Growing Up in the US

Photo by Matthew Rumph on Unsplash

I am from Saudi Arabia, from Al Madinah. I was born in Lafayette, Indiana. We moved to Champaign Illinois when I was very young. I went to school there until the fourth grade.

We lived in two different houses in two neighborhoods that were near each other. The first neighborhood was called Fox Ridge. We had a big (in my little eyes) house with a basement. Our neighbors across the street had a girl my age, we were best friends. The street was full of kids of different ages and we played together outside every day. Life was so simple and so much fun back then. I remember my mom telling a story of when she invited me to a tea party once. A week later I invited her to a tea party without telling my mom! Was my surprised when her mom asked my mom what time she should drop her off!

We moved to Parkland Ridge before I started school. Our house was a duplex and our neighbors had a daughter one year younger than me. We quickly became best friends and played together every day. We made up so many games. We both preferred playing outside to watching tv. Sometimes my brothers and the kid down the street, would join us. My sister wasn’t much of an outdoors type. But, we played lots of games inside. We had such a big imagination and made up a lot of our own games. It’s a lot of fun when you have 4 siblings to play with!

We lived in a great neighborhood and it was perfectly safe for me to walk to my friend’s house up the street to play. My older brother would have to walk with me because it was around the corner and across the street and too far for my mom to see from our house. (I was only 9 at the time) Our bus stop was at the end of the street and it was a little downhill, so we could pretend to ice skate down on cold winter mornings. There is a small lake within walking distance that I remember walking to every morning with my grandfather and step grandmother (may God have mercy on their souls) when they came to visit the last summer before we came back.

My parents new most of our neighbors, I of course new the neighbored that had kids! We did have a sweet elderly couple who lived one house down from ours, they were so nice. Mrs. V would let us watch her work in her garden and tell us about the different vegetables she grew. When we had a 50’s and 60’s themed spring concert, she taught us what to wearing how to style our hair. Before we moved back to Saudi Arabia, Mr. V made us leather bookmarks with our initials burned into them. They were beautiful! I still have mine.

At school, I never was treated differently. I never felt different. Except during holidays, but our school respected that we didn’t celebrate their holidays. We never had to participate in the Christmas concert, or exchange gifts for Christmas. We did usually get a gift from Santa. Which I think was really kind of them. We were only kids after all. We enjoyed watching people dress up for Halloween, my mom would buy candy so we could give trick’o’treaters and see all their fun costumes. One Halloween, a family friend took us to a Haunted House. I remember it wasn’t too scary but a lot of fun. I admit that Halloween was my favorite holiday to watch but not celebrate. I like the slightly spooky atmosphere. There was something about the crisp cold of autumn in Illinois that somehow made everything better. Maybe it’s because I was born at the end of October. Autumn is my favorite season. I really miss that here in Saudi Arabia. Our Autumns and Springs are pretty short and completely different! My parents used to take us to this apple orchard where you can pick your own apples, get lost in the corn maze, pet sweet rabbits at the petting zoo, buy some old fashion candy and enjoy a freshly made apple donut and a cup of apple cider. I remember picking raspberries, my favorite fruit, there too. The bees were always a little intimidating but that never stopped me from picking those plump juicy berries.

We lived near a beautiful lake called Lake of the Woods. It was a beautiful lake surrounded by trees where we used to meet friends and have a lot of fun. I remember riding on the peddle boats when my uncles came to visit.

We went on so many school field trips to historical places. I really enjoyed them. It is so interesting learning about the history of a place. I don’t remember the names of the places but I remember visiting old houses, preserved with the original furniture. We even went to a historical village. I think all these experiences enriched my childhood.

I have nice memories of growing up in the US, of the friends I made (I’ve recently reconnected with one friend), the places we visited, the things I learned. My love for reading, which I’ve talked about before, started in the US with a great reading program at school and encouragement from my parents who are avid readers too. I think being bilingual has really helped me learn so much throughout my life.

Leaving the US was hard, I remember how my next door neighbor didn’t go to the airport with us because she knew she would cry. Most of our friends came to the airport to see us off. It was really nice of them and something I will always remember. It was bittersweet for us, we were leaving the only home we knew, yet we were excited to go back home to our family.

I will talk about coming back to Saudi Arabia and growing up here next week inshallah.