My name is Aviva. I was raised by two strict Jewish parents in Israel for the first 17 years of my life. We moved to America after our town was destroyed by bombing. It was a long, terrifying and dangerous trip, but we made it with the help of some refugee camps and a wonderful American family.
When we arrived, I spoke very little English. A family of Indian descent, who live in America, hosted me and my parents for the first few months until my dad found a job and could pay for an apartment for us. I turned 18 the week we were in transit to the United States of America, but was not able to celebrate due to the situation we were in.
The host family also had a daughter. Her name was Bhanu, which I she told me means "sun". The house we were staying in was small and only had three bedrooms. My parents shared the second bedroom, so I had to share the bedroom with Bhanu.
Her room was beautifully decorated in Hindu design with many trinkets and collectibles from her culture. She rearranged her clothes so that I could have two dresser drawers. I did not have many clothes so, two drawers were more than enough.
The first day in America, my parents stayed in their bedroom and prayed for safety and thankfulness for our safe arrival. I was sitting on the small, double sized bed in Bhanu's room, learning to adjust to my new environment when Bhanu entered the room. She gently wrapped her hand around my wrist and waived for me to follow her.
We walked down the street to a local food market. I found myself constantly looking around, waiting for someone to attack me or a bomb to go off, but none of that happened. It took awhile for me to adjust to this calm country. The market had such a large variety of fruits and vegetables and meats; much more than I had ever seen in Israel. I followed behind her as she picked many different vegetables, fruits, meats and a package of spices.
We did not talk at all, but she smiled at me often, making me feel comfortable around her. I didn't know if she spoke my language at all, but I did not speak any Asian language and as I mentioned earlier, did not speak English very well at all.
When we returned to the house, my parents handed me an English dictionary that was written in Arabic. I was told to study the dictionary until I could speak English. I spent a couple of hours scrolling through the pages of the dictionary, in my new bedroom. Bhanu sat next to me and would pronounce each word I pointed to. I would do my best to repeat the word. This became a game quickly to see how close I could pronounce the word.
Bhanu would giggle often when I butchered the pronunciation of a word. I could not help but laugh too. Her laughing made me giggle. Though we could not speak to each other because of the language barrier, I felt that speaking common words helped us create a bond. Her arm and leg was pressed against my arm and leg as she peered down at the book. I did not mind her sitting so close, though it was weird at first, because I enjoyed the warmth of her body heat against my skin.
After dinner, I sat with both families and watched a television show that looked like it was a comedy. I couldn't understand anything that was being spoken, though I did recognize a few words that I had said earlier. I still did not know what the words meant yet, however.
When it was dark, I said my prayers, wore loose pair of pajama pants that Bhanu gave me to bed along with a thin t-shirt that looked like she had owned for several years. I had only two pair of undergarments so I washed the pair I had been wearing in the sink and hung it over the towel holder in the bathroom. It was awkward climbing into bed with another person. I had never slept next to another person other than my parents, when I was younger, except when we left Israel and slept in large groups along that way. That was different though, because no one had any privacy.
I climbed in bed first and scooted close to the wall. Bhanu climbed in after me, gave me a warm smile as she pulled the covers up over her body, then turned away from me. I turned away from her and faced the wall. I could not sleep right away though. Many thoughts raced through my mind as I lay there in this foreign bed next to this foreign female.
After about 15 minutes, I felt Bhanu's but make contact with mine. I instinctively wanted to pull away, but my body did not move for some reason. Her breathing sounded like she was sleeping so I ignored it and tried my best to go to sleep. Finally, I could feel my eyelids starting to get heavy.
I was awakened from my sleep when I felt something warm between my legs. As I slowly came to consciousness, I could feel that the top of my pajama pants were pulled away from my body. I was lying on my back and felt Bhanu's body pressed up against me. I instantly became very nervous, but did not move nor did I open my eyes.
