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More then just

"crossing the valley"

Lets take some time to met one of our neighbors in the valley of the sun,  who has taken a journey to become a neighbor to this community and this country. 

So for the last several months I have been working at a private school in Glendale, were I work with many exceptional educators including a new teacher named Curt. One day I was talking to Curt during lunch about this migration and culture class here at ASU West; I was describing the entire course and about this final “Crossing the Valley” project were I needed to interview an immigrant to the United States. Unexpectedly Curt started to tell me about his home life and his wife of nearly two years Emmanuelle who is originally from Brazil. A light went off, and the next thing I knew I was sitting in their apartment near Arrowhead mall talking to Curt and his lovely wife about her migration to the United States and to the Phoenix metropolitan area. So with no further hesitation here is Emmanuelle Goncalvesdesouza Ogland story about migrating to this country.

Emmanuelle’s story –

My name is Emmanuelle Goncalvesdesouza Ogland I am a twenty six year old women from Belo Horizonote Minas Gerais, Brazil. Belo Horizonote is located in the South East of Brazil. It is southwest from Rio de Janeiro a six-hour car ride. I immigrated into the United States a short time ago to be with my American Born husband and this is my crossing the valley story –

A few years ago in 2002 I went to Minnesota to visit a friend named Eddy. He was in college at a small private school called Northwestern. Eddy was a friend that I met some time ago and who gave me the opportunity to stay with him as I visited the USA.  This was my first time in America. I was only 22 and very excited about my trip. When I got there I met Eddy’s college roommate Curt who was a psychology major. He was really nice. Curt and I became pretty good friends while I visited the states for the month and even continued to communicate threw email after I returned too my hometown of Belo Horizonote Minas Gerais, Brazil.  “Belo Horizonote means beautiful Horizon in English” 

In Brazil I worked as a teacher, teaching the theory of crime at a local police station. I have a pretty good education; I graduated with a degree in social sciences from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. What’s really cool about Brazil is that everybody can go to college and it doesn’t really cost anything. I mean if you go to a federal college you can go to school for almost nothing. There is private schools in Brazil you can go to but most people go to the federal ran schools like I did. A degree in social sciences is kind of like a social studies degree. It focuses on Sociology, anthropology, and Political Science. My specialty was in Political science. This gave me a great opportunity in Brazil for decent jobs.

In the end of 2003 Curt moved to Brazil to be with me. It was very difficult for Curt; he couldn’t speak the language and had virtually no chance in getting a job in Brazil any time soon. It is very hard to get a job in Brazil if you are not connected. Nepotism runs rapid through out Brazil, which is good and bad at the same time. Families are very important in Brazil so, many times one family member will give a job to anther family member even if they are not necessarily qualified for that particular job. This makes it very hard sometimes to get into certain fields in Brazil.

While in Brazil Curt and I got married in June of 2004. Seven months later we moved to the United States, but instead of going to Minnesota were Curt is from we moved to Phoenix. While Curt was in college his parents moved out to Phoenix so we thought it would be better to move there. This was very tough for me. I left my entire family a good career were I made decent money and many friends to go to a totally new environment were neither of us really new anybody for the exception of his parents. It was a culture shock to me.   I don’t have many friends here in Arizona. In fact I have been really lonely here until recently when I found a small group of people who are from Brazil that met ever once in a while near was we live. That has helped me out a lot.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the United States it is so much easier to live her then it is in Brazil. It is much safer here. I don’t worry as much about things in America as I did in Brazil. There is a better sense of security in the US. People in Brazil have large fences and big gates surrounding their homes, a lot like stars do here in the states. But most people have streets and drive ways that lead you to their front doors. In the simplest terms, I just feel safer here.

Don’t get me wrong I still love Brazil, It is very different then America.     

I lived with my parents who are now divorced. My father got remarried and I have two sisters. Desiree and Ellen.  In Brazil it is customary for a young lady lives with her a parents until she gets married. Two very loving parents in a middle class neighborhood raised me to respect my family and to respect all adults. The culture of Brazil is very different then it is in America. In Brazil people are more involved in their neighbors and their families lives. Every week my family got together for family gatherings like picnics and other connecting activities. When I say my family I don’t just mean my parents and siblings, I mean all of my family. My uncle’s aunts, Grandparents, in other words my entire family would get together on a weekly basis. We also spent a lot of time with our neighbors, everyone new who everyone was and were everyone worked at.  Families would go to work with each other and help each other out for jobs and careers. If you didn’t invite your family to your work you were considered an outcast or some kind of black sheep to your family. Socially it was so much easier in Brazil. It didn’t cost as much to go out on the town or to go to a nice restaurant to eat. You had a big circle of close friends all around your neighborhood. I really miss that here in the States.

In America everyone is too busy to spend time with their families and their neighbors. I don’t even know whom my neighbors are that I live next to today. That’s very strange and foreign to me. People are more individualized here, family isn’t as important to Americans. Their passions are more important then spending time with loved ones. Personal cars are everywhere in the States.

A Honda Civic is a commonly middle class type of car in America but in Brazil it would be a luxury car. Partially to the prices to get a automobile into the country of Brazil. (Destination costs and fees)  Public transportation is more common in Brazil, just like it is in New York or other major cities in the world. Phoenix is a smaller city to me. My hometown has almost five million people in it and acts like a big city unlike here. Again that goes to the more individualized culture Phoenix has. Everyone has to have a car. My husband went nuts for the first few months in Brazil with out a car.        

There is such a bigger discrepancy of the haves and the Have knot’s in Brazil, much more then there is in the United States. The middle class is disappearing from the country and many more people are considered poor now days. Most crimes in Brazil are based on need, the need for food and shelter, not for greed.

That’s the one thing that scares me of the US. There are so many scary people her. Crime seems to be more violent, when it happens here. Kids do not have respect for adults like they do in Brazil. In my culture I was brought up to respect adults and authority figures, but kids today in America are scary. I could never teacher in a public school here. I would be to afraid of the kids and what they might do.

I know it sounds like I have gone back and forth a lot about things but for the exception of the kids and how they act towards adults I think America is much safer then Brazil. I just wish Americans would really take some time and see how other countries are struggling while Americans have almost everything they could ever want.

If I had to chance to do it all over again, I would. I would leave Brazil to come to America, but I hope someday to go back to Brazil maybe not to live there or maybe I will if I get my masters Degree I will. You never really know. But I want to make this my home for at least now. 

The last thing I wanted to say was that I am not Mexican. I am not illegal. So leave me alone. Stop starring at me like I am here to steal your jobs or something or like I ran across the border. I am from Brazil not Mexico, there is a very big difference between the two. I speak Portuguese not Spanish.  

The other night I was walking out of a restaurant with my husband and two white guys were starring at me trying to decide weather I was Mexican or not. It made me feel really uneasy. I know immigration is a big deal to everyone in the southwest part of the country, but living and surviving is important to everyone. 

Again my name is Emmanuelle Goncalvesdesouza Ogland I am from Belo Horizonote Minas Gerais, Brazil. Belo Horizonote is located in the South East of Brazil and yes migrated to the United States and this was my story.

check out my Crossing the Valley Analysis page.

check out my Crossing the Valley  Brazil page.