ANATOLII
How did I leave my homeland?
You know, people come to the USA in different ways. Some consciously plan their move, learn the language, prepare documents, get acquainted with the peculiarities of life, learn the language, save money. Someone wins a Green Card and has some time to prepare. And someone is my family.
Explosions, sirens, war. Small children who are afraid of loud sounds. And their whole life is placed in 2 suitcases. Do you know what it means to send your wife and 2 children (5 and 3 years old) across the border to nowhere? and in your soul you feel that maybe this is the last time you will see them. Therefore, moving was not difficult for me. Why? Because after 1.5 years of separation, my home was already across the Ocean. Where my family is. I did not realize this.
I understood one thing. Where my family is, there is my home. My parents died. I have a sister. But she decided to stay with her family.
Once at a doctor’s appointment, my therapist, who is from Ukraine and has lived here for 34 years, told me: if you want peace of mind, stand with two feet in the USA, not one foot in the USA and the other in Ukraine. And learn English!!
AI, the hero of the story is very reserved…..
It seems to me that she does not allow herself to live fully. It is crazy that her childhood was very difficult and strict. Therefore, it is not right to judge her. She had to experience many things in the past. We do not know how we would have acted if we were in her place. Therefore, she is hyper protective of her children.
She did not have the support of the father of her children and did everything herself all her life. And this is very difficult. Such people have a developed sense of hyper-responsibility. She could never allow herself to be weak, drink a glass of wine to relax, sing or do something for herself.
I am alone. I am responsible for my children. I cannot show my children my weakness. I cannot drink wine to relax because it is a demonstration of a bad habit to children. Of course, in my opinion, such a life has serious consequences. If you live only for children, there comes a time when children should receive more freedom, make their own mistakes, make decisions, take responsibility, build their own lives. And when this happens, a person seems to lose the meaning of life, because he does not know how to live for himself.
I once heard that one should not live for children, but live with children. That is why the independent behavior of children, loneliness on a cruise and two glasses of wine allowed the hero to realize herself and do something for herself. Perhaps for the first time!
TETIANA
When she’s a little drunk (from 2 glasses of wine), Ai sings at the Karaoke party.
The song Ai sang at the karaoke party, called “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me,” was not chosen by her for no reason. Because of her loneliness, she realizes that her children are growing up and becoming more and more separated from her, which is really difficult. Especially after years spent with them, caring for them and loving them, when they and their happiness are her main priority, she has a desire for them to have a better childhood than she did.
Also, through lines of the song such as “You said you would always stay, It wasn’t me who changed but you, And now you’ve gone away Don’t you see that now you’ve gone And I’m left here on my own,” she expresses the pain she felt in childhood when her parents left her forever with strangers, believing that this would make her life better.
So this song is important to Ai because it allows her to express her feelings and emotions about all these situations that have happened in her life.
Your own “Family” experience
In my case, I had to leave my parents and my country because of the war, which is really difficult, especially knowing that if it weren’t for that, my life would be completely different. I wouldn’t have the problems I have now, and my family wouldn’t experience so much stress.
Thanks to the U4U and the fact that my relatives invited me to New York, I ended up here.
At first, it was especially difficult for me to be in a country I didn’t know, far from my family and friends, with people who, despite being my relatives, were actually more like acquaintances I talked to on the phone once or twice a year, which made me feel really lonely. I had to get used to it, learn to go to different places on my own, and stop being anxious.
JUAN
Well, I can tell you that cruises are one of my favorite vacation activities. My wife and I have had the opportunity to take several cruises, and we still love them. I remember the first time we did it: we were amazed by the idea of going to sleep after having fun and eating our fill of delicious food, and waking up in front of a paradise island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. That’s what made us fall in love with cruises. We felt like we weren’t wasting a single minute of our vacation; every minute was wonderfully spent.
I can tell you about a bunch of good places we have visited on cruises but I think this time I can tell you a shocking anecdote we experienced on our last one. The last cruise we did started a little differently, in past occasions the ships have been really fancy and big, this one for the contrary were kind of old with moderate size in comparison.
At that moment, we thought that was not a big difference and the ship set sail. Ten minutes later, we felt the difference: the movement was notorious and some of our friends started to feel dizzy. Apart from that, the weather was not the best. It was a cloudy day and with a storm possibility. We and our friends just tried to create our own good vibes and hope for the best for the rest of the 9 days of cruise!
But on the night of that same day – an announcement! Suddenly we heard the staff started to talk through the speakers: “We inform you that we have to go a few miles back, closer to the coast. We had an emergency: a passenger needs assistance and the rescue helicopter needs the ship to be closer to the coast to be able to pick the passenger up!”
We were shocked. What happened?! a rescue helicopter!? Where will the helicopter land? We started to talk to each other. We even tried to ask someone but we got no clear answer.
This is what happened – in the middle of the windy and rainy night, a red helicopter appeared! It stayed in the air close to the deck of the ship. From it, rescuers threw some ropes and one of them descended to receive a stretcher that came after him.
Several minutes later, we could see the maneuver of how the rescuers went back up to the helicopter after the injured on the stretcher. We could not see any of the interaction with the injured because we were confined inside the ship.
The helicopter disappeared and went back to Florida while the cruise went back to normal as nothing happened. And then that night was over and thank God the next cruising days and destinations were great as usual for us!
In this link, you can see one of the destinations.
DMITRII
“A cruise”
When I lived in St. Petersburg, I took four Baltic Sea cruises. For the first time, Baltic Sea cruises will depart from Helsinki, Finland, followed by Stockholm, Sweden. You can add more cities, for example, Helsinki – Stockholm (Sweden) – Copenhagen (Denmark) – Rostock (Germany) – Riga (Latvia) – Tallinn (Estonia). Later, cruises began departing from St. Petersburg.
My sister was living in Stockholm at that time. It was amazing. First of all, it’s the food! A real buffet, I have never seen such a variety of food. Everything is fresh and tasty. My middle sister, dad, and I always ran to the buffet and took more than we could eat. My mother was always ashamed of us and she called us barbarians.
The ship had a large parking lot, we always took a car, it’s very convenient, you can buy various things, equipment, food and load it into the car. The cruise ship had many different shops, restaurants, casinos, cinemas, fitness centers, bowling alleys, and spa centers.
Indescribable impressions, beauty.
I remember one moment ’ every evening there was live music playing, classical, pop, different. The whole family went to an Italian restaurant where an Italian woman played the piano and sang. My dad drank some wine and began to look at the young Italian woman with admiration. His mouth even dropped open. I thought my mother would kill my father. I pulled my dad, but my mom was silent the whole evening (it was the last evening on the cruise) then on to Stockholm.
My mother would go around Stockholm and buy things in boutiques (Chanel, Dolce ’ my mother’s favorite designer, Christian Dior). My father felt unwell after every purchase. We weren’t rich, just solidly middle class.
After that incident, Dad never looked at others (although, in reality, he wasn’t looking at the Italian woman in the restaurant, but listening to her music). My mother simply seized on the opportunity. 
“A cruise”
My dream is to take a rail trip. I really love rail. I don’t know why. I dream of going on a trip along the famous Eastern European Railways. Just imagine you are eating and enjoying nature, history, and the spirit of old Europe. (The only thing is that this is not a cheap pleasure.)
https://www.belmond.com/trains/europe/venice-simplon-orient-express
WUXUE
Letting go as a parent
As a parent, I tried to hold my kids tightly. But as time went by, I started learning to let them go on their own. The first time I became a father, I was really strict with them. I was always fearful for them about everything. I wasn’t afraid that they would make mistakes, but I worried that they would repeat them again and again. So, I always gave them a time-out when they did it a second time or more.
Now, I am learning to let them go. They are growing up and starting to have their own minds and thoughts. If you punish them a lot, they will rebel against you more. I realize that I will push them away by holding them too tightly.
I am also learning some things as they grow. I changed my tone and strategy, only giving them advice or telling them what the right things are without crossing the line of rules. I believe that they will learn through experience and do well.
“A cruise”
I haven’t had a chance to take a cruise yet, but I would like to go on a cruise trip. If I had time, I would like to see the icebergs and penguins and travel to a lot of countries. I saw the sea views in pictures on the internet, which were pretty awesome. The sunrise and sunset on the horizon, as well as the aurora borealis at night, were beautiful and memorable. The blue whales and seagulls were swimming and flying in the endless expanse of the blue sea and sky.
Time is up for thinking. Now, the first thing is definitely to make money if you want to enjoy a wonderful cruise, because you will be staying on it for a long time, and there are many things to explore—not just the views.
SIDI
Taking a cruise
So far, I haven’t been on a sea trip, but maybe in the future I will take a trip to Alaska. I wish to see the vast blue ice and the whales jumping in front of the ship. I love cold weather, calm, and nature, (not crowded beaches), because they give me peace and comfort.
Letting go as a parent
Ai was very worried about her children because no one had protected her when she was little, and she always wanted to keep them safe. On the cruise, she let them go and play by themselves for the first time, and they came back happy, laughing, and telling stories about their new adventures.
Every time she saw that they were fine without her, her heart calmed a little, and she understood that too much protection could tire them. In the end, she realized that her greatest reward was learning to let them grow and to trust them.
MARCELA
If you HAVE taken a cruise, write a paragraph about your experience on the ship and explain how you spent your time, where you went, what you saw, and the people you met on the cruise. Include any photos from your cruise!
Some years ago, one of my younger sisters turned fifteen a birthday that, in my culture, is highly celebrated because it marks the transition from girlhood to womanhood. My sister Yesika told my parents that she didn’t want a party; instead, she preferred to take a trip with her friends on a cruise. For my father, it was a dangerous idea to let Yesika go alone with her friends on a ship that held at least two thousand people. Instead of simply telling her no, he decided that everyone in the family would have to buy a ticket for the same cruise.
For Yesika, that decision was not a happy ending, but with no strong arguments against it, she had to agree.
In January, we booked a cruise for December to celebrate her birthday and the New Year on board. There were nine of us on the trip, and we made many friends, ate delicious food, and enjoyed unlimited snacks and drinks. Each of us discovered that the cruise offered many kinds of entertainment, such as pools, theaters, casinos, stand-up comedy shows, games, and fun for everyone.
We started the adventure in Cartagena, Colombia, then continued to Panama, Roatán in Honduras, Jamaica, and the Grand Cayman Islands. Each place had beautiful beaches, wonderful people, and amazing landscapes. This trip brought us a great deal of happiness as a family.
IURII
“A cruise”
I had only one river cruise from Moscow to Saint Petersburg and back with my grandfather. It was a round trip, they used different rivers for both to diverse landscapes. The trip took 14 days. Usually we stopped 1-2 times a day in ports. We saw a lot of historical places with amazing nature.
During the trip I walked on the stops, met some new people and hang out with them. There were a lot of activities like karaoke, billiard, table tennis, board games, gym and so on. I recommend a river trip – it’s more involving, in my opinion.
Your own “Family” experience
Starting a new life wasn’t difficult for me, but also it’s an unusual experience. Sometimes, I feel like I’m a kindergarten student, because I didn’t understand what people are talking about. It’s really uncomfortable. Nowadays, I understand better but not always clearly enough.
A lot of things don’t exist in my country or existed long time ago like paychecks, initially I couldn’t understand how to use it. Nowadays, I feel much more comfortable; however, it takes a long time to adopt to a new country.
I never lost connection with my family – fortunately, we keep in touch every day.