It is my first time in America and I am overwhelmed. This place that I have landed in doesn’t look anything like Belize where I have come from. Belize is green and full of life, but the view I get from the plane is grey and has few trees and wildlife. As I get off the plane and step foot into the great airport of Chicago, I am lost because it is the biggest airport I have ever seen and it’s full of people. Everyone minds their own business and walks quickly through the crowds. Luckily I speak English, like they do in Belize, so I am able to ask people how I can get to my bags. Fortunately for me, my family in Belize was wealthy so I was able to attend school and learned to read and to write. Slowly I found my way to the bags and successfully retrieved mine, when I was called for my ride. I came from Belize to stay at an American’s house in Glenview, Illinois to go to school for a few months before returning home. I climb into the car and begin my journey to Glenview. Most of the drive was on the highway and there was nothing to look at but big buildings. As the driver pulled off the highway we reached the town of Glenview. This place has more trees than in the city, but relative to Belize there is nothing but some small ‘forests’ that only last a block or less. The next thing that I notice is how huge the houses are here. Families must share houses here because there is no way that people could possibly live like this when in Belize they live in small apartments or in shacks made up of tin. I decide to ask the driver about these houses, and to my amazement only one family lives in these houses! Why would only one small family need such a big space? Finally I arrive at the house I will be staying in, and it’s the biggest house I have every seen. I cannot believe that only four people live there, it seems like such a waste when the people of Belize live in ruins and are perfectly happy. The people I stay with are nice enough, but I feel strange here. It’s hard to get used to living in such excess, hen where I come from I live on only the necessities.
The people I meet here are nice, but not friendly the way they are at home. I learned a lot about American culture during my visit but I don’t think that I would live this way. I will never forget how much is wasted in America, space, food, water, everything. Americans are wealthy in a different way than wealthy people in Belize. The wealthy from Belize live in nicer homes, and have nicer clothes, and their children can regularly attend school but we don’t live in excess the way they do here. I would enjoy coming back to America for a short visit, but it would be very difficult to get used to the way of life when I grew up in Belize.
