Chasing The American Dream — The Story of an Immigrant

Have you ever had vegan airplane food?
It doesn’t look or taste good. Especially if you are not vegan, and have no idea you just ordered a vegan meal.

It was my first time being on an airplane. It was also my first time flying to the USA. My English was horrible, and I was hungry. The stewardess came over and started speaking with her English accent. The only word I heard in that speech was “food”. Being hungry, and worried about getting embarrassed, I responded with one of the few words I knew.

“Yes!”

Only a couple of minutes had passed, and the stewardess brought my food in a tray. It took me a minute to notice that I was the only one on the plane who got food. Something was wrong.

I was too hungry to analyze the situation, and I just started eating the kind of food I had never seen in my life. It was horrible. I wasn’t THAT hungry…

Another couple of minutes passed by, and the stewardess came over again. She was nervous and maybe a little angry. She said something to me and again, I only heard “food”.

Is she asking me if I enjoyed my food? Why is she angry? I don’t know how airplane food service works?

I gave up my ego and confessed. “My English is bad, can you speak slowly?”

“Did… you… order… vegan… food!”

Oh no…

“No, I didn’t.”

She took the food away from me and went back. Apparently, someone on the plane had requested vegan food, and they made it special for them. Stewardess mixed up the seat numbers and brought the vegan food to me.

If you were on a plane to Phoenix in the summer of 2007, and you didn’t get your vegan food, I am so sorry.

First Time Abroad

It was my first experience leaving my country, and I realized how little English I spoke. My parents and I were flying to the USA for the first time. My dad had won his Green Card from the lottery, and he was able to bring his wife and children under 21 years old.

I was 20 years and 8 months old when he got his letter. I was already over 21 when we went for the interview, and initially, they declined my application. Luckily, we had the initial letter that was dated April 2006 and after some discussion, they accepted my application. Talk about being lucky…

Traveling to Phoenix, Arizona in summer is not a good idea. It was 110 degrees the day we landed, and we spent 15 days in this heat. We didn’t have a car, so we walked around. Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy.

The First Culture Shock

The initial culture shock put me in a few embarrassing situations. We were walking in a grocery store, and an older gentleman smiled at me and said hi. “Why would someone say hi to a stranger in a grocery store?” I couldn’t process it and didn’t say hi back. I’m sorry the older gentleman from Scottsdale.

Another culture shock was when were out shopping. We were in a strip mall. My dad and I were waiting for my mom outside the store. A car was driving towards us and he stopped. My dad and I looked at each other, and we were trying to understand why he stopped. I told my dad “I think he stopped for us to cross”

We crossed the street out of respect for the guy. After he drove off, we crossed back.

Decisions, Decisions…

We traveled back to Turkey after 15 days, and after I graduated, I had a few options. I had a serious girlfriend who had no desire to move to the USA, and I had the opportunity to open a pharmacy and make a good living. I could have been set at the age of 23, make money, start a family, and live in my country.

Or I could leave everything behind, break up with my girlfriend, and go to the USA with almost no English, no jobs, and no prospects. My pharmacy diploma was not accepted in the USA, and I was not eligible to take the equivalency test. Only people graduated within a 5-year period were not eligible, and I graduated in that 5-year period. Talk about unlucky.

It took me a few months to make the decision. I already knew how my life would have shaped up if I stayed, but no clue if I left. So I decided to find out. I visited my girlfriend, explained to her why I wanted to leave and tried to convince her to come with me. She decided to convince me to stay. We couldn’t come to an agreement. I left.

Moving to the USA

Luckily, I had family in Arizona, and they generously offered me to stay with them for a while. I stayed with them for a couple months before renting a bedroom from a Med School student.

I needed a job and had no idea where to start. I literally applied to every job possible, including fast food restaurants. This is right after the huge economic crisis. I had a few phone interviews, but couldn’t even understand what the person on the line was saying, let alone talking back.

Since I was a pharmacist, I thought maybe I could work at a pharmacy. I walked over to a nearby pharmacy to talk to someone about a job. I practiced my speech.

“I have a pharmacy degree from Turkey, but my diploma is not accepted here. Can I work as a pharmacy technician?”

This was my line, and I practiced over and over again. I walked in the pharmacy, the pharmacist lady welcomed me and asked me how she could help.

“I… pharmacy…. hmmm… technician…. work?”

What was I saying? My brain had the words in the correct order, but my mouth was not cooperating. I blushed with embarrassment. The pharmacist lady was very understanding and helpful. She explained to me how to get my pharmacy technician license with very plain English. I needed to take a test.

So I studied the test material for a week, took the test, and passed within the top 1 percentile. The problem was, I still couldn’t communicate. Even if I worked in a pharmacy, I couldn’t talk to the patients.

I started studying English day and night. When I gave a break, I would watch sitcoms and TV shows. That helped me a lot with spoken English and the American culture. I tried to talk to my roommate, and he was very patient and helpful.

Get a Job Already

6 months later, I was feeling confident and I started applying for pharmacy technician positions. Meanwhile, I asked my relative whom I stayed with whether I could do some volunteer work at the place she worked at. She was working at a non-profit research institute, and I thought I would learn a few things, have people to speak with, and improve my English further.

She spoke to one of the Professors, and he agreed to see me for an interview. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting an interview. I thought I would just show up, bring people coffee and help with the mundane tasks.

The interview sounded serious, so I asked her what kind of things they did there. She told me about a few different laboratory techniques that they use. I stayed up all night, reading up on those techniques, watching YouTube videos, and learning techniques.

During the interview, the Professor asked me about the things I knew, and I was able to tell him all these techniques I was familiar with.

“But I am not very experienced with them” I added to keep the expectations low. Sorry boss, I learned all about them less than 12 hours before the interview.

I was accepted as an unpaid volunteer. I was there before everyone else, and I left after everyone left. I was asking for more and more work. When my mentor had nothing else to give me, I would go to someone else and offer to help them with their work. If they teach me how to do it.

During this time, I was still applying for pharmacy technician jobs, because my boss told me during the interview that after volunteering there for about 6 months, maybe I would qualify for an entry-level job elsewhere. Because of the economic crisis, the place was not hiring. They actually had just laid off 20% of their staff.

2 months after I started, I was offered a full-time position with the same salary as a pharmacy technician would make. Literally 10 minutes after I accepted the offer, I got a call with a job offer for a pharmacy technician position. I didn’t have a job for a year and got two job offers in 10 minutes. I declined the pharmacy technician position and never looked back.

Within 5 years, I got promoted all the way up to the lab manager position. That was 3 years ago, and I still work for the same person, albeit at a different company. When he introduced me to someone, he still tells everyone about how I taught myself English and worked 60-hour weeks without getting paid.

All this experience taught me that there is no growth without pain. Everything you want, but don’t have is outside of your comfort zone. You have to get outside of your comfort zone to get it. I could have stayed in my comfort zone and had a decent life. I just wanted a piece of the American dream, and I am still chasing it every day.