My Cultural Identity: Growing Up In A Mexican-American Family

Alondra Chavez-Cardenas
September 18,2015
3rd Period
H10 English
Mrs.Smith
EA#1: My Cultural Identity
Growing up in a Mexican-American family can be very fun and crazy. Having two different perspectives on two different cultures almost daily really shapes you to become a certain way as you grow up, which is what happened to me. Ever since I was about three months old I have been taking trips to my parents home town for a month time each time we have gone. Practically growing up in both Mexico and the United States for six years has really helped me understand my cultural background and the different parts of my whole culture, such as the food, heritage, language and culture.
Culture

depending on where you live can affect how a person grows up. I personally think that say I have a small family is a very big understatement. Just on my mother's side there are 13 people in total. And on my father's side he has about 8 people in his family, and I haven't met them all, just yet. I think my family has had a very big impact on me. My mother's side of the family is very close. I remember one very specific time when some of my family and extended family were driving down to Mexico and we would always stop and switch which car we would ride in. It really helped blend us together and It didn't even feel like we're apart of a different family. I think having a family that is so close and viewing that from such a young age really helped me understand the background from which I come from.
Of course family aren't the only people that influence your culture. Friends play a huge role in your culture. Although friends often come and go they can still have huge impact on people. On my family trips to mexico I made many friends, I honestly think that they were and are a huge contributing factor to who I am. Although I didn't see them all that much I still talked about them and couldn't wait to see them. That have really made me see the importance of not only my family but my friends as well. It has really helped me get a better understanding of how friendships really are important and are something that can really affect you in the long term.
Personally when I think of my culture of my culture i think about the food. Food in a lot of cases has brought my family together. I have many memories of being in the kitchen with my mother and her sisters while the children play outside and the husbands all talk. Being apart of this really has helped me just take a step back and look at everybody and really appreciate my culture and family. Cooking has really blended everybody together in one house. Although I don't have a large ethnic background I know that I do have a large cultural background.
My cultural heritage I think is something that is unique to everybody and not just outside of my family. Even my sibling have different culture from me. Things like family, friends, and food have really affected me as a person. Although this guy like food can seem like a trivial thing, it not necessarily the food but the memories behind the food and how the food came to be in front of me. Cultural heritage is individual to everybody and everybody has a different background. No two people are alike and I think that is what really makes me different from everybody else. At the end of the day we all blend just like posole.