My father Yuriy came to Unites states from Ukraine in 1999, he said as he was coming he did not know what to expect from the country, where he was going, what the place looks like, and what kind of challenges will be facing him. As he came the troubles began, when my dad had any problem, questions, wanted to buy something, talk to someone outside or when he wasn’t working with his native group he could not explain himself, that was very difficult, frustrating and challenging for him, he had a limit in communication. My father found another challenge as time past, years, a hard problem he faced was missing his family, he would get stressed and feel lonely every time he would come home from work. A lot of things changed with time, when my dad started to go to school at night, he started to practice write in English and learn English with some of his friends, he had his own vocabulary book, that he could carry in his pocket and whenever he wanted to say something he would look inside it. After that it was a bit easier, he said when he was talking to the clients (he worked in construction), “my English is not so good” and they would respond in saying “don't worry, just talk.” He lived in an area where there is a lot of Ukrainian and Russian speakers. Later on as our whole family came, me, two older brother’s and our mother, all his worries went away. He no more worry about language, which he already could speak.

– Myroslav Grynyuk

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