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Israel to New York toArizona
Me again, with my boss Liz, who's mother is from Israel.
(To)
While looking for an interviewee for my crossing the valley project I decided that I did not just want to interview a random immigrant, I wanted to do someone that I already knew a little about. I though of my bosses family because they are from Israel, so I interviewed my bosses (Liz) mother, Ora Abramov. I have talked with Ora on a regular basis before the interview, but never about her experiences as an immigrant. I asked Ora if it was all right if I asked her a few questions about her life as an immigrant, she was kina of excited about the whole interview. Ora is from Tel Aviv, Israel and came to America on 2/20/1980. “I came to America to be free like a bird.” I herd about America and how much better the life was there, so we saved some money and came to America. When she came to America she lived in Queens, NY. She already had some family in America; her father and sister came to New York first a bit before her. It was a little difficult to fit in with others Americans, but fitting in was easier for the children. Ora still struggles to fit in through out her every day life. In Israel Ora was a Nurse, but when coming to America she had to clean houses to help support the family. Ora went back to school, while still living in Queens, and became an optometrist. I 1997 she brought her self and her 3 daughters, Liz, Tammy and Dianna to live in Arizona. She was no longer married to her first husband. She went back to school when here in the Valley to get her real-estate licenses. Every thing was very different for Ora living in America, the dress and not just the language barrier, but also the different accents. She has been treated differently mainly because of her speech. She talks with an extremely heavy accent and is often hard to understand. She stands out, she does not look like an American, but Ora says, “ I don’t want to be American, and I want to be like these Americans, I like to be different.” Ora has learned English, but that is the extent of her dealing with language barriers, “people should understand me.” She expected American streets to be paved with gold, ha ha ha ha. Ora expected America to have higher paying jobs, cheaper living and an easier life. For the first 15 years of living in America it was definitely not that, because they lived in New York, a tough, expensive city. Ora has lived in Israel, to New York and now Arizona. In Phoenix, AZ on about Cactus and Tatum. Picture, Interview and Writing by Nick Beal (and finally to Phoenix, AZ)
The Abramov's, originally from New York. "In New York, 90 percent of the 45,000 cab drivers are foreign born." The New Immigrants by Charles S. Clark. pg.57 For more information about Israel click below. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/is.html
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