fields. They have the same level of
freedom as the men. In certain fields they even outdo the men. They have no restrictions. A girl
can pursue whatever she wants to without being bound by anything.
It was difficult for me to broaden my outlook towards these things at first. Back at home,
women were always dependent on the men. First on their parents and later on their husbands. But
here in the US women are independent. They are free spirited and can take on the world on their
own. And this was just the tip of the iceberg. Things got a little difficult to adjust to as back at
home everyone would stop their work as soon as they heard the call to prayer. Here it wasnt the

same. But being a home to vast, diverse cultures, you cannot really expect the dominance of any
one particular religion. People from all walks of life live together in peace.
Here, it gets really hard to keep track of prayer timings as in the UAE everyone would
follow the timings strictly. The call would be heard from the mosque indicating that it was the
time to pray. But here it is not only tough to keep track of the timings but the mosque is also far
from the place I stay. So it wasnt easy for me to be punctual or to be able to attend all the
prayers on time. And the worse of it all was being homesick. Being miles away from home is bad
enough to make you feel uneasy in a new place. Being brought up in a protective environment
with the freedom of people governed by conservatism, it was difficult for me at first to
understand and adapt to this new state of freedom where everyone is treated equally. No
restrictions. No limitations.
But, this new found freedom had its own challenges. The feeling of independence was
good but at the same time the longing for your family was difficult to handle. But as the saying
goes, to gain something you have to lose something. No pain. No gain. Education is important.
The very reason I decided to leave my folks and move in here. And even with the cultural
difficulties and challenges, this place has so much more to offer. Its not just quality education
but it also changes your perceptions and notions. It breaks the monotony of a standardized and
restricted living and offers freedom to all. It is a drastic change to adapt to. But it is also a life
altering experience.
It is important for people to remember to be nice to outsiders. They need to make us feel
welcome and accept us for who we are. We need to have the feeling of someone being there for
us always. They should try to make outsiders feel as much at home as they can. This can make

outsiders feel accepted, needed and wanted, which is an extremely pleasant feeling. It gives them
the belief that they always have loved ones around them, and someone they can turn to when in
need of help.
For example, in her essay My Hips, My Caderas, Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez says taking
Spanish still had that stigma of shame, like it would make you a dirty wetback (ValdesRodriguez). This shows how ashamed she is of being a half Mexican, how ashamed of being
herself. This wouldnt happen if people didnt have rules about where you should be from, what
you should wear, how your accent should be etc.
Rodriguez also says, When I want to be loved for my mind, I flock to liberal
intellectuals, usually whites. They listen to my writings and nodand then suggest I use skim
milk instead of cream (Valdes-Rodriguez). This sentence really made me sad. The author is just
a girl who wants to be appreciated for her intellect and not be commented on the shape of her
body.
In her essay Coming Home to Van Nuys, Sandra Tsing Loh says, Most common are
the ethnic restaurants that are slowly dying on the vine. They have a certain lost quality I can
identify with. NO one seems to understand what theyre doing here (Tsing Loh). I can totally
identify with these lines of hers. They may seem casual, but they are extremely heart-felt.
Everyone feels lost in a new place. It up to the hosts to make them feel welcome or treat them
like the outsiders they are.
Tsing Lohs essay shows how people still hold on to their values, culture and tradition
even after moving to an entirely new place. In her essay, she gave examples of a few ethnic
restaurants that were not working well. The people still kept it one despite having few customers.

I feel that this is there way of holding on to their culture. To have something to pass on to their
children and grandchildren.
All of us face certain obstacles and prejudices that obstruct our understanding of other
people. Through learning about outsiders and their ideas, barriers are slowly chipped away,
allowing for more open relationships and dialogues that could change the society. When we
welcome outsiders in our lives and society, we open ourselves and the world to a good crosscultural learning.
I cannot talk about the whole of America, but in my experience, I havent met many
people who have the tendency to judge other individuals or cultures based on their own cultural
standards. Being an immigrant, I technically dont belong here. Still, I was given a warm
reception and have many good friends from different cultures and groups. But, I also have had a
few bad experiences where people passed comments such as go back to your country etc. At
first, it hurts to know that people dont like you, or want you to be here. But, when you find the
right people who accept you for what you are, you begin to feel sorry for the people who dont.
You feel sorry because you know what they are missing. They are missing the opportunity to
learn new things, to learn new customs and traditions, to learn new cuisines and languages. Such
people are missing the opportunity to experience new things.
I am extremely thankful for my friends and professors, who are friendly and helpful.
Without them, I dont think I could have survived in a foreign land as long as I did. Outsiders
come as teachers, teaching us new lessons and allowing us to absorb some great learnings in life.
We are all struggling in life in some way or the other, but by sharing our problems, we feel
lighter, and thus, happier.

Works Cited
Tsing Loh, Sandra. Coming Home to Van Nuys. n.d.
Valdes-Rodriguez, Alisa. My Hips, My Caderas. 2000.