Monday, October 26, 2009

My Two Lives

My name is Abdul Rameez Baloch. I am known by many different names, but mostly people call me either Ray or Rameez. We are four brothers and one sister living with my family in Chicago. I have a very interesting life story. I was born and raised in Pakistan a small country in Asia. I came to U.S with my family 12 years ago and over the years I have seen a lot of changes in me and my family.


First, I still remember the life I was living in Pakistan, how it was and what value it has in my life. My family and I used to live with all my uncles and aunts so it was a very big family. Life was good, but there was a lack of education. My parents wanted us to move from Pakistan and come to U.S. so we did.

When we first came to U.S. I didn’t know what to do or how to communicate with people around me because of course I didn’t speak English. I started going to school and learning English. I started talking to people and making new friends everyday. Now I have a lot of friends. Elementary school was a little difficult for me but I really learned everything when I got to high school and those were four of the most amazing years of my life.


Before graduating high school I did not think about going to college. I wanted to work and help my family out because my dad is the only one who has been struggling everyday to make sure we don’t have any problems, and I did not pay attention to that until I started thinking about how he is getting old now and he has also done a lot for us as a father and a good friend all this time. Those made me think about the future and encouraged me to go to college and want to get a good education and job and take care of my parents.


Everyone has a hard time with moving from one place to another and adopting that culture and surroundings, but nothing is more difficult than moving from one county to another.