The Soviet Days

If you live in Glendale you may have seen many people like him. You may have thought he seems unfriendly, but he is not he is just self-conscious of his poor English and his name is Hovik Galfayan. Although he works two jobs he considers himself lucky to live here. He has hopes, dreams, and ambitions. He grew up in Communist Armenia where the dreams were very limited. In Armenia, under communism, he received a strong education, but as an adult he had limited choices. He learned to become a welder but never dreamed of becoming anything more than a welder. My uncle described his reasons for immigrating to America.

As a boy I watched movies about how great communism was but I read numerous interesting banned books about life in the United States and began to dream about coming to America.

As a teenager I was apprentice as a welder and I learned how to weld. It was a very difficult job, the heat was unbearable on warm days, and I was always breathing in fumes from the metal. We did not have all the safety precautions that they have here so I have many scars on my legs, arms, chest and face. Also my wage was barely enough to put bread on the table.

At age of eighteen I was drafted to the army. I was scared that I would be sent to Afghanistan to fight. One day my friends and me were delivering different parts of a cannon to another base, on the way back we stopped for a cup of tea we sat down at one of the seats and on the other side of the room sitting under an umbrella in front of the shop was the most beautiful girl ever. I asked her for a date and she rejected me; I begged her she replied with the same answer “no”, so then I lied to her and said that I am about to be shipped to Afghanistan and she felt sorry for me. She agreed to go out the following Sunday. Unfortunately, I could not get permission to leave my base, I decided to jump the fence sadly I slipped and my arm got caught in the barbed wire. I kept my date, and she was so impressed by my bravery or stupidity and so two months later we were married. The Soviet Union failed in its attempt to conquer Afghanistan when I returned to civilian life, my wife and I had our first-born child, my wife and I decided we did not want him to grow up with the constant pressure and luck of hope that was our life.

From time in the military I knew a checkpoint bordering with out any flaws. There was a space between the guardhouse and a short hill that a person can walk through if the guards did not spot him. My wife, my newborn and I brought blankets and dressed warmly and in the night we hid among the trees of the checkpoint and waited as a truck came by the guards began to search it, as quietly as we could praying that our baby would not start to cry we snuck towards the opening. After minutes passed, we reached Turkey, two months later we were accepted to America as refugees. Since coming here I worked hard to be a good citizen and I love my new country. I vote in every election.

I have a good job welding and painting I am able to save some money, and think about to start my own business some day. Since the fall of the Soviet Union most of the rest of my family lives in America, and I am very proud of my children, nephews, and nieces and I hope they appreciate all the freedom they have. They are so lucky that the can go to school and choose and accomplish their own goals.

As much as I love my adopted new country, I still have fond feelings for my homeland, sometimes a dream of returning and taking up my father’s occupation; my father had been a great farmer.

Interviewed by Michael Eghaizaryan