The United States is a Country of Dreams

Nelly

My name is Nelly Cordero. I am from the Dominican Republic. I have a big family. I love them very much and they love me. Eduardo arrived before me, in 2017. I arrived in 2021. We were living in New York and it was so cold there, and I couldn’t get used to the cold. We decided to come here because my sister is here in Bowling Green.

I like it here, it’s very quiet. However, in New York, we walked 5 minutes and found what we were looking for, and here walking 5 minutes in a car is almost an hour walking. That is hard. After we got here, I had the opportunity to contact Refuge Bowling Green, because a very special person came to our home. She told me about the program and the English class, and we accepted. First we came by bus. Later, my husband bought a car.

In the Dominican Republic I studied a little bit of English. And I also went to study at the University where I graduated as a pharmacist. In the Dominican Republic, work was hard to find. I worked for the government because I had the opportunity to be close to someone who was able to get me to work in the government. That lasted six months, and then my husband brought me here.

I hoped that my son would study here in the United States so that he would learn English and have more opportunities. It’s all for my son. I’m so glad because my son has very excellent grades at school. When I brought him here, the psychologist at the school told me we should put him in a bilingual school for a year. That would lower his grade level while he learned English, and I told her no, that we should put him in an English school, that he would make it. So it was like that, he didn’t lose any years. He learned very, very fast. The teachers at the school love him. He was 11 when we arrived, he turned 12 here and now he is 14. He likes playing soccer with the kids here at Refuge Bowling Green. It helps me a lot that he doesn’t spend so much time on the computer. It’s better for him, you know?

The culture over here in the United States is a little different than in the Dominican Republic because over there, there is a lot of movement. Hispanics are energetic. People are very happy, they have neighborhood parties. You know a lot of things about your neighbors.

I feel I have friends when I come to the English class. I have friends I can speak to.

I would have prepared a lot more with English, because the language blocks you a little bit when you get here to America. Also with driving, because I would have learned it there.

We belong to the Adventist church. We are going to a Hispanic group, which is small, but we make ourselves available however we can help. In the church we did a small activity for the community.

When you are younger you don’t see that time is going to pass. Then time passes very fast and you’re old! I am old!

Eduardo (Juan)

My country was a wonderful country. I love it. I can’t speak badly of it. It’s just that I had a daughter here in the United States, in New York, she brought me here (translator’s note: spanish emplazar, a sponsorship/summons legal arrangement). I arrived in New York February 8th. There was a lot of snow. It surprised me. I had wanted to see snow like in a movie.

In New York I first worked in a car wash. I fell in love with it. Here I haven’t seen a hand car wash, washing cars by hand. They’re all done with machines. My dream is to open a car wash.

I worked in that company for about a year, then a friend from church invited me to work in a factory doing metalworking. We made the metal door for fire doors, and the metal door for escalators. I think that company supplies a lot in the United States.

As a kid, I did work in a theater - but that doesn’t count as work. In the Dominican Republic, I worked in a cubicle in merchandise, in commerce. I also thought about doing that here, but it wasn’t possible.

The hardest thing for me has been not knowing the language. That’s why I think that this program has helped immigrants.

I am grateful for the English program they have, but we are adults now. As an adult, the faster I know what we want to learn, the better for me to learn. What they are doing at the shelter is very good, it’s just that we are adults now. What I would like best is that they give us the day-to-day. My girl right now is taking the English program. They are teaching her day-to-day things.

Everyone wants to come to the United States. It’s the country of dreams. Everyone wants to come here, but no one thinks about it.

When I went to a supermarket for the first time when I got here, I didn’t know how to ask for or buy things. But now, it’s not so bad. When I first arrived, it was hard because of all the complications and I couldn’t talk with the cashier. Then when you go to a restaurant and they serve you, what you ask for always gets mixed up. I ask for chicken, they bring me fish. I point at the menu, and people act dumbfounded by that. I don’t know why. I’m clearly pointing at pan de queso!

In the Dominican Republic, I never had a driver’s license, but here through Refugee Bowling Green I received one. I had an accident yesterday. My concern was, “How do I get to work?” I had to call an Uber. Here a driver’s license is quite important because we don’t have public transportation. In New York, you only had a car if you really wanted one. When we came to Kentucky to work at the university, my wife and I went out walking to get to know the city. We walked for half an hour and we had to go back because there is no sidewalk!

When I arrived, I told my daughter: I can do it, yes, I can do it for you.

What advice would I give another newcomer? Don’t have negativity or fear thinking that people are going to treat you badly. Fear doesn’t let you move forward. If you enter with fear, fear doesn’t let you get ahead.