A life left in Lebanon
Karen Elrayes, freshman, shares her story of moving to the United States.
A canvas of green hills dotted with homes and Lebanese towns teeming with lively people are still etched into Karen Elrayes’ mind. The familiar bends in the roads leading to family and friends in her hometown in Lebanon will never be forgotten.
For Karen Elrayes, freshman, growing up in Aley consisted of years of Lebanese school and long days of bonding with family and friends. Elrayes and her family built an “inseparable” tight-knit social life with the local community. Aley, a small city of 85,000 people located 30 miles south of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, emphasized and enabled socializing with family and neighbors. Elrayes’ large family lived close together and frequently shared birthdays, gatherings, and quality time with one another.
“I used to go to my grandparents house [which was nearby]. My cousins and I lived in a building where we all lived in one place. We would always be together and play every day together. And so when I came [to Brea] there was no one, and I miss them too much,” Elrayes said.
The transition from Aley, Lebanon, to Brea, California, has been a challenging one for Elrayes.
In the eyes of many, the United States is a country of opportunity. Before Elrayes was even born, her parents had decided that they would move to the U.S. to open up more possibilities for a better life for the Elrayes family. America has more job opportunities than Lebanon and more means to provide the Elrayes children (Karen has an eight-year old brother, Ronnie) a better future. But it took her parents twelve years to finalize the papers of the move, resulting in Elrayes and her younger brother spending a majority of their childhood in familiar Lebanon.
Elrayes had not even met her father until she was three years old because he was in the U.S. at the time sorting out the move, while her mother remained with Elrayes and her brother. She wishes she could have spent more time with him when she was younger.
“There were two years in between every summer I saw [my dad] and he usually came for December for his birthday, my birthday, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve,” Elrayes said.
However, the question was always, “When would we move?”
At the age of 11, all arrangements were made to accommodate her move to the United States when the realization struck her: She was leaving behind everything she grew up with and might never return to her home again. The house she grew up in that held memories of her childhood best friends and family whom she had seen on a daily basis for all of her life; and all the comforts and her associations of home in Aley were being taken away from her. She clung to the memories of her home country when leaving the familiar geography and liveliness of Lebanon.
In September of 2012, Elrayes walked off the plane from Lebanon with her mother and brother for the first time, entering a new life and the culture shock of a new society, a new culture, and new cuisine back. Also new: Fanning Elementary School and language barriers..
Although in Lebanon she learned Arabic, English, and French, her English was heavily accented which made it harder to “fit it” and communicate with the other kids many of whom already belonged to clusters of close friends. . According to Rola ,mother, “the main obstacle was making new friends. [In Lebanon] she had a lot of friends, and all of a sudden she couldn’t find anyone here. I had to make things as easy as possible [for] her by talking to her everyday and trying to make things [easier on her.]”
Elrayes started off the year sitting at various tables day by day. She strived throughout the year to meet new people and make friends like the ones she dearly missed back in Aley.
She accounts the transition as almost impossible because of how hard it was for her to leave behind “an awesome social life, and everyone in my neighborhood.” Being near most everyone in her neighborhood, Elrayes built up close bonds between people. The life of a teen is school and home, but how do you create another home apart from cousins, grandparents, friends, and all of the people Elrayes grew up with.
Elrayes has returned to visit Lebanon a year after she arrived in the U.S. Despite how much she is missed in her hometown and the troubles she’s had adjusting to a new life in the States, she has served as an inspiration for others who have moved from far away as she did. Teachers, students, and her parents alike who have taught and worked with her have seen her demonstrate her determination to succeed in school.
A s an excellent student who surpassed standards in junior high school and has been a member of National Junior Honors Society, she helps fellow students with almost all subjects, and currently performs in the BOHS’ school band.
Currently, she enjoys the new lifestyle and different day to day events that occur here in Brea that are absent from her old life in Aley. Some of which are dressing up for Halloween, something not commonly practiced in Lebanon, having easier classes and more choices for classes at school, meeting people extravagantly diverse in appearance and culture, and living in a country with more job opportunities in growing fields such as science and mathematics.
“Here all the teachers would stress about reading and books, but in Lebanon I used to not read at all and it was as if they didn’t care. So my English speaking started to improve involuntarily when I got here because I started reading and writing more.” Elrayes said.
Her mom who helped Elrayes through her transition into Brea describes that “later on after a year, things got better and she [found] a lot of friends.”Although the move was difficult for her in countless ways, Elrayes deeply loves living in Brea alongside dozens of new friends and people she has come to know.
In this proud country of immigrants, there are people like Karen Elrayes who witness differences in the world around them. She has lived a life halfway across the world, grown up speaking different language, and left behind much more than beloved family and friends. Elrayes left behind a home and irreplaceable childhood memories, and despite all events and odds, she continues to share a love for both her countries: a love for both of her homes.
