Making Changes
...difficult times. They met their first struggle when they arrived in Tijuana. Rosa and Enrique tried to find a man named Raimundo that could help them over the border. They met a man named Jaime in an abandoned village in Tijuana, who convinced them that he could help them cross the border into the U.S. Easily convinced, Enrique puts all his trust in Jaime and believes he will be heading to the North at dusk. While close to the border Jaime tried to hurt Enrique and steal their money. The man was unsuccessful, at his try at robbery and Rosa and Enrique continued on alone, but were caught by the border patrol minutes later. Rosa and Enrique showed that they were willing to risk their own lives to go to the North. Enrique insisted that they could trust Jaime, but in turn was deceived by him. Enrique didn’t think that Jaime would try to hurt him and steal there money. Rosa and Enrique thought they had left this kind of violence back in Guatemala, but they were wrong. In the north many things that Americans did were much different than what Rosa did in Guatemala. Rosa received a job at a factory ironing clothes. She quickly befriended a co-worker named Nacha that helped Rosa in the factory. As soon as Rosa started to work there, the INS quickly invaded the factory which left Rosa and Nacha out of a job. Nacha decided to ask Rosa if she would team up with her to clean houses. Rosa, excited to be employed again quickly responded, yes. There first house was cleaning a rich, white lady’s house named Mrs. Rogers. Mrs. Rogers tells them how to use the washing machine and dryer, but this process was confusing to both of them. When it came time for Rosa to do the laundry on her own, she became very confused about which buttons to push. She pushed every button on the key pad, but got a little scared because the machine was making such a noise. She thought about the situation for a while and looked out to the pool. Suddenly, she had the idea to wash all the clothes by hand. Rosa washed the laundry in the kitchen sink and laid the clothes out in the grass for the sun to dry. Mrs. Rogers gets confused and asks Rosa why she washed the clothes by hand. Rosa didn’t know why she did it except for the fact that she couldn’t use the machines. Then Ms. Rogers said, “I couldn’t imagine you scrubbing all the wash by hand”. To Mrs. Rogers, washing the clothes by hand was way too much work for someone to do, but to Rosa this is the only thing she knew. Nacha explained to Rosa that in the North, people use machines for everything and she would now have to do the same. In this scene Rosa is faced with a culture shock. She never used washing machines before because this is something Rosa did not have anything like that in her own country. Rosa was still trying hard to adjust to American culture. She realizes that she will have to learn how to do things the American way to fit in with society. Rosa’s attempt to wash the laundry by hand was not common in America and was not accepted by Mrs. Rogers. Enrique found a job in a fancy restaurant in L.A. as a buss boy. Enrique showed hard work and determinations as...