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Adrian Hernandez and his grandmother, Consuelo Mercier.
Life
in Havana, Cuba is quite different from life in Oakhurst, California:
Oak-hurst is so very quiet, there are mountains and trees everywhere
one looks, the plantain (a type of banana) purchased in grocery stores
here cannot compare to the fried bananas in Cuba.
Adrian Hernandez has lived in Oakhurst with his grandparents, Consuelo
and Roger Mercier, since last August. His mother, young brother and
stepfather also live there. Adrian’s stepfather is 1990 Yosemite High
School graduate Roger Mercier.
Adrian is adjusting to life as a freshman at YHS. He has found it
somewhat difficult because he is also learning English. When he arrived
in the United States eight months ago he did not speak any English.
Today, he can participate in an interview in English with little difficulty.
The young man says it is good to be in the United States for his future,
but he misses his family and friends in Cuba. When he took his first
airplane ride, to come to the US, he said he was not nervous, but
he was sad. He was leaving behind his other grandparents, cousins,
uncles and lots of friends.
His trip to the US, and his mother’s and brother’s arrival three months
later, was the culmination of four years of effort to bring the family
here so they could all be together. Adrian’s stepfather, Roger Mercier,
could only spend a limited amount of time each year in Cuba with his
family.
With help from Representative George Radanovich, the family was able
to come here and to have a special visa that allows them to return
to visit whenever they want. Adrian mentions that about 90 percent
of the Cubans who come here cannot ever return, or at least not until
there is a change in government.
Adrian especially likes the teachers at YHS and, he says, they have
been very helpful to him with his limited English. His grandmother,
Consuelo Mercier, who is the Title I tutor for YHS, says this is the
first time many of the teachers have had a student who did not speak
English.
Aside from the language barrier, he does not find the classes difficult.
“If you speak English and study, they are not hard,” he says. He took
chemistry and physics in the eighth grade in Cuba.
If he were still in Cuba, he would now be in a pre-university course.
He has already finished the equivalent of high school there. When
he graduates from YHS, he hopes to attend a university near the ocean
and study marine biology and return to Cuba once a year to visit.
Adrian’s grandmother says he has been very active in the Interact
club at YHS because she is the advisor. This gave him a good introduction
to American teenagers and allowed him to make friends more rapidly,
she notes.
Interact members are very involved with the Special Friends at YHS
and, Mrs. Mercier says, Adrian has been especially interested in working
with those students.
In Cuba, he lived about a two-minute walk from the ocean and he spent
a lot of time fishing. A trip to Monterey and a visit to the aquarium
were very special for him. “That was so cool,” he says of the many
things he saw in the aquarium and the opportunity to be near the ocean
again.
He made his own boat out of the foam packing from a refrigerator box
and spent a lot of time fishing in Cuba. He caught barracuda about
four-five feet long and he caught octopus. He said they would go out
after sundown and put a net out for about 100 meters. At 6 a.m. they
would return to see how many fish they caught: “Sometimes a lot, sometimes,
not,” he says, depending on the cycle of the moon.
While he has not been fishing here, he is looking forward to it.
Reflecting on life in Oakhurst, he says “it’s boring.”His grandmother
explains that “it’s pretty quiet on Road 426” compared to the constant
activity at his home in Havana. There were always people around and
there was always music; “it seems like 24 hours a day,” Consuelo Mercier
says.
They listened to salsa and casino music and a lot of the young people
listened to American rock. Adrian’s favorite group is a “Mana” from
Mexico.
Winter in Oakhurst was a new experience for Adrian and his family.
It was the first time they had been in weather colder than 60 degrees.
Adrian adapted fairly well, but it was very difficult for his mother.
A very warm day in Cuba is 80-85 degrees but the humidity makes it
seem hotter. The young boys wear shorts only, no shoes or shirts.
He had never seen snow before and now he looks forward to snow boarding.
Sports are more important in high school here than in Cuba, he points
out. Here, he plays basketball and tennis and he is surprised to have
a different coach for every sport. In Cuba there would be one physical
education teacher to coach all sports. Someone who wants to be an
athlete in Cuba would be sent to a special school and train all year.
When he played basketball at YHS, it was the first time he had played
on a wooden floor, his grandmother notes.
School
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