A Strange Life

I come from China. I had been living in China for eighteen years before I moved to the U.S. It’s a long time. I was accustomed to the life there. I liked the sky, the air, the water and everything in China. Even though they are not better than that in the U.S. I still prefer that in China. Now, I’m living in Chicago, everything is different and difficult to control. I feel a little worried about that. It has been a hard period to assimilate into the new life in the U.S.A.
The transportation is difficult to adapt. The traffic is convenient in America. However, I felt that it was too much bother going anywhere. When I was in China, I could go everywhere by bike. I rode my bicycle to school, to the supermarket and wherever I wanted to go. It was very convenient because bicycle is the main vehicle. I enjoyed riding through the crowds. In contrast, if I want to go somewhere, I have to wait for bus and the train because I don’t have my own car. The waiting time is so boring that it’s waste of time. This problem puzzles me. I can’t go out by bike either because it’s very dangerous for me if I do that. I need more time to adapt myself to these strange circumstances.
Different studying styles are also hard to adapt. In China, I had to get up early to school and went home after dark. Our bags were too heavy to carry, and I had much homework to do. We were all very tired and feared we would get crazy one day. However, I learned a lot of things from the busy work. I used to spend most of time at school. I always studyed and played with my classmates. Now, I would enjoy most of my time at home by reading and sleeping. In fact, I feel comfortable now. I don’t have to get up early and don’t need to do a lot of homework, but I don’t know why I missed my past life now. Maybe I don’t know how to use my spare time. I had better learn to enrich my life in this new environment.
Cooking styles are the important part that difficult to adapt. I used to eat traditional food like dumplings, noodles, and rice all the time. Although we can cook ourselves now, the flavoring is not enough. I have to accept other kinds of food. Especially some food is eaten without cooking. We don’t like to eat that kind of food. We think that food should be cooked on fire before we eat them. I missed the Chinese traditional food like moon cake, rice dumplings. However enjoying American food has also been a educational interesting experience.
In a word, although there are many differences between China and America, I haven’t been able to adapt myself successfully in a short time. I will try my best to change my life, and will happy to face the problems in the future, but I hope that it won’t be difficult for me. Although these are different, they are both in one world. Now, I don’t go places by bike; I don’t spend all of my time at school, and I don’t eat traditional Chinese food all the time. However, I will miss my past life and keep it in my heart. I hope to be a competent person, who is living in a strange country and able to adapt to this new environment soon.

change

A Different Mid-Autumn Festival

How do you feel if you do the same thing in the same way
when it suddenly change? Is that good? No, I don't think so. For
me, I'm the person who likes being stick to old ways. I'm a very
traditional Chinese people. In China, parents buy new clothes
for their children before the Spring Festival. My parents also
bought me new cloth every year when I was small, but they
didn't buy me one when I was nineteen. I asked them for the
reason. “You're an adult now and you're no longer young.” My
mother answered. Then I felt sad and I was very unhappy,
because my habit had changed. I don't want to change it. In
fact, the way in which I celebrate my Mid-Autumn Festival has
changed since I moved to America.

In the U.S, the lantern is one part of the Mid-Autumn
Festival that is missing from China. I don’t bring the lantern to
go anywhere with friends anymore. I don't see any lanterns in
America. Actually, I want to buy one but I don't know where I
should go. In China, lantern is the character of Mid-Autumn
Festival. Lantern usually made of paper and bamboo or plastic.
There are many different shapes and colors of lantern. The
lantern can be animals, plants, buildings and many other things.
Children bring different kinds of lanterns and go around with
friends in the evening. It seems like a lantern world and it's
alive. All people can have fun during the festival.

In the U.S, mooncake is another different part of the Mid-
Autumn Festival that is missing from China. I don't eat
mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncake is
another characteristic of Mid-Autumn Festival. Although some
groceries sell mooncakes in Chinatown.I ’m not in the mood to
buy them. Because people don't celebrate the Mid-Autumn
Festival in America.There's no atmosphere here.It's very
different from China.In China,people buy mooncakes and give
them to their relatives and friends. This is Chinese custom. I
can feel that the festival is coming soon.Mooncakes are to Mid-
Autumn Festival what mince pies are to Christmas.

Finally, dinner is the most different part of the Mid-Autumn
Festival that is missing from China in the U.S. I don't have
dinner and enjoy the big round moon with my family. Some
Chinese immigrants are very busy and they have no time to
have dinner together. Most people usually eat in restaurant
because they don't want to cook after working whole a day. So
by and by Chinese people in America gives up getting together
in some festival. I’m living in America by myself and I miss my
parents. I remember that I had dinner and enjoyed the moon
with my parents every Mid-Autumn Festival when I was in China.
I was full of happiness.

In conclusion, my Mid-Autumn Festival has changed after I
moved to America. I remember an idiom“never forget where
one's happiness comes from”. That’s right. I’m Chinese and I
cannot forget theChinese customs. Though I'm not living in
China, I still want to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in
America ,I’ll ask my parents or my friends to mail me a lantern
so that I can hang it in my house; I’ll buy the mooncakes and
give them to my friends as the presents; I’ll have aget together
with my friends in the evening of the Mid-Autumn festival.
Because celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival it’s a part
of my life.

American Dream

In old China, people always said: “gold mines are ubiquitous in America.” Until now, the dreamers are still dreaming about gold-digging. Only we, the Chinese immigrants living in the US, know how difficult it is living in this foreign country. Sometimes people will think of who they were. The rest of the time, they have to face who they are. From China to America, people may be perplexed in this transition. Different environment, different cultures, how is it even possible to compare America to China? However, there’s one thing that is evident. For me, America is not a place for dreaming, it is a place for transformation---to change my life.

The first thing I lost is confidence. Perhaps I was just an ordinary person in my country, but I could live there confidently. I was familiar with Chinese common language. Besides, I speak three dialects. I dared to go anywhere I wanted. At least, I could communicate with strangers if I needed to ask them for directions. In addition, I was not bad in my classes, and I was about to graduate from university in two years. Then one day, I was told that I would immigrate to America soon. It was a new hope for me at that time. However, the surroundings were not as I expected when I stood on this new land. Even though I felt excited when I was listening to the foreigners who spoke English fluently, I couldn’t find any other word to describe my situation but confused. “Time will change this,” I thought. One year has passed by, but I’m still the same as I was someone who would like to be invisible in front of the ENGLISHs.

Joyfulness had been the term of describing my character by my old friends, but it wasn’t anymore. In China, I would be easily pleased by something insignificant. A boat trip or mountain adventure was enough to make me excited for days. My relationships between friends were as pure as water. Respect and concern for each other had maintained our friendships. I was looking forward to meeting new friends who would be as the fellows I met. Disappointingly, America is full of busy footsteps. School, home and workplace are the three parts of a complete circle. People walk along the circle every day, and so do I. Someone said: “there is a tiny thing called selfishness hiding in the innermost depth of heart of everybody.” Its philosophic theory made me think of the nature of humans, I just observed it a little wider with a magnifier.

My dependence on my parents is disappearing even though I’m living with them. The adults told me that I didn’t need to do anything except study when I was in China. Although I tried to find a part time job when I enrolled in the university in a strange city, I failed. As usual, I received money from my parents every month, so I didn’t worry about my living expenses living in China. Nevertheless, as an adult in America, I have to work. My parents are still the stanchions on my both sides. What I want to do is maintain a balance by myself. Thus, I work two days per week for my tuition and other fees. Students who work as me in China cannot afford those costs. Maybe these are the gold mines in Chinese dreams---you can be independent in America.

Adapting to a new world will never be easy as dreaming, but my life just keeps on changing. Provisionally, I lost my way as the captain of the boat in the storm. When the sun comes out, what has been lost may be found out again, or there’s something that I only want to let go. Sometimes I have found that I was somewhat like the gold dreamers. We are all looking for what we want no matter if it is a dream or real. In the transformation of life, people will always find a new direction for the future. I’m in the process of pursuit, and I have a dream that my life will be fabulous someday.

Miles Away From My Country

There should be a dictionary about all the cultural differences in every country. It would help the integration process of the immigrants who struggle in their new lives. I have been living in Chicago for two years, and I still endure difficulties to understand the new customs in the US. I often feel myself as I have to walk carefully to decipher the way of life in Chicago. Every day, I can feel the weight and the power of my own French upbringing. Even though I love my life in America, I still feel very far away from my country regarding the translation of the language, the relationship with people and the eating habits.

The English language is an important adjustment in my life as a French immigrant in the US. That is why I try so hard to go through this different language because I just want to belong to the new world by understanding what is going on. Whenever I’m in a store and ask for something in a very simple way and the person a front of me makes a facial expression like she or he doesn’t know what I’m looking for, I always feel lonely and deeply disoriented. Even though I know that I’ m not bicultural enough to understand all the tricks or the wisecracks that I could hear, I just miss the way I used to shop in France, by subtlety sharing the language with people. I also struggle with the pictorial language of American English when people use some sports words and expressions in a totally different context. For example, the idiomatic expression “ kick off “ is to start the game in football and is often used in a regular conversation to say that you are starting a discussion. This way of speaking is really different from my traditional way of idiomatic expressions in France. Up until now, my lack of knowledge in this language has made the transition to life harder.

Relationships are another important part of adjustment in my life as a French native in America. I always wonder if all of the difficulties that I have mentioned above follow from my hard time with relationships with American people. One of the biggest basic’s approach is the common huge hug to say” Hello”, instead of the traditional kisses in my country, and this still makes me uncomfortable. Even though I often find American people more welcoming during the first contact than French people, I also find it more difficult to go further into the relationship with them. For example, I’m always surprised when one of my neighbors waves at me, and says hello because I don’t really know him or her but he or her pretends to know me by just being familiar with my face. In Paris it is really hard to imagine this kind of behavior. Nobody will wave at you if they don’t know you at all. As I said, it also seems very hard to break the first approach and go forward. I often feel people busy, and it seems to be more difficult to go over the next step with them. This is how I feel about my experiences with people in Chicago, but I still want to try to go further and share time with friends as I used to do in Paris.
Customs around food are probably the most important part of the adjustment as a French immigrant, and it could also be the one I’ m ready to change. When I tried to invite American people over for a dinner at my home, they usually are not ready to go for it. First of all, my French time schedule doesn’t match with the early American dinner. Also, they were not used to sitting for a long dinner with a starter, a main course, cheese and desert. Everyone sits at the table for a long time, enjoying the moment with wine and chatting late into the night. It is very common to invite friends over according to the French tradition, even during the week. It may be true that French people work less than Americans, and that is probably why they have more time to hang out with friends. In this case, I have really lost the translation between my country and America because my American friends don’t take time to cook at home and usually invite us iout to a restaurant and pay the bill. It’s a huge, cultural gap that still makes me feel embarrassed. However, I’m ready to move in an early dinner because it’s healthier and it easier to get up in the next morning.

Adapting to a new life is full of complexity, and each case is different. For this reason, setting up a dictionary about all the cultural differences could be impossible. It definitely takes time to adjust to cultural differences between French and American customs. I’m thrilled to work on it, and I like to open my eyes for something I even don’t know, the outcome. It makes me think differently and open my mind widely. After struggling, you adapt yourself and you can become a citizen of the world. I will fight for my kids and hope they will take advantage at this fantastic opportunity to discover several aspects of different cultures. It will be a great asset for their future.

My New Life, My Hard Time

Imagine that you are a freshman in a new place. Do you think your life will be easy or difficult? For me, it is not easy. I came here four months ago. It was my first time leaving China.Although I am bombarded with the beautiful scenery here everyday, I feel confused as I try to adapt to the new environment. Living my new life in this city, I have had a hard time adapting my eating, shopping and living habits.

First of all, eating habits in this county are different from China. Many American live at a fast space and eat fast food. There are a lot of fast food stores all around such as Subway, Wendy’s and Burger King, which sell hot and cold sandwiches and other items. I ate this oily and greasy food in school for a few days. And I felt like vomiting. I usually buy refrigerated meat from a local supermarket, for it would take me one hour drive to the farm to get fresh meat. I miss my Chinese farm near my house which raises d chickens and harvested vegetables. I miss my mother’s vegetable soup and steam fish without fat. I miss the Chinese restaurant serves porridge with sliced thin pork or preserved duck egg in the morning. Most American food I eat now is more calorie and fat. If I pay attentions to what i eat, I can picture my future, what an absolutely fat girl i will be!

Not only eating, but also going shopping here confuse me. As a new immigrant, I can’t keep myself from comparing US goods to Chinese. I know people here earn more money, but I can’t control my mind sometime. For instance, an eraser is 1.5 dollar here, and in my mind it is 10.5RMB with which you can buy ten pieces in China. Furthermore, you must pay an additional tax for the goods. I had never seen the tax amount in my Chinese receipt. And some customer service is also different here. When I buy jeans in China, the sales person will adjust the trouser leg to suit me. However, all I can do here is turning the cuffs up again and again. Americans are usually talker than the Asians. Moreover, I hate the clothes here because of the simple design. In my eye, all clothes seem to be the same. The people here like sportswear, and I like Chinese delicate handmade clothes. Shopping is one of most interesting parts of life for some woman, and for me, it is hard to find a real good buy. When I do need something, I ask my best friend in China to ship it to me.

Finally, I must be independent, which I was not used to being in China, and this causes me many troubles. I am my parents’ only child. In china, I didn’t have any trouble under my parents’ good care .And now; no one cooks breakfast or wakes me up. I was late for school at the beginning. Most of my classmates go school on weekdays and work on weekends, and so do I. I feel too tired to do the homework at night after working, cooking and cleaning .Usually on my way home; I miss my parents who prepared the hot chicken soup waiting for me to come back. Although it is not an easy time for me to be independent, I know it is good for me. When a lion grows up, she needs to find her own kingdom.

As a new immigrant, I am not accustomed to eating, shopping and living in the American way. However, I love Chicago. I have a dream here for my new life. I don’t feel lonely because there are so many people who are in the same situation as me. Chicago is a mixed city with thousands of people arriving from different countries everyday. I do believe that after the period of adjustment, I will fall in love with the new environment. Maybe after several years, I will tell you a different story about how I love the life here.

Lost in Translation

“Carol, would you like to be the fourth corner at my home? Alice and Ellen have been here” Josephine said happily. “Yes, I will be there in a minute” I answered without giving a second thought. “Carol, be quick” I heard other familiar voices echoed over the phone at the same time. They were awaiting me to play mahjong at that very moment. These conversations usually used to happen in the past while I lived in Hong Kong. Mahjong interlinks with social activities. It involves socializing, relationships and food. And it is a game for four players and requires skill, strategy and calculation as well as luck. That is why it is most people’s favorite hobby. Socializing, relationships and food are important parts of my life, but those have disappeared with my migration to America.

First, socializing is a significant part of society. Mahjong can be a role in our social lives. Mahjong culture is popular and ingrained in my home town, Hong Kong. For example, some families might have one or two sets of mahjong boards at home. Also, some restaurants or clubs often advertise bargain prices for one table mahjong (that means four people) with four dinners and a soup to attract their customers. Mahjong is also an essential character in wedding and birthday banquets and family gatherings. Most people come early to the party in order to play mahjong before the banquet starts. It interlinks with social and family activities. People can get to meet new friends by playing mahjong, and they might even become good friends. Usually, playing mahjong would take about four to eight hours. Talking, gossiping, exchanging current news, discussing about problems or business wouldn’t be absent while playing mahjong. Some people say “If the Hong Kong government prohibited citizens from playing mahjong, it would definitely have a riot or protest.” You see how deep this culture was influencing me as I grew up in Hong Kong.
Second, good relationships with people are a motivation of having a joyful life. My relationship with my husband’s side family and my friends are soaked with this activity. For example, mahjong highlighted my family gathering on my husband’s side .One of my brother-in-laws said that “Playing mahjong with my mom is respectful and obedient”. In fact, my mother-in-law really loves playing mahjong. She thinks that playing mahjong with her sons and daughter-in-laws brings her fortune and joy. Also, while we were playing mahjong with our friends, we would like to gossip about some celebrities, current news or family’s matters. And the final winner might show off her skill and strategy to the losers. This was just for fun. Moreover, the winner often paid the bill for our dinner. We didn’t need to go Dutch. Presently, I often receive calls from my contemporary mahjong friends who said that “Carol, can you hear the shuffling sound of tiles, would you desire to play with us……….Ha! Ha! ”. They frequently lured me over by offering their excitement and joy. They just pulled my leg. Virtually, I was really hungry for that second I would have played mahjong with them. I really enjoyed the moments we were together

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Furthermore, food makes people happier. It could win many people’s hearts. Playing mahjong is also a favorite pastime of most people. Usually we would spend rather long hours playing this game. Food is one of the components in this activity. For instance, my mother-in-law always prepares our favorite snacks and gourmet dinner before playing mahjong. Occasionally, we would give orders to the nearby restaurant to deliver food and soup to us. Eating seafood and playing mahjong in a restaurant on the small island are the two habits that I often loved to do with my friends on weekends or holidays. However, now I can only find them in my memories, but now, I have found various delicious favorite ethnic dishes in America.
Because of my migration to America, the mahjong activity, friendship and food have faded away. Though playing mahjong exists in America, the style is so different from what we did in Hong Kong. Friendship can only be maintained by e-mail and phone call without meeting them in person .Some food can’t be found here. However, American steak could be substituted for some delicious meat in my home town. Hence, I believe that being “Lost in translation” is only a transitional period and is also a toll of my immigration. Now, I can breathe the fresh air, see the blue sky, drink the sweet tap water and study English with classmates from around the globe. It is interesting that so many classmates are from different nations. Nevertheless, while I have gained I have also lost. A good quality life is one of my pursuits. It inspires and pushes me to live in America, and it compensates what I have lost as well.