Lost in Translation: A Girl's Fight to Survive in a Foreign Land transcript

I [Music] after many trips to the American Embassy in Genoa where we were stripped of our clothes checked and rechecked for disease and endured countless hours of interrogations my mother my little brother Carlo and I finally received our visas to go to the USA our father had gone one year earlier and had been working there for Dad to go to the United States he had to have a sponsor he found one from Long Island a high-end men's clothing store where clients like Perry Como Frank Sinatra and others purchased their clothes or had them customade for an immigrant to be considered for entry into the United States one had to prove they could support themselves and any family members with the salary proposed my father complied with these rules while Daddy was on a ship heading to the states the owner of the shop died leaving the business to his brother the brother was not interested in this type of business and decided to sell it in the near future not becoming involved with my father's arrival consequently when Daddy arrived he found himself without a job and in a stressful situation arriving with no money and just a small suitcase life became complicated not knowing what the next step would be in a foreign country especially without knowledge of the language or customs fortunately my mother's sister lived in Hartford Connecticut she had married a GI she met in Italy and immigrated to the states after the war dad had no choice but to go and live in Connecticut where he found a job at a large store in Downtown Hartford called gfox as a tailor his life in the states did not begin in the best of ways but at least he had a job and a place to stay life for Daddy was not easy having to take buses from Manchester where my a lived and having to learn the American system however he was helped by many other tailor at the store who were also Italian immigrants daddy thought it would be too difficult for the rest of the family to acclimate to this life and considered it best if we stayed in Italy he planned to send money to us and save until he could return himself however life is never that simple and being separated for a long time was not good especially for Carlo who would not know his father during his childhood moreover there was no certainty of when my father could return to Italy the decision was made for us to all be together the following year after my father arrived it would make his life easier having his family with him I was always a good child or so I thought I was obedient helpful to my mother but a bit mischievous or beina as they used to say about me in Italian this time I rebelled at the IDE idea of being taken away from my school my friends and life at the age of 14 no way I would go to America I would find a way to stay in Torino no matter what anyone said I was not going I made my mother cry and she spent many days upset because of my attitude she also did not want to move but calmly told me that nothing in life is forever only death is and that I could come back to Italy in the future when I was older she said it would be a good way to learn English and have an experience one day we would all be able to come back we packed a small trunk with our possessions we still have this trunk and embarked for the United States on a sunny day in September from the port of Genoa on a ship called christophor Columbo how appropriate my mother said we will discover America when we took the train from Torino that eventually took us to Genoa I had such pain in my heart while the train was pulling away that I thought I would die I watched my mother say goodbye to my grandmother who had also lived in America for one year and had returned and I watched my city disappear the Alps were still on the horizon snow capped and I could still see the familiar Countryside from the window how beautiful my country is I thought will I ever see it again the week before I left I said goodbye to my teachers they all told me to study and represent our country well my closest friends didn't know what to say other than to cry together many times I thought it was unfair that I couldn't make my own decision because of my age but knowing that my attitude would hurt my parents I decided to be a respectful child at the Port A couple of my friends came to wave goodbye and as the ship was pulling away from the pier I could see their white handkerchiefs waving in the wind to me I wanted to jump off the ship I could not stop crying and as I watched my mama's face I realized that I was not making it easier for her so I held her tight and said that I was sorry for causing all the additional stress she being the most loving person knew that my actions were just showing my distress about this move and that I would do whatever I had to in order to make her smile again and be proud of me the cabin we had was in the lower quarters it was very small with bunk beds and a very tiny toilet where there was a sink to wash our face places but no shower or other Comforts like the cabins on the top deck of the ship where the American tourists would have enjoyed a much more comfortable crossing the immigrants in the lower class were told at what times we would have to be in the dining hall for meals we were not served at the same time as the tourists in the upper class but it was good just the same as we were able to meet other Italians who were also immigrants some going to different places in the states and some to Canada we were allowed to go everywhere on the ship and many times I would be on the upper deck looking at the Americans with interest not understanding their language it seemed very strange to me they appeared very different from us and what shocked me was to see women at the bar drinking with men something that I had never seen in Italy the women all wore nice sundresses and the men wore shorts definitely not dressed like us after a few days of seeing the French and Spanish coasts we arrived at jalter many little boats from Spain approached the ship with small souvenirs to purchase Mama gave me money to buy wooden handmade castanets which I later learned to play and kept in a special place as a souvenir of this Voyage once the ship entered the Atlantic Ocean things changed although the sea appeared calm we began to feel sick to our stomachs and the swaying of the ship affected our sleep the sailors told us to stay outside as much as possible in the fresh air which would help so we did for many hours but the sea seemed to be against us when would we ever see land again the sea was beautiful yet terrifying I felt as if we were lost in a blue sea and every day I looked for something different on the horizon that never came I kept asking Mama where are we she would say on the ocean that will bring us to America the same one that Christoper Columbo voyaged across many years before Carlo my little brother meanwhile was the only one having fun with the sailors he became everyone's child singing valare in the evenings when we would have some entertainment going to the Captain's Table for dinner and being looked after by some of the sailors while mama and I tried to take a pause from him even the Americans became attached to him he was the life of the party as we say Carlo was a loving child child always happy and smiling making everyone smile back or want to be close to him Mama would say where did I get such a child he is special and it was true the days passed and we became friends with a family moving to Canada mama had someone to share her thoughts with I had the Friendship of their son who was my age and Carlo was happy entertaining sometimes as we looked at the vast ocean we thought we could see fish jumping out of the water on the horizon or even land but it was a mirage of some sort I am sure we were told by the sailors that once you started to see birds in the sky it meant that we were approaching Land The Crossing seemed to last forever although altogether it was only 7 days but being on a ship seeing the same view day after day it appeared that we were never going to see land again or feel well with the stomach issues one day the captain spoke over the intercom and told us to get up early the following morning because we would be arriving in New York Harbor and before docking we would be able to see the Statue of Liberty we did get up early on a foggy day and then suddenly there she was the statue we had all been looking for no one really spoke we just looked all thinking different thoughts I am sure in the distance we saw cars on the highways in both Manhattan and New Jersey and in the fog we slowly approached the designated dock for the Christopher foro [Music] Columbo we could see the skyscrapers in the distance but everything looked gray and very strange especially these large automobiles is this America before leaving mama had bought me a new dress that we had admired in a shop window this was to be worn only upon our arrival in New York where we would meet Dad the dress was beautiful I thought white with a blue design along the bottom and I wore white shoes to look all coordinated Carlo looked fabulous Mama made him shorts with black and white checks a white shirt white socks and he wore sandals we looked perfect for the new world and mostly for Dad I didn't realize how many people were on board this ship and we would be the last group to get off but we were now finally on terrafirma in such a large crowd on the pier we were trying to find Dad but it was impossible there were too many things going on too much noise too much of everything I became fascinated looking at the porters who were all black men tall and beautiful I could not stop from being Spellbound I suppose they were asking if they could help while they looked at us but I did not understand so I just looked at them mama told me not to be so impolite and to try to find our trunk while she looked for dad my aunt and her husband eventually we were all reunited we approached this big car called a Chevrolet I thought that maybe once in a film I had seen such an automobile I guess this is America everything is big big cars big streets big buildings big people everything big I felt humble and scared I looked behind me at the ship as we were leaving and wanted to get back and return to my country I had seen enough it was nice but not for me I wanted my city my friends my language and I promised to do even better in school to make my parents proud maybe one day I would come to the United States on my own but not now I did not want these changes I did not want to speak English I wanted to be happy and dad would understand fear of the unexpected leads to a very anxious life I had to learn to take happenings one at a time and to be prepared for unknown vicissitudes at any time life is suffering but it can also be wonderful it is about learning to accept things that one has no control over I knew that things would never be the same in my life the day I stepped into this new unknown world [Music]