Chapter 1

Today was the day.  

Today was the day I had to say goodbye to my friends and jump on a plane straight to America. I felt slight nausea as I finished packing my bags- imagine how bad it will be on the plane. I zipped my suitcase closed and sighed, walked downstairs and was greeted by my mother who was cooking breakfast. The smell of  Simit wafted through the kitchen. Not a fancy breakfast, simply cheese on bread with sesame seeds, but it’s one of my favorites.

“Ah, good morning! Migé! Big day today huh?” My mother said spritefully, she was a lot more excited than I was, she was even practicing her english as she cooked.

“Günaydın mother, what’s for breakfast?” I already knew, I just didn’t know what else to say.

“Ah, what else on this special day?” She said, answering my question with a smile. “I made your favorite ! I figured it would make you feel a bit better about the move.” She turned back to her Turkish to English dictionary and muttered words over and over under her breath. I hadn’t made much of an attempt to learn English; I may have to move to America but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Just as I was about to say something else, the front door swung open and in walked my father, hair wild from the wind. “Good morning my daughter! You are happy for move, yes?” he said breathlessly. My father was the reason we were moving. He had gotten a job working for the New York Times, but I didn’t think that was reason enough to move to America-there were plenty of newspapers here in Turkey.

But, I sighed and said to my father, “Yes, I am very excited. I can’t wait to get there!”. I plastered on a fake smile until he  turned away to kiss my mother hello. The smile fell off my face, replaced with a grimace. It quickly came back, however, when my mother turned to me and said “Why don’t you go say goodbye to all your friends and teachers Migé? I’m sure they’d all like to say goodbye to you. Here, take some breakfast for the road.” She handed me some simit and feta cheese wrapped in foil.  We were leaving this afternoon; I didn’t have time to say goodbye to everyone I wanted to.

I nodded and walked out the door into the crisp November morning, a chill blew my hair behind my  ears and made me squint my eyes to keep them from getting too dry. I set off down the hill I lived on  and into town. I stopped by the seafood shop first to say goodbye to Mr. Demir – he’s a friend of the family and he’d always saves us the biggest Pickerel for holidays. On the window there was a sign that said “Alcati’de en iyi balık!” Best fish in Alcati.

“Günaydın Mr. Demir! I came to say so long and thanks for all the fish!” I said as I walked into the store. I listened wistfully to the little bell above the door – this was the last time I would ever hear it. I walked over to the counter and rested my elbows on top of it, waiting for Mr. Demir to finish with his customer.

“ Günaydın Migé, is it moving day already? Goodness these days go by fast!” Why was everyone so happy about this? I’ll never know.

“Good business today Mr. Demir?” I tried to change the subject before things got too awkward.

“Have you finished packing? When are you supposed to leave?”  Too late. I answered all his questions before I tried mine again.

“How has business been lately, Mr. Demir?” I prayed he’d take the bait this time.

“Oh you know, it’s been just as average as usual. But I can’t complain. Just the other day I sold a massive catfish to a man for almost ninety lira!” He exclaimed, I couldn’t help but smile. Ninety lira went a long way around here.

“That’s great Mr Demir! I have to go say goodbye to everyone else now. May we meet again!” I waved with a sad smile as I walked back out the door.

I spent the rest of the day saying goodbye to teachers and friends and I didn’t cry once, until I had to say goodbye to someone I had known since preschool. My best friend Azra.

She was sitting alone in the courtyard as usual. Azra doesn’t like to talk, I met her in third grade when we were partnered up for a project. We hit it off immediately, she and I both loved futbal. She wanted to be a professional  player one day. Ever since then we had had all of our classes together, chose each other as a partner for every project. Ate lunch together, Everything. Now I had to say goodbye.

I sat down beside her but she didn’t say anything. I had warned her about the move months ago and we had both dreaded it ever since. Even though we knew it was coming, it’s arrival  surprised us anyway.

“Moving day, huh?” She  said grimly. I had a feeling this was gonna be the hardest  goodbye. Azra had always been a really laid back person, but now I felt like she was on edge.

“Yeah, couldn’t avoid it forever I guess.” This was the worst conversation of my life, neither of us knew what to say.

I decided that I was done talking. I wrapped  my arms around her shoulders and hugged her. She hugged me back and that’s where we stood for longer then I know. It was when the bell rang that we separated,  that’s when the tears came. They welled up faster than I could stop them,and suddenly my face was wet and I had to turn away, furiously wiping my face on my sleeve. Azra pulled  me back into the hug and comforted me.

“Hey, it’s ok! You can still text me! Maybe  one day I can visit!” Her voice was empty though.

The tears had stopped but I was too scared to talk again in case  that would trigger the waterworks. Instead I just buried my head in her shoulder and held my breath.

Before I was ready, it was time to go. I trudged all the way back through town and up the hill to our front door. A moving truck sat outside the house, half filled with boxes. A  slight drizzle had begun and water dripped from my nose, mixing with tears. I wiped my face one last time and walked inside.

It was chaos. My mother ran around the kitchen making food for the plane. My father was loading boxes into the moving truck and only paused to tell me; “Migé! Good you’re here. Go and check your room to see if you forgot to pack anything.” Before I had the chance to respond he was off again, box after box after box.

I dejectedly walked up the stairs and into my room.  It reminded me of a prison cell instead of a bedroom. All my furniture was gone. The walls were bare; my picture frames had left lighter stains on the wall where they had hung. I did a 360 of the room and not a single thing was left there.

I stared out my window at the town below, bright lights shining through the rain. It was mesmerizing, and I couldn’t believe this was the last time I’d see it.  I shook my head; I can’t be more attached than I already am. That will only make things harder. I forced myself to slouch back downstairs, the scene hadn’t changed much. My parents were almost  done loading boxes into the truck, and the car had been started and was sputtering outside.

I felt numb. There  was no sadness, no anger. I just felt empty. I had lived in this house my entire life, and now we were leaving to go to another country. I didn’t know how to handle that, so I just let everyone drag me around, first was the car ride. I stared out the window as we drove past the Seafood shop. I could see Mr. Demir inside, helping a customer. We drove past the playground, where I had spent most of my summers with Azra. Then finally the school, where all  of my friends whom I had known forever, were sitting at their desks. As we were officially leaving town I looked out the back window to see a sign that read; “Alcati’ye hoş geldiniz!” Welcome to Alcati.

 

Chapter 2

We arrived at the airport an hour or two later. Blaring horns and people yelling, the sound of suitcases on pavement; a scene completely different from what I was used to.

People were rushing around everywhere, with zero regard for the people around them. Getting through security and to our gate was a struggle, we fought through masses of people all inconveniently going the opposite direction than us. We got countless dirty looks, but I forced myself to grin and bear it until we got onto the plane. I flopped into my seat with a huff and looked around. Some people were opening laptops, others were reading books, some were already asleep.

It wasn’t long before the engines roared and the wheels started turning. I watched through the window as we picked up speed, faster and faster until we left the ground entirely. Soon enough the cars and city building looked more like little toys you would play with in a dollhouse. I stared out the tiny compartment of glass until the only thing I could see were clouds with the sun setting over them. Eventually my eyelids grew heavy, so I found a semi-comfortable position and closed my eyes.

The jolt of the plane touching ground woke me hours later, everyone was chatting excitedly. Sunlight was shining through the window and I squinted my eyes, I turned to my father to see that he was awake as well, talking to a man across the aisle from us.

Looking out the window, I saw that the plane had stopped moving and we were now parked right outside the airport. I knew I should feel excited, I was in America. But all I felt was a growing pit in my stomach. People had started getting up from their seats to get off,  we were at the way back, so we had a while to wait before we could even stand up to wait in the aisle. I could tell the people around me were starting to get anxious as well, shifting in their seats and bouncing their knees.

Finally we were able to stand up and into the aisle, but It wasn’t much better. The next twenty minutes was spent shuffling forwards and sometimes backwards until we were off the plane and into the long hallway that connected us to the airport. It smelled like burnt rubber, and gasoline. I gagged at the smell and covered my nose with my T-shirt until we exited the gate.

This airport was even larger than the last, ceilings taller than two houses stacked on top of each other, model planes hanging from wires. There were hundreds of people bustling around, scanning their tickets and showing their passports. We were required to study English back in Alacati, so I could read most of the signs.

Immediately after we  exited the gate we were herded down a long hallway, My Parents down another wide hallway that ended with a room and a sign above it reading “Immigration Customs” My father pulled his company issued visa, given to him by the US Consulate.  Since my mother and I were immediate family, we were also granted visas. We showed our passports and visas to the attendant, and he sent us on our way.

We retrieved our bags, rode up and down escalators and almost got lost a few times. Though eventually we arrived at the front of the airport. I took a deep breath, this would be my first time ever stepping foot on American soil! I was terrified. I had seen countless stories of immigrants being turned back at the border, taken into custody, even killed sometimes. But that wasn’t where we’re going, I only hoped we weren’t going to be the first.

The doors slid open and it was pitch black outside, my eyes focused. I half expected to see protesters, but instead I was greeted by exactly the opposite, a crowd of hundreds and hundreds of people stood outside the airport, cheering and waving to us. They held signs that said ‘Immigrants are People too!’ and ‘Immigration is not a Crime!’.  I looked around and almost every man or woman held a sign reading something similar!

As we passed by the crowds to get to our taxi, a dazed grin crept onto my face. We were actually welcomed here! I even waved at a few people! I couldn’t help staring at the window back at the crowd as we sped away to a new home, and a brand new future.