Career Service Event Workshop

I was very interested in learning about how CIA works. I tried to learn about it independently, but it did not work out quite well. Amazingly, I had an opportunity to attend "Employer Panel," which was hosted by ASU. I learned many valuable information, which will help me to make a sound decision regarding my future career. 

I used to have this concept that an individual have to be certain age by the time he or she is applying for the CIA job.  However, I learned that there are many positions that do not required the age restriction. The only thing that I found strange is that all candidates are required to reside in Washington DC. I was going to put my application in if they had one of their offices in the Sun the of Valley.

My Hardship as a Refugee

I sometimes like to talk about my life as a refuge because it makes me view myself different from others. I encountered many different obstacles in a young age and I like to educate others about them. Approximately sixteen years ago, my moving journey started due to the same political factor that prevented my parents to go to school. 

My journey began when I was unwillingly forced to flee my country by the Sudan government. As a result, I got separated from my entire family. I went on many difficult journeys without my parents' supervision. Not to mention that I became a grown man without their presence, but also that I encountered countless challenges on my journeys. Wild life would attack on the way in thick, dark African forests. I would go days and nights without food or water. 

My Amazing Background

I think it is sometimes hard to understand how certain individuals do not have educational background in western countries. I believe I make some western citizens have different views about me when I  have contact with some type of academic applications that required me to file in my parents' educational background. I always write unknown due to my parents' lack of education.

My parents grew up in Southern Sudan without any educational background. They do not even  have  any kindergarten education. What a life! You might have this question in mind that how would they grew up without attending school in their entire lives? 

 The answer involves political implications. My parents did not have an opportunity to attend school because the Sudanese government prohibits building schools in certain parts of the country, especially Southern Sudan. Therefore, I'm the first-general in my family to have an opportunity to attend college.

Conflict between my two cultures!

As I mentioned in my introduction post that I'm originally from Sudan. I'm also known as a "Lost Boy" of Sudan. I'm one of about 300 young Sudanese Lost Boys and Girls who came to Phoenix, Arizona in 2001 as a result of the long Civil War in Sudan. I have been living in Phoenix for unbelievable nine years. However, I feel like I have only been living here for three years because I have so much to learn about the United States culture.

As you can tell from the title that I always get caught between the two cultures. I attempt to balance them, but sometimes it does not work. There are so many different conflicts I have to deal every sun set. Not to mention a problem with a hand shake mess, but also I still have difficulties adapting other things such as food and eye contact. Food is so much different here. The ingredients in food makes it taste and smell different.

Eye contact is also a big problem for me. I was raised not to have a direct eye contact because it has  strange meanings in Dinka culture. Well,  it completely has the opposite meanings in the United States. However, I still cannot manage to have a constant eye contact and people judge me as untrustworthy and insincerity individual.

My fascination day in Phoenix, Arizona

As you all know how worse it gets when you can not understand the local transportation system. Well, I doubt it you are not alone. I was in the same shoes when I arrived to Arizona. My fascinating day Phoenix came when my lovely caseworker dropped me off at the Maricopa Public Medical Center for a check up, but never shown up for the day.

You can tell by reading between the lines how my day went. Not only to mention that it was very compelling, but also that I regretted coming to the United States in general. I did not know what to do, so I decided to give it a try by going to a bus stop. I finely got on the bus, but I got lost. I found myself in Glendale City. Matter of fact, I was very new and did not know my major street address. I was also unfamiliar how to use public transportation to get around. The streets were quite complicated for me to understand. I did not know I was going to master them at all.

My Travel Experience: Coming to America

I'm guessing that many of you have travel experiences otherwise, enjoy this post. It will discuss my travel experience the night I entered to this country. I thought that coming to the United States was a quite exciting journey for me especially in the beginning. However, it was nothing like what I expected it to be. I was pretty much healthy when I left Nairobi, Kenya for the United States.  My flight was also quite smooth. It was packed with many of my close friends, so I was not traveling alone.

Unfortunately, my happy flight ended up unhappy. I got sick on my way to Phoenix, Arizona. I had a bad cold that I will never forget. I was coughing, sneezing, and shaking on the plane. Yet, I did not have any idea where I was going to end up with that terrible cold. 

For a change, I was lucky enough to have my former sponsors waiting for me at the airport. They directed me to my new apartment where I spent that night without sleep, probably due to the cold. I could not keep up with it anymore, so I took a trip to the emergency room at noon the next day. Finally, I returned home and I slept like a brand, newborn baby.

Busy day alone

As the Center staff continues to go out for the training, I took full responsibility.  I became the center of the Arizona Lost Boys Center. The day of December 3, 2010, was quite active and challenging due to me working alone. It felt like the callers acknowledged that I was left to work alone and they wanted me to pay for it. Many phone calls were coming in now and then, making me not to take even a two minute break. Surprisingly, some of the callers were my along time lost friends. How amazing was it! I thought it was a great opportunity to talk to them again. We have lost contact for many ages.

To make my day even more worse, I had to tour two students from the Arizona State University. They showed up at the Center hoping that they were going to meet with one of my bosses. I later discovered that they are my boss's classmates, and that they were coming to tour the Center. I was more than happy to show them around, but I pointed out that I was the only person running the Center that day. I informed them that I would be taking phone calls while touring them. Thanks Lord, They were patient!