Relocation experience
About Lital Azrad
If you need Lital Azrad, look for a long brown-haired woman with three kids. She will be wearing a long shirt and long pants (usually black). A woman who can speak Hebrew and English fluently with a Hebrew accent, and who began to find herself after her first relocation to the U.S.
When did you first relocate and where?
“...one day, just before my 12th birthday, they (my parents) came home and said, well, do you still wanna go on a plane flight, I said yes. They said wonderful. Then we are going to the United States. And I was very excited. I said, oh really? When are we going? How long are we going for? And they said, well, we are going for three and a half years. And this is how I learned about the relocation. So I was 12 and we relocated for three and a half years between 1990 to 1993 and to back home to Israel in 1993.”
How were your first three months after the relocation?
“Well, the first few months were challenging and I think I probably can divide it into two, how it was once we arrived and until we got to settle in our own home. And then, of course, starting school without knowing the languages. I didn't know the language I had no friends, no family, which was very strange for me and very difficult because we were very close with my family. And I was very close with my grandparents. We used to visit them at least twice a week. And all of a sudden I couldn't see them. I didn't have my friends.”
How did you go about making friends? How did you meet your first friend?
“Well, at first I couldn't make friends and I was also very shy and as a kid, so I never dared to speak... now in a new country that I didn't know the language. So during classes, I sat alone and when it came time for the break and everyone went to eat at the cafeteria,... I would go and sit at the corner of the room all by myself and eat my lunch alone, and just draw on a piece of paper. And I think it went on for at least two or three months that way.” I was alone for a very long time because I couldn't talk. And then one day my parents told me that they've met another family… the mother was originally from Israel… she had a daughter, named Annette who was my age and in my school and turns out that she was with me in some of the classes. So one day… we went over to the house and they introduced us and she could speak Hebrew, not well, but we could speak Hebrew. We played together and it was the first time I could talk and play with a girl my age. And during the, and lunch breaks, she took me with her to sit with her group of friends and for, I think for another, month or two, I would go every lunch break and sit with them, but I couldn't still talk.”
“Have more options, grow up and see the world in a different way, an open-minded way and have a new path”
-Lital Azrad
What did you learn from your relocation experience? If you could give your younger self or other children going through relocation some advice, what would it be?
“Looking back, when we just moved, I was curious. And then when we arrived and we faced all the challenges of language and no friends and away from our family and not having our stuff until we moved into our own house, you know, it was very difficult as a kid,...I used to cry a lot... I've learned another language, which was English, which is, I think probably the most important language to learn as it’s the internationally used language across the world… and that opened up opportunities. I was also able to meet people and friends… from different cultures and places. Some advice I would tell them, hang on, be open to people, be open to experiences, be curious about, you know, the people around you be curious about the language. and by doing that, you will discover a whole new world opening up to you.
How did going through the relocation experience impact your future life choices?
“I could give you a very pragmatic example that you may know being my son since I think this experience… was so eye-opening and such an amazing growth opportunity and how it opened my eyes to possibilities. I always knew that when I grow up… I want to take my family and relocate again and have my kids go through the same experience and open up the doors, the world, and the opportunities for them. So they can have more options when they grow up and see the world in a different and open-minded way.”
“Patient and open-minded about your relocation experience”
