Roy Daley (RD) & Ana Smith-Daley (ASD)
RD: When we arrived, I stepped out of the plane, I looked around and I encounter, a monster! There was a moving step. How do you get onto a moving escalator when you’ve never done this? So eventually I negotiated to get on it and as it was going up it was a long escalator. How do I get off of this escalator? That was my first challenge in the United States.
We got to Pennsylvania about 10 o’clock, something like that. So we went up to sleep and I got up really in the morning. Finally I’m America; I wanted to see what it looked like. I came downstairs and when I opened up the door, I was in the middle of nowhere. And guess what? There was no leaf on the tree!
ASD: [laughs]
RD: Nothing, everything was dead. Like if I had landed on the moon. I start to wonder, did I make the right move?
RD: I came November seventh, just before Thanksgiving. I had never seen a Thanksgiving, I had heard about it. I was invited to a dinner and I was asked to bring a covered dish. So I went to the store, and I purchased the biggest dish with a cover, put it in a bag. When we got to the church, everyone brought out the food, I took out mine and handed it to the lady, and everybody started to laugh.
ASD: [laughs]
RD: And I had no idea what they were laughing about. So my friend, translated, ’Yes, plato cubierto, covered dish means bring a dish with a cover.’ They did not say to bring food. In Honduras, if you want to bring food you say, ’Hey, bring a plate with food!’
ASD: [laughs]
ASD: Here you are 50 years later, last year was your 50th year –
RD: Yes.
ASD: – of being in this country.
RD: Celebrated 50 years…
RD: The first year I celebrated Thanksgiving, I discovered it was an opportunity to be thankful for all the blessings that you have received during the year. And ever since then the biggest joy of my life is coming here by myself. And today I have three children, five grandchildren, and a beautiful wife. So I’m truly blessed.
