From the outside, my house looks like an ordinary house on an ordinary street in the city of Highland Park. However, entering my house is like entering an entirely new world, particularly on Saturday mornings. Almost every Saturday, I am woken up by a hum of Israeli radio and the redolent smell of an Israeli breakfast on the table. Just one of the great things of being an Israeli immigrant in Highland Park.

Being a student in Deerfield is hard as it is, and a new twist is added when you’re the first one to go through it. I am only the second person to take the treacherous ACT in my entire family. Luckily, I have an older brother who served as the guinea pig in the American school system. Obviously, there are similarities between my Israeli family’s education and mine, but, not many schools in the world contain the pressure of Deerfield. One of the ways my parents differ from other parents is that they prioritize my work ethic over what grades I produce. My friends are always saying how their parents are pushing them to get straight A’s, perform well on the ACT, all while performing in various sports and clubs. My parents value how hard I work rather than whether I get an A or a B. I got my Chemistry quiz back a while ago and it did not go well. Worried, I came home contemplating if I should wait for Infinite Campus to let my parents know or I should do it myself, hoping it would soften the blow if they heard it from me. After I told them, they told me not to worry, that grades did not define me and does not make me any less a hardworking student. Whether this is because their Israeli or not, it is always nice to know that my work is being appreciated more than just a letter on a report card.

According to Migration Policy Institute, immigrants account for 13 percent of the total 316 million U.S. residents. Immigrating to a new country also means going to the old one as much as possible. Going to Israel for me is like going to Florida for a lot of my classmates. Even though I only get to see my family once a year, we make up for the lost time. However it is challenging to only see my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents only once a year. Picture a holiday without seeing your extended family or being in a completely different time zone. It’s not easy being half a world away from your family.  

Imagine going through airport security knowing there is definitely going to be an issue with something. Every time we would fly or even drive to Canada, at least 45 minutes was tacked on to our trip because of our immigration status. Until four years ago, my family and I were under work visas and documents called Paroles. We had applied to get our permanent resident card, or the Green Card, in 2003. In those seven years, my family has paid the federal government over $10,000 just to stay in the United States. Once, my mom and I were in Israel waiting for our papers to get sent to the place we were staying. The papers got lost in the mail, which resulted in my mom and I not able to go home. We had to stay in Israel two extra weeks, never knowing when the important package would arrive.

The holidays are also a time where not living with your family is less than ideal. Throughout the years, we have spent the holidays with our family friends. But it feels different, especially if their family is all together and we’re just there. There are some friends who have turned into family. Every Thanksgiving, we go to the same place, and the nice part of it is that every one there doesn’t have family in the states. The mix includes a couple from Mexico and a couple from Israel, with whoever wants to join thrown in the mix. We all know that it’s hard not to be with family, especially over the holidays. Thanksgiving has made me learn that friends can turn into another branch of family.    

The holidays are a time where family gets together to form memories and celebrate. For me, I have formed my own family, built with friends and family friends that turn into just plain family. Though the situation is not ideal, my parents make sure we have the feeling of family instilled into us. Every Saturday morning, like the decadent Israeli breakfast and the hum of Israeli music comes a phone call to three important people, my grandparents. No matter the length of the conversation, we try to maintain the closeness of our family. My grandma, or savta in Hebrew, and I will talk about anything until I pass the phone to the next family member in line. It’s those moments that turn great distance into a small one.

So, if you do have the privilege of seeing your family this holiday season, try to make an effort to learn more about the members of your family, hang out with your uncle from who knows where or your cousin that you may only see once a year. Every moment with family is precious, and we should take advantage of every moment we have.