feeling uncomfortable.......

is how I felt on Monday in my economic class. Why, well because they started to talk about immigration not only legal but also illegal and as you may all know I am an undocumented student. Well the professor asked by raise of hand who was against illegal immigration and if they could explain why? Well at least 10 people raised their hands and out those ten people only 2 answered the question of why. Their answers were:

• We took away the jobs of Americans (what he meant to actually say after a very wordy explanation is that we lower the wages which then cause the Americans who want to do the job at the right wage not receive because they see it as the employers realizing that they have a bigger profit using illegal aliens labor instead of citizens.)
• That we send way more money than we are supposed to back to our home countries and that at least 80% stated by my professor is being sent to foreign countries and that somehow deflects the American economy. And the person who said this, also stated he hated that fact that they were sending some of their paycheck back home instead of helping improve the American economy

With this said, I felt really uncomfortable because one of the person who does not like illegals was sitting right next to me, I felt fear at first, but then I took a deep breath and finally came to realize that he did not have a clue of my legal status. Then the professor decided that he wanted to do a little questionnaire to see what would be some reason that people would immigrate to other countries from their home land, and I did not participate, because I know exactly for what reasons I would leave my country to immigrate to another. Sometimes I don't like the fact that people just say stuff automatically without really put any thought into their thinking.  I am sad that not many people like us being in the U.S., but when asked if they would do the jobs that immigrants take then they say no because they are of higher class and those are for lower class citizens.

Oh well I just hope that one day there can be a solution to this major problem that the United States is facing. Either this year or in the years to come. :)

This weekend......

was a lazy one out our house, on Friday we stayed home and watched Rio. It is a funny movie and more if you  are watching it in Spanish, I recommend people to watch that movie, its a very family friendly movie. We ate popcorn that was made from scratch, from one huge bowl, the popcorn had chili Tapatio and salt. It was delicious but it was also a little spicy. :) Then yesterday, my mom went with my aunt to the store to buy masa (flour) so that we could make Tamales Nejos, Mole Verde y Rojo and Chicken, which was delicious and was a good way to have an all girls day just being around the kitchen table, and making some very traditional Mexican food. While all the girls were making Tamales the boys were watching Cars I and II, which is another very family friendly and by the time that both of the movies ended the food was ready and we sat around the table and ate and talked about old memories :) Which was very interesting to hear about my parents memories and how they lived a very happy life when they were younger. Anyways, today we slept in and did not go to church until 1:30, which was amazing because we had a very long night yesterday. Then we went to buy like 30 Conchas for breakfast tomorrow, however, since we went and visited my aunt, and my dad had the great idea  of bringing down the bread, and everyone ate 2 each now there are only a total of 10. Which means that my siblings have to go to school and eat breakfast there. Then we picked up my bunny that I found last year at Bangerter Farm, to bring home when we said our goodbyes to my aunt we went and visited my cousin at their new apartment and then finally we got home and we watched a Telenovela, which was produced in the 70's. It is a very original soap opera that my dad loved watching when he was younger so now he bought it for us so that we can see it as a family :). After a while we ate dinner and now as I am writing this post we are watching Ice Age 2 and The Terminator on t.v. just the kids the parents are relaxing in their rooms :). So this weekend was fun, and full of family time together that I am blessed to have in my everyday life. Some pictures of this weekend :)

Favorite dessert to eat on the weekends with a very ice-cold  soda :)
Conchas :)

Favorite Classical Telenovela right now.
Thanks dad for presenting us
with this great soap opera to watch :)

Watching right now in Spanish :)

My brother's like this movie

One of my favorite movies

Another favorite movie :)

Another favorite movie :)

Hot sauce that we put on the popcorn as dressing :)

Tamales Nejos made with either banana leaves or maize leaves very yummy :)

Mole Rojo with chicken

Mole Verde with Chicken

Volunteering...............

is something that I love to do, I try to do it as often as I can :). Lately I have been dealing with adults which is fun to do because not only am I helping them, they in return will give me advice that will improve my life and will help me become a better person. For a year and three months I was volunteering as an English teacher at Guadalupe Schools in Salt Lake City, I started this volunteer opportunity through a class that I was taking at the University of Utah (Ethnic Minority Families in the U.S.A) which was a very informative class, where I was able to learn about all of the minority families including families like me (Latino). To receive credit for taking the class, we had to do the classwork but we also had to do service learning hours and we had to tie it into the class. Well the professor gave us options, but the only one that I found interesting was the opportunity to teach English to economically disadvantage Immigrants so that they can find employment or  be able to communicate to help their children's educational experience. This was very rewarding, for me because I was able to learn a new skill, however, I was also able to make some great friends that have given me and will keep giving me advice on how to be the best friend, daughter, niece, cousin, mother and everything that a women is. They were great friends that will be forever in my heart and even though I do not volunteer there anymore we still communicate in both Spanish and English so that they may practice the language that they are trying to learn :)

Even though I could not find a picture of the school here is the official logo for the school.

With this opportunity I was able to learn the skills of becoming a teacher, and that way I will have gained experience so that if I ever have to return to my home country, then I will be able to live off of something, because I will be able to teach English to the people of my village :)

That is one experience that I will never forget, I am thankful for the staff and all their loyalty to helping the economically disadvantage immigrants learn English (not only is it for Latinos but also for other immigrants from Europe, Asia, Africa and all those countries) :)

Life right now..........

is okay. School is good, I really enjoy my anthropology class, and I learn a lot in my Economics class, but I really detest my Business Calculus class. I hate having to always be on the look out, having to always pay attention to the news to see if there is anything on passing the Dream Act, or of having an immigration reform. :( However, I get distracted with my volunteer job as an Interpreter at the University of Utah Hospital, which I am enjoying. Even though I really haven't done it by myself I hope to one day be able to go interpret by myself so that I may provide an easier way of communication between patients and healthcare providers. I have been volunteering since Thursday February 9, 2012. First I only went on Thursdays and Fridays, but now I go everyday Monday through Friday, and it will be that way unless I loose focus on school.

This is where I volunteer everyday for 4-5 hours :)

I would love to that after I have completed my required 200 hours I could work as an interpreter, however, if they ever do ask I have to reject even though that would be an amazing opportunity :(

Study Abroad?????

Everyone at the University of Utah have asked me if I ever plan on doing a study abroad. Well the answer is yes, I would love to do a study abroad especially to a country from where I am either learning the language or understand enough to speak it. However, when they ask me exactly when I will do it, then they get a long explanation about how right now I am studying so that I may find a job that will be able to help me fund the trip.  Nevertheless this is a partial truth, because I need to find a job that will help me fund it, but since I am undocumented I am not able to work which means that I will not be doing any study abroad at this time in my educational experience.

The places where I would really love to do a study abroad are:

This place is known as the city of LOVE that I would love to visit one day. :)

                        France especially Paris so that I may improve my speaking and talking in French. :)

Germany would be fun to visit and see the different cities and practice speaking  the language.

                        Germany anywhere but I think that it would be fun to be in Munich, where German is spoken so that I may have a chance to improve my speaking :)

China would be an amazing place to travel to, since it has so much rich history, that you would have an amazing time  learning about it :)

                         China as well any region would be very pretty to visit, I would love to do all of the exploring in this country, just to be able to understand the history and culture behind every object. This will give me the opporunity to improve my lanuuage skills in the Mandarin Chinese vocabulary. :)

Those are my top 3 places to do a study abroad, I would prefer China 1st, Germany 2nd and finally France 3rd. Even though these are my top three choices there is one more place where I would like to study abroad and that is in Mexico, my home country. I would love to use all of the small secret passages to teach and to have the opportunity to study materials that are taught in Spanish and see how similar and differential the education is here in the U.S. compared to Mexico........ :)

This is view of my hometown, and even though I am far away and cannot visit as often I will forever have it in my HEART :)

Feeling of Scare

10 minutes ago I was sitting in the family room working on homework, when my sister Yazmin said that she was going to sleep and she secured that the front door was closed and then she went downstairs. 3 minutes after she left, the door all of a sudden opened and I got this feeling of anxiousness. It felt really weird anyway, I got up and made sure that the door was locked and closed properly, but even though I made sure that the door was closed I still had a feeling of anxiety, so now I am in my room downstairs trying to calm my nerves and writing this post...... Hopefully this accident doesn't happen. :)

An Undocumented Student in School

I have been attending the University of Utah for the last 2 years. I am loving it, however if you would have asked me three year ago if I was planning on attending college I would have said "IDK" why would I say this well because my junior year of high school while I was getting ready to apply for school and trying to figure out which scholarships to apply to, which is how I finally realized that there were setbacks, that would prevent me from furthering my education. Before this I never thought that I was different than anyone else, maybe because of my skin color and my ethnicity, but never because of my citizenship status.

Anyway it was way hard trying to figure out what my future was because of my status. I was an excellent student in high school and junior high, I had a good GPA, and so I had many scholarships presented to me, because of various achievements, I received many awards, and accomplished many things that no one ever thought I would accomplish.

I am a shy person who is not very social unless I feel very comfortable around so I never talked about my status with anyone, however, there are a few people who I have trusted this big secret that is always having me to double think stuff, two of my teachers that have been supporting me and have both been a blessing in my life in different ways. And to my best friend from high school, who knows exactly what my point is in everything, I feel that with these three I people's support and that of my family, I know that I will progress through life and be very successful in anything that I do.

When I first heard about college I was excited, because I was going to be able to further my education, and become someone in the world. However, when I finally found out that I was undocumented and that because of that little information I was almost not able to attend college at all. Nonetheless with the help of my two high school teachers I found out that I would be able to attend college and pay in-state tuition and that was a relief knowing that I could still attend college.  After I applied and sent in the required documents (BTW I only applied to one college instead of two or three like everyone) I finally heard back from my number one school the U. I was excited and so were my parents.

With this acceptance I was able to prove to everyone who thought that I couldn't go to college that I can and that I will take advantage and become the best person I can become. :)

About Me :)

Well, I am a 19 year old Mexican girl who will be 20 on April 20. I am a student at the University of Utah, where I am studying Business. I am Catholic in a state that is primarily LDS, which can be difficult at times when the people around you have different beliefs than you do.


My family is the most important thing in my life they are the ones that have gone through everything with me the good and the bad and they will be the ones that will be with me in the future. They are the ones that know exactly how to make me feel safe and make me laugh. My family consists of 11 people.

My dad and mom have worked so hard in this country that is foreign to them. They have done everything possible to secure a better future for my siblings and I. They have worked day and night just to be able to give us shelter and food and clothes. They are working hard just so that my sister and I may attend college to get a higher education, and to have a better life than what they had back in Mexico. They have family living in the U.S. but they live in other states and they either never or rarely see them.

I have 5 sisters that are younger than me, Yazmin is 1 year younger than me and she is studying neonatal nursing at the University of Utah, Yuridia is 2 years younger than me and she is a junior at Bountiful High School, Esmeralda is 11 years younger than me and she is a third grader at Bountiful Elementary, Marisol is 12 years younger than me and she is second grader at Bountiful Elementary and finally the youngest sister Virginia who is 15 years younger than me and she is in Head Start at Bountiful Elementary. I have three younger brothers. Tony is 3 years younger than me and he is a sophomore at Bountiful High School, Marcos who is 4 years younger than me and he is a ninth grader at Millcreek Junior High, and finally Jose who is 7 years younger than me and he is a seventh grader at Millcreek Junior High.

My family is very unique and we all have our own personalities, even so we support each other to always do our best. :)

Beginning

So I have decided to start a blog about my life. It will talk about my life, the issues that affect me personally. It will be a fun way to record my everyday insights. It will once in a while talk about my experience as an Undocumented Student living in the U.S.A.