My First Thanksgiving in America, 1995, by Natasha Assa
From MemoryArchive
Who: Natasha Assa What: Thanksgiving When: November 2006 Where: New York, NY
I remember when we first arrived to America and celebrated our first Thanksgiving. It was late November 1995 and we flew in on a Green Card Lottery, little known government program designed to encourage diversity. We had to wait for nearly a year for all the paperwork to be processed by the US Embassy in Bulgaria and when we were finally approved, it was late September 1995. We received our papers on the last day of the program and heard that the next day several people were returned as the visa quota for the year was finished. We were lucky, but we still had to raise money to depart, and so we frantically canvassed friends and neighbors to help us whith whatever little they could. At the time Bulgarian currency was worthless and most people's life savings were wiped out, just as were ours. We managed to raise about $ 2,000 to pay for the three tickets and immediate expenses and we were ready to leave. My husband flew in a few days earlier to make sure that we had a place to stay when I arrived with our son. He flew in directly to the US with Polish Airlines, me and my son flew via London with British Airways. In the airport in Sophia some final goodbyes had to be said to the communism when some custom officials decided to frustrate my leave requesting my husband's signatures for my son. It was thoroughly reminiscent of the old police state and I could not wait to be airborn. In London I picked up a few last belongings from my London house which was by then already rented out. It was cold and we arrived late evening and so Andrei who was only seven, fell asleep on my lap while I was waiting for the bus to take us home from the airport. We had little money, but we were excited and worried about our new life, soon to begin. We arrived to Philadelphia and found an unexpected welcome from a friend who kept a motor lodge in Warrington, PA. He let us stay for free for several months while we were figuring out how to survive. But what I remember was the fitting coincidence of our arrival with Thanksgiving. I did not know of this holiday before and I thought what a splendid idea for every immigrant in America! To give thanks for our arrival and safe landing.
