When I lived in Egypt, I read a lot. I barely had any friends because I was always stuck in my room reading. Of course, I read only Arabic and did not speak a lick of English. When my parents told me we were moving to America, I was the most excited for all the new books I was going read. I didn't realize how much of a struggle it would be to read since I couldn't speak any English.

Once in America I opened up my first book given to us as a gift. It was a picture book and I was quickly disappointed because that meant fewer words, but I gave it a try anyway. I opened up the book and I had no idea what I was looking at. The book didn't read from right to left like my Arabic books did. I thought surely this must be a mistake, so I asked my mom for a new book because the one I was given was in some weird language that I just could not understand. As a kid, I didn't think to move to a new country meant that I was going to have to learn a new language.

Learning English at first was super exciting. I thought soon enough I would be able to read in a new language and would have a ton of new things to read. I soon realized I didn't want to learn how to read in English because it was so frustrating and didn't make any sense to me. For the first time since I could remember, reading wasn't fun to me. Reading became a dreaded chore so I put down the books and told my family I would never read again (something my parents knew wouldn't last long).

I started watching movies with Arabic subtitles at first. I watched the Lion King quite a few times. The first was in Arabic, then in English, then English with Arabic subtitles and finally I ditched the subtitles. The more movies I watched the less I thought about reading. I was certain that I finally found the reason to my problems. It seemed like reading wasn't for me after all, maybe I was destined to watch movies. I mean it did the same thing as reading. It transported me out of my boring world and into a new one. Movies actually give me a nice visual causing me to not have to use my imagination. A whole year passed without me picking up a single book.

One night my mom asked me to clean out the basement and now that I am older I am sure she planned the whole thing. Well, I was putting things in boxes I found the first book I ever got in America. I opened it and to my surprise, all the words made perfect sense to me. I laughed at myself after reading it because It was such an easy book, an alphabet book to be exact. That same day I asked my mom to take me to the library, It seemed as if opening the book completely rekindled my old flame.

I never truly appreciated reading as much as I do now. I never remembered learning how to read Arabic. I just remember being able to read and enjoy the words come to life sentence after sentence. When I came to America and I struggled with learning how to read I realized just how important reading was. Reading in my opinion is the closest thing to mind reading. Someone takes the time to write down what comes to their head and shares it with so many people. It is a way to express one's self in a more authentic way.

So the next time you want to tell someone something, just write to them and you'll be surprised at how much better you express yourself.