My parents are immigrants with strong ties to their home countries so I had a passport before I could walk. As a kid I was so confused as to why most my friends had never been outside the United States! We were always traveling to visit family. My mother’s entire family lives in Austria. We travel there about every three years for weddings, birthdays, Christmases, and family vacations. While I haven’t yet picked up the language, I’ve grown close to my family and have a fondness for the country and the culture. In 2011, my sister and I went to Austria by ourselves for the first time to celebrate our 3rd Christmas (we’re Jewish). During that trip we went shopping with a few of my aunts and cousins for traditional Austrian dresses called dirndls. Dirndls are mid-length dresses that have a low scoop neck that you wear with a white puffy shirt underneath the dress and a matching apron. They are fairly expensive and are worn for parties and celebrations. Even though we had no intention of buying one my sister and had a lot of fun trying them on with our cousins. My aunt had me and my sister try on the same dresses and later we found out that she had bought us one to share. My sister and I pass this dress back and forth. We’ve worn it rarely, a few times for Christmas celebrations and once I wore it for Halloween but I’m so glad we have one. It’s one of many things that keeps me connected to my heritage and Austrian family. 
 

– Ellysheva Zeira

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant