Imagine a town in the United States of America where the population of Hispanics very well exceeds three fourths of the total population. A place where a visit to your roots and culture is but a few minutes away. What you have imagined is my lovely border town- Laredo, Texas. What is outstanding here is the culture. It is unlike that of many cities in the U.S. This is because most of the residents are tied to a Hispanic heritage on way or another. I lived most of my life crossing the border often. I lived at my grandmother’s house with my parents in Nuevo Laredo, our “sister city”, when I was baby. When my sister was born we moved to Laredo. My grandmother retired from being a principal, she became our babysitter as both my parents worked long hours to pay for our newly acquired trailer home in the then outskirts of town. My grandmother had already taught me to read and write Spanish, aside from me already speaking English, before I even went to pre-kindergarten.
In language is how I believe my Hispanic heritage has helped shape me the most because it was through the fact that I grew up knowing both English and Spanish that allowed me to learn to connect the two different worlds I knew and thrived in. My education was in English but as I …show more content…
For the most part the Hispanic values taught at home were strict and antiquated and the “American” ones were modern giving responsibility and freedom to the young individual. I felt like I had little freedom compared some of my friends whose families were more Americanized, because they could go out freely with our conditions unlike me. Where I had to ask for permission, and give a near itinerary every time I wanted to go out. However now that I am older I appreciate this, because I did not make the mistakes my friends had to deal with for having said