by Mari Magabo
As Miguelina sent her children to bed, she could not help but notice the stillness of the night. Here in Lattimer, Pennsylvania, everything was tranquil and beautiful. Her life in the Dominican Republic was quite different, to say the least. It was almost a complete juxtaposition to her life in America.
In 1985, when Miguelina was born, President Joaquín Balaguer returned to office for a second time. When Balaguer first rose to power, it was after a long string of dictatorship, death, and hardship. Instead, when he became president a second time, he inherited a country with a failing economy. After a couple years, in 1988, the country fell into a two-year recession, marked by high inflation and currency devaluation. The quality of life fell through so badly that some didn’t even have access to basic necessities like water and electricity. Luckily for Miguelina, even in these troublesome times, her family had enough money and resources to remain relatively unscathed by the recession.
The recession and the lower quality of life drove a lot of Dominicans out of the country. In the 1980s, many lower class Dominicans began to move to the United States for jobs, a sharp contrast to the past when the upper class were the ones who emigrated. Miguelina was happy she never had to leave her country under those terms. She could not imagine a life where she, her mother and father, her three brothers, and her sister lived in the United States instead of the Dominican Republic. In 1990, the economy slowly began to heal after a second round of new economic reformations, and for ten years, the Dominican Republic’s GDP increased steadily.
Though she had a happy life, the Dominican Republic still had its problems. It was not the hustle and bustle of city life that kept Miguelina awake at night. There was an imbalance of power between men and women in her country. She had no hatred for men, nor did she feel that Dominican men were any lesser than American men, but as far as her experiences showed her, it was the law and the culture that permitted men in the Dominican to dominate so strongly. She was blessed; no man had ever laid a hand on her or her daughter with malicious intent, but she wished she could say the same about her best friends.
Everything was backwards. If she made her own money and paid the bills, why should she let a man control her life? Why would she let a man ever hurt her, physically or emotionally, and accept the abuse just because he was a man?
She wished she could have said something to help her friends, but if she did, nothing would have been done. The crime would go unnoticed by the world. On the rare occasion that it had been reported, if the man was rich enough, he could simply pay the judge and return to a life of hurting and beating women.
When she had Esmailen, her whole world changed. She went from a woman working as a pharmacist to pay her bills to a woman with a child. Every decision she made was for Esmailen. Every thought she had was of Esmailen. Every dish she cooked was for Esmailen. Everything she bought was for Esmailen. She thought it was selfish to just live for herself; Miguelina lived for her.
It was for Esmailen’s sake that she decided to be single. It was simply easier that way—easier and safer. Even Esmailen preferred it that way; whenever a man approached Miguelina, she would say, “That’s my mother,” as if to remind him that Miguelina was hers and would never be his.
When Miguelina separated from her ex-husband, she went to her mother for help. Although Miguelina was sure of her abilities as a mother, she knew that Esmailen would benefit from living with her grandmother. Miguelina’s mother was tough and unbending, but it was her mother’s ethic that shaped Miguelina into a strong woman. Any young girl could benefit from that.
For a long time, it was the three of them: Miguelina, Esmailen, and her mother. Together, they were strong. They kept one another safe from the world and the law. That was their life, and it did not change until recently.
Her cousin, Maria, had moved to the United States. She, along with other Dominicans that emigrated to America, had told her many stories about America’s greatness. She said that in America, there was no fear of domestic violence like in the Dominican Republic. You had to follow the law in America, or you didn’t have a place. It was perfect in Miguelina’s mind, though Miguelina wasn’t one for just ideas. While many other Dominicans only dreamed of America and stopped there, Miguelina had always wanted to prove to herself America’s perfection, to go see the land of opportunity for herself and size it up with her own eyes.
Five years ago, Maria moved to a Hazleton. One day, as she and Miguelina chatted on the phone, Maria gave her shocking news. Maria was a security guard in Hazleton’s mall, and apparently, there was Boscov’s sales assistant named Chris who was interested in Miguelina.
Miguelina was flabbergasted, but she wasn’t so easily swept off her feet. She said to Maria that he so desperately wanted to get to know her, he needed to come meet her first.
Amazingly, he took her invitation to heart, and he flew down to the Dominican Republic to meet her face-to-face. Who knew he was that serious? With barely any knowledge of the other’s native tongues, Miguelina found herself intrigued by him and the notion of America. Even Esmailen, who was normally cold to men, warmed up to Chris quickly. He was, after all, a very friendly man. Still, she was wary of Chris. What was his true nature? Was a good man? Was his friendly demeanor a mask for something sinister and violent? Would he get along with Esmailen?
His visit to the Dominican Republic was just a visit, but when he returned home, every week, they talked frequently on the phone—at least five times a day. Their phone calls were awkward at first. The language barrier was ever present. In the beginning, he only knew of a few words in Spanish and her name. She, on the other hand, could understand English but had difficulties speaking it. Surprisingly, Chris had dedication like no other; every week, he learned more and more Spanish just to speak to her. Slowly, they picked apart the wall of communication between them, and Miguelina revealed more and more of Chris’ true nature.
There was not a bad bone in him, she realized. He was wonderful. It didn’t take her long to decide he was the one. On October 24, 2009, Miguelina and Chris married in the United States, and that was the start of her new life in America.
In December of 2009, she and Esmailen moved to America permanently. The first American thing that truly hit her was the cold. She came to understand that winter’s depictions in media were highly romanticized. There was an ugly sting no one in movies talked about when they laid in the snow to make pretty snow angels or when they picked up snow with their thinly gloved hands to throw snowballs. In movies, winter was pretty, but as far as she knew, it was brutal.
They didn’t wait long for Chris; he was already anxiously waiting for their arrival at the airport when they landed. As soon as they made sure to pick their bags up from the baggage carousel, they left the comfort of the airport’s heated halls and braved the outside. Miguelina could not believe how cold it was. She remembered taking one step out of the airport’s automatic sliding doors and then running straight back inside, shrieking in surprise.
“Mom, it’s not that bad,” Esmailen said. Miguelina thought she was crazy; neither of them had jackets thick enough for the Pennsylvanian winter. Even after three years of living in the U.S., she still found herself wearing socks in the summertime.
Esmailen was quick to adapt to America. That was the good thing about being young; you could adapt better. She had no problems learning English, while Miguelina still, to this day, has difficulty finding the right words to express herself. Esmailen’s accent was impeccable, while Miguelina still had to take ESL classes at the Hazleton community center to perfect her speech.
Learning English was undoubtedly hard. Every language had its nuances and subtleties that were not always obvious to a beginner. Fortunately, Miguelina didn’t find the daunting task of learning English too daunting. She already knew a lot of English going into the class from exposure at home and working at her packaging job at Amazon, and with her friends also taking ESL classes, Tuesday and Thursday night classes became undoubtedly fun and informative.
Four years after their marriage, she and Chris added another child to their family: Jayden. He was as energetic and bubbly as his big sister, and at one year old, Miguelina could not believe how much he’s grown. Every day, she speaks to him in Spanish much to Chris’ dismay. To Rocco, it was much more important that Jayden learned English. Miguelina disagreed. In a world where he would use English every day, he will learn English no matter what. Bilingualism would give him an edge in today’s world. Not only that, but speaking in Spanish is part of his cultural identity as a Dominican. She does not care much for what Chris thinks; she hopes that Jayden will speak both English and Spanish fluently and is able to communicate with both his American and Dominican family.
She was happy that her children had so many more privileges that she did not have. Just having the opportunity to learn English at a young age is invaluable. She was glad they would get a quality education where they have a real opportunity to succeed. She truly believed it was safer here in America. Miguelina knew there were still dangers, though. After she saw the shooting of the young children in Newton, she wanted to homeschool Esmailen, but Miguelina realized that after all the violence, justice was still served. She could still believe in America. Part of her still needs America to prove its worth to her, but from what she’s seen, the culture in America was one of justice.
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