My Book:

I am working on my first book. It chronicles my experiences and the challenges I faced in getting used to life in America—learning to drive a car, getting a haircut by a woman, ordering a sandwich at a fast food restaurant, and stumbling upon a strip club. My two college degrees and my journalism experience in a company of international repute did not help when a local radio station refused me an announcer’s job because I failed to pronounce words like Pakistan and Baghdad correctly. Not being able to find a job of my liking, I worked as a sandwich artist in a restaurant, a front desk manager in a motel, an advertisement controller in a TV station where I learned about America from my co-workers who happened to be teenagers, middle-aged, elderly, whites, blacks, Hispanics, gay, lesbian, straight and everyone else.

It also describes my experiences of being the first international son-in-law of a family living in a tiny village in rural Pennsylvania. I get to meet my wife’s folks—an American family of mixed European heritage: my giggly mother-in-law, who has the enthusiasm of a fifteen-year old; my father in-law, who almost gave me a heart attack when I first met him; my grandfather in-law, who once confused a Guatemalan for an Indian, and my grandmother in-law, who always tells interesting stories of her past and came close to being my mother in the new country. To learn more, click here.