chaldean on the STREET
chaldean on the STREET What’s your mother’s biggest misunderstanding about you? By Anthony Samona Times have changed between the new Chaldean generation and the old Chaldean generation. In honor of Mother’s Day, young community members shared their thoughts about the generation gap with their Chaldean mothers. Something my mom would never understand is what it’s like being a Chaldean teenager growing up in America. The way we do things are totally different from the way she did things growing up in Iraq. She thinks my siblings and I should be how she was growing up in the homeland. She is old-fashioned about certain things most of the time. Hanging out with friends and texting all the time are a few things she always asks a lot of questions about. Michele Yono, 17 West Bloomfield Something my mom never understands about me is that I work full time and attend college so I have very little extra time on my hands. I am barely home because I’m working so much with school, work and studying. So whenever I tell my mom that I’m going somewhere, she yells, “you’re always out!” As if I’m always having fun. My mom also questions me and is always concerned about my friends who are not Chaldean. She’ll ask me a million questions about their family, parents, what they do for a living, and many other questions as well. Leena Kashat, 19 Commerce Township “Men mithlih?” Who died? is the first question that pops into my mom’s head every time she sees me or someone else wearing black. She assumes right away that if someone is wearing black clothes, it’s because they are mourning for the loss of another. My mom also is behind on today’s technology. She always yells my name in the morning to come downstairs and turn on the Internet and pull up YouTube so she can watch her Arabic shows. After how many times I showed her how to do it herself, she still doesn’t get it. Rebecca Ayar, 20 White Lake My mom and touch screens do not get along. Since everything is turning into touch screens like our phones and cameras, it is very hard for her to use. I always tell her, “Mom, don’t push too hard!” And yet, she still pushes hard and nothing works. Another example of what my mom doesn’t understand about me is my work schedule. She’ll always try to control my schedule for work, whether if it’s closing too late, not getting enough hours, or not getting paid enough. Nothing ever suits her! Vanessa Jarbo, 20 Novi Something my mom and I are never on the same page on is what most young Chaldeans know how to do best: texting! It takes very long for me to teach my mom how to read and write a text. It gets frustrating at times, but after all the times I try to teach her, she still does not get it. Another example is that my mom sometimes won’t understand slang words. For example, if my brothers are having a conversation about football and a really good pass was thrown, I would say, “That was a sick pass” — as in a great pass. My mom would think of it as not good because being sick isn’t a good thing. Adrian Salem, 20 West Bloomfield Starbucks! My mom doesn’t understand the Starbucks concept and she always tells me, “We have coffee at home! Why did you go and buy?” I guess she doesn’t see the difference between Folgers and a Caramel Macchiato. Janelle Yaldo, 22 Keego Harbor My mom does not understand how I drive, and she never will. After three years of having my driver’s license and never getting a ticket or into any accidents, my mom will never get into the same car as me, even if her life depended on it. She’s scared out of her life and she still treats me as if I were a new driver on the road. Brandon Foumia, 18 West Bloomfield My mom will never know how to compose a text message in her life. I can remember when I told her before I left for school that I am going to send her a text message so she can call me out of school at 1:30. I’m waiting and waiting and it so happens that she never called me out because when she received the text message she thought her phone was broken. Justin Samona, 18 West Bloomfield Something that is hard for my mom to understand is the concept of sending e- mails. She always asks me the same questions every time I try to teach her. One time, my mom needed to e- mail one of my teachers secretly because she wanted to check up on how I was doing in class. She ended up asking me for help, and it turned out that I wrote the whole e-mail for my teacher. Furat Elia, 18 Walled Lake Whenever I do homework and come across a problem I do not know how to do, I’ll ask my mom to see if she can help me with it, but she never knows how! The subjects taught in Iraq years ago compared to the subjects taught in America today are very different, and it’ll be harder for my mom to understand how to help me with it. Brandon Nafso, 15 Walled Lake 28 CHALDEAN NEWS MAY 2010 cn0510_0156.indd 28 4/27/10 5:52:26 PM
MAY 2010 CHALDEAN NEWS 29 cn0510_0156.indd 29 4/27/10 5:52:46 PM
