The story concerns a Syrian woman who is getting used to her new life in the United States. It revolves around her experiences and the challenges encountered when she was exiled from her home country and she moved to America. One of the hardships is trying to assimilate herself into the American culture. First, she has issues with the language. She laments that her children have already learnt the English language but she is still struggling to express herself. With only one Arab family living in town whom she can relate with comfortably she starts to become lonely and isolated.
The woman cannot stand the morality in the United States. She is not impressed by the way the boys are mingling with the girls and wonders if America at all cares about modesty. She also has issues with mixed schools but the only girls’ school is a private Catholic school which her family cannot afford. She is also disappointed by American foods and misses the scent of their cultural Syrian food. With time her perspective about America begins to change. She starts to embrace their culture as it becomes increasingly familiar to her. She starts to become comfortable with a new sense of identity.
Experiences for people in exile differ, they are very unique and personal. Some people will be accepting of the new culture of the new place or country and they bring both cultures together while others will be confused and lost in the new culture a case of cultural dissonance. But in the end, what matters is if you can familiarize yourself with some aspects of the new culture, not necessarily all; that would be a good enough space for comfort and belonging.
