ISBN-13: 9781500324391 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 76 str.
ISBN-13: 9781500324391 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 76 str.
Ambrosine Thermutis Smith is a fictional character from the equally fictional Guinep Hill, a small, unknown district somewhere in the Caribbean. She arrives in the United States and experiences the culture shock that is common to most immigrants from the Caribbean. The resilient Ambrosine finds ways to survive 'Foreign' and adapt to her new environment while maintaining her sense of humor and her love for her homeland. Ambrosine represents the displaced immigrant whose journey has been chronicled in numerous volumes. The story remains the same: the decision to assimilate or maintain one's culture, recognizing for the first time that one is a minority and an alien dreaming of the return to the motherland and the way it used to be. The stories contained in Country Gal a Foreign are the voices of the many who come to 'Foreign' in the hopes of a better life or better opportunities. The idiom "Laughter is the best medicine" proves truthful for many who find that adjusting to a completely new culture is not as easy as they had envisioned and that 'apples were not available for the picking' and 'Uncle Sam is only uncle to some'. Ambrosine's journey is every immigrant's journey, though they may take different paths. She looks back with nostalgia at what she left behind in her homeland but recognizes that, in order to survive her new home, she must adapt and learn the 'foreign words'. Ambrosine makes us laugh, perhaps because there is a little bit of her in all of us, the side that learns to laugh, even in the face of adversity.