Maliha's Story: Chicken Pot Pie and Biryani

Name: Maliha K.

Memorable Moments

Youth Ambassador

My most memorable moment during my 10-month-long trip to California was during International Education Week. My lifelong dream is to become a diplomat like Husain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, so I was really pleased that I could act as a youth ambassador for my country. I visited a Boy Scouts group and gave a presentation about Pakistan’s culture and traditions. Almost everyone I communicated with was open-minded and wanted to learn more about our customs and traditions, which was enjoyable for me and made me so much more patriotic.

Family Holidays

My host mom and dad held Thanksgiving dinner at our beautiful house and all of our relatives came. It’s like what my host Grandpa said: Americans just need an excuse to get together and eat lots of good food. I happily sipped on apple cider and filled myself up with stuffing and my host mom’s famous chicken pot pie, which no one could ever say no to. It was just like what I had seen in the movies, a typical family get-together, except this time I was a part of all the festivity for real.

Cultural Surprises

Taste Buds

Our Pakistani food is very spicy and hot, just perfect for our taste buds. When I saw my host family taking interest in Pakistani recipes, I was overjoyed. In the United States, however, a lot of people don't like spicy food. Whenever I made my host family Pakistani cuisine such as Biryani, I had to make sure I didn't put a lot of spices in it.

Commonalities

Sharing Meals

It is very common in Pakistani culture to have family dinners on special occasions, and I was delighted to find out that it was a part of American culture, as well. On Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, the Super Bowl and many other holidays, we used to get together with all our relatives and have fun.

I can never forget the evening when I made Kheer, a Pakistani dessert, with my host dad. We literally had to dig through almost every grocery store to find ground cardamom, which is one of the main ingredients. The kids at school loved it and so did my family. They said they hadn’t tasted a rice pudding as delicious as that. Making different kinds of Pakistani food helped me share my culture and traditions.

Changing Viewpoint

Infectious Smiles

Though I had heard a lot of stereotypes about American society, by living in the United States and meeting Americans, I have realized those observations aren’t exactly true. Everyone was really friendly and helpful to me. One of the attributes of Americans that I like the most is that they smile a lot. Now I pass a warm smile to everyone, too, although here in Pakistan I get weird looks from people I don’t know.

Tips for Others

I would like to tell others to take full advantage of their exchange programs, and to work on being outstanding youth ambassadors for their countries. Additionally, they should keep their hearts and minds open to the challenges that they face, and always stay optimistic and try to learn from those trials. Finally, they should put every good thing they have learned into application once they get back home, to try and make their communities better places to live.

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View a slideshow of Maliha's exchange program photos: