My name is Armando Hernandez. I am 19 years old. I am Mexican, Hispanic, Latino. I spent most of my lifetime in Mexico, so home is probably there even though I haven’t been there since I’ve moved here. I would also consider my family home - whenever I am with them.
My childhood was pretty fun. I played with toys, watched a lot of TV, ate too much junk food. My parents worked a lot - both of them- so I had to take care of my brother. My brother Fernando is basically my best friend. We spend our whole life together. He is always there for me and I’m always there for him. He’s pretty smart, funny and pretty goofy. He likes to do many things even though he can’t cuz you know he’s chubby. But yeah, I love him. He’s the first person I think about when I want to get over myself or be better. Fernando has down syndrome. When Fernando was born, people told my parents that he was like a punishment from God or he was not normal. Thank God and my parents that my parents have given everything to raise Fernando the best that they can. For me, sometimes I had trouble making friends because of my brother. Other times, I made friends because of Fernando. He’s not so challenging. He’s like a gift. Sometimes, I had problems making friends when they met my brother. I also had friends who. It was not so challenging.
School was pretty difficult for me in the beginning like 7th/8th grade because I couldn’t understand anything. With time, as I started to learn English and understand people. I caught up. In the beginning, my grades were not that good. Then, I got good grades. I learned things like being helpful and having more friends affects me as a person. Being around a bunch of people, I used to be super shy. Now, I am more confident when I talk with people. The teachers were pretty helpful. They took time to explain what the assignments were or why we are doing certain things in certain exercises. Sometimes, they used Google Translate to help me with it.
Now, I go to Minnesota West - Jackson. It’s like a little campus. I am studying to be an electrician. I shocked myself like 3 times already. I will graduate in 2024.
I am about to be in Fairmont for 7 years. I work in Fairmont. I have worked at McDonalds for almost 2 years. I also worked at Hy Vee for like 5 or 6 months. Now, I work at HitchDoc in Jackson, Minnesota. I am in the paint department, so I sandblast carts and some metal pieces. I like working there! It’s a pretty flexible job. There are good people to work with. I don’t have to deal with customers like my other two jobs.
In my free time, I like to play sports - mostly basketball, it’s my favorite sport. I also like to watch TV shows and movies with my mom. We have this thing where we watch shows like right now, we are watching The Flash and Harry Potter. I also like to play video games a lot. Mucho.
I would say the thing I enjoy most about this community is the people. They are really patient with us. They don’t freak out when they hear us speak Spanish. They are also super respectful with road rules compared to Mexico jaja. I would definitely say the people.
I don’t know if there are any similarities between Fairmont and Mexico. Probably, the amount of stores/shopping are the same here and there. There is also a similar variety of where to get things.
One difference would be the economy. The economy is better here than in Mexico. My parents don’t work as much here, whereas back in Mexico, they would have to keep themselves working. Also, the people here are much nicer. In Mexico, there are also nice people, but some of them get into you know…drugs. The school is also very different in Mexico. In a town here, there is like one school. In Mexico, there are a bunch of different high schools in one place. Here, when you graduate from elementary school, you just go to the high school. In Mexico, you have to look for one.
I’m Catholic. I believe in God. I go to church every Sunday when I can. My faith teaches me to forgive. You know, I don’t see the reason for hating someone. It’s not good for them or for myself. Some people say that God doesn’t exist, and like I don’t mind that. In my faith, I do believe that God exists. It’s like my faith and my family’s faith.
Family plays a really big role in my life. For me, it’s probably the most important thing in my life. Most of the time it's the only thing you got in the hard moments. Like when no one is there for you, there is always family. In my house, there are only my parents, my brother, and me . They are like my natural family – like parents and kids. My extended family is my grandma, my grandpa, my uncles, my aunts, and my cousins on my mom’s side. In total, there are like 16 or 17. I have more on dad’s side like my cousin. I used to play a lot of video games. Now, we don’t have that much time anymore. All my family here is from my mom’s side.
Right now, as a good person, I help my parents. I am almost “paying them back” because of everything they have done for me. They basically give everything for me and my brother, so I want to do the same thing. When I get older, I want to give them money and take care of Fernando. I have faith that I will give my parents the life that they deserve.
In my culture, men and women have the same role. I don’t want to sound sexist, but usually mom is the one cooking and cleaning the house. My dad is working a lot and working overtime. Most of the time, they both help each other cleaning and making food. I would say they have the same role or equal responsibility.
I am fluent in Spanish and English. Learning English was hard for me, but with time, it got easier. Going to school everyday and hearing everybody speaking English made it easier. I was like Oh I heard that word before. Oh I remember that. My cousin, Mariana, helped me a lot with learning English because she got here a year earlier than me.