What was your family situation like where you were from? Respondent: My family was large and wealthy. My father was employed in a public office, which meant that he was in a position to provide for a large family. What was your family situation like then when you came here? Respondent: My family faced a political tragedy as my father ... Read More »
How was life in Soviet Russia for my Mom? Life in Soviet Russia was not easy but they didn’t know how to live any other way. Everybody lived very simply; there was not much food to go around, clothing was all the same, nobody had excess clothing, and they lived in small apartments. After the fall of the Soviet Union, ... Read More »
What was your life like in South Korea? My life centered around my role as a mother of two children, and a secondary science teacher at public middle schools. I taught over 11 yrs. When and why did you decide to leave? After I earned my master’s degree in 2013, I was debating between whether to further my doctoral program ... Read More »
Does your culture define who you really are? Can you choose a place you call home? To answer these existentialist questions, I have had to compromise who I really am. Sharing this was a tough decision to make as these thoughts had never traveled beyond the metal, cold walls of my mind… it is an intimate story of a journey ... Read More »
At the young age of 23, Shreya Acharya moved 7672 miles across the world from New Delhi, India to Stanford, California. Her soon-to-be fiancé, Vishal Acharya, was a graduate student at Stanford University at the time. While she had to leave her entire family behind in India, immigrating gave her the opportunity to start another one in the States. As ... Read More »
During the Holocaust many Jewish families in Germany tried to escaped in order to survive. Others were hidden by brave Germans. Andreas’ mother was Jewish and was hidden and kept safe in a monastery. Eventually she married a Gentile and had two sons with him. She decided to raise both sons as Protestants to provide them with more security. The ... Read More »
Ken Vanbree’s great grandfather, Arie Vanbree was born in 1845. At the age of 11, Arie moved with his four siblings and father from the Netherlands to New York by sailing ship. It is believed that Arie’s mother died before the family decided to immigrate. They sailed on the “Arnold Boninger” a Prussian ship which left from Rotterdam and arrived in ... Read More »
Liz Gulevich was one of our featured storytellers at our salon November 9, 2014 called “Foreign Correspondents: Immigrant Odysseys.” She tells a captivating story about the empowerment of her immigrant mother during her mother’s sunset years in Palo Alto, California. There’s a surprise near the end that involves an audience member. Read More »