America, according to Emily

Ever wonder what Chinese students think about America?  Well, I wouldn’t call Emily your typical Chinese student, but she is one of my favorites, and she came back from America this summer and asked me to look at her essay, describing her experience and perspective.  Browse and be amused by her musings on everything from bread bowls to Disneyland to American values.  No worries; I got her permission to share this, and she was utterly thrilled.  This girl both cracks me up and encourages me like no one else.  ;)

Life of Emily in America

I had a really wonderful 15-day-trip in America and there were lots of experiences that left me with a deep impression. I really want to share them with you. I am going to introduce my observations about views, amusement parks, food, family, people, culture and history-spirit. I hope you can enjoy yourself.

Amusement parks

        While I was in California, I went to two amusement parks Universal Studios and Disneyland. I had a lot of fun in them. I was so happy to see my favorite cartoon characters in the parks, especially minions in Despicable Me in Universal Studios and Remy in Ratatouille in Disneyland. I was not crazy about games but I did venture on some rides.

       I took a roller coaster on water. I was attracted there by screaming. When I was standing in line I began to realize that it might be beyond my endurance capacity. I made a new friend then. She stood behind me. She told me: “It is OK. It’s not that scary.” I had gotten ready for it by the time I got on it. I was really excited and wondered how long it had been since I was in an amusement park?  I also watched a water show. It was not bad. I could not bear the bad air because there was fire-fighting and I was disappointed that I did not get wet.

       I didn’t take any riding in Universal Studios but it was really fun. I spend the whole day with minions because they were everywhere! I was overwhelmed with them and so looked forward to their new movie. I bought two books about Despicable Me. I thought no toys could compare with two wonderful stories in hand.

Food

Someone said American food were only hamburgers, sandwiches and pizza. I did felt that this time. Though it doesn’t mean I only ate them, I did not find any specific food that could be called totally American. It is said that Americans spend lots of time on cars. Then they need to have meal fast on it. So burgers become their choices. But when I learnt American culture I soon found out what Americans eat. It was true that Americans did not eat so various as Chinese but they did eat food that came from all over the world and all of them were quite different because Americans came from all walks of life.

I saw a kind of strange fruit on my dinner table, avocado. I was so surprised that this black skin fruit which tastes like liquid rubber was a relative of crispy pear! Gyan said it included good fats (It is kind of strange, ha? There is not supposed to be fat in fruit. But it is good fat.). But I still felt strange when it slithered on my tongue. I even gave up this free good fat in my sandwich when I went to Subway.

When it comes to Subway, I thought Subway had the best sandwiches while In-n-out Burger offered the best cheeseburgers. Gyan was so awesome that even though fast food she drove us to the best one. Subway produced really big sandwiches. A long loaf, meat and more than 10 kinds of vegetables and fruit to put in, which meant you could pick whatever you wanted. I guessed In-n-out burgers’ offering fresh meat in burgers resulted in its good popularity. I did like it because I could taste fresh onion and meat without stir-fried skin. There was a joke about the second time I bought a cheeseburger. That was for Sash who was at home and didn’t like onion and tomato. I encouraged myself to buy it along. Then I said: “A cheeseburger, no potato, no ‘muion’, to go.” The assistant stopped for a second then she got it. But I did say something sound like “no money” when I purchased.

I found most soup in America was much thicker than in China. I had clam chowder in Disneyland for lunch. I really liked the way I ate it. They offered a big round loaf of bread as a bowl. The part that was cut away was also served. Then there was big room in the bread for soup. There were pieces of meat or vegetable in it. It was a really a wonderful lunch only that it was trouble to take the bread bowl home. I always believed that everything was connected. The bread saved me 2 or 3 days later when I got up late and missed the breakfast in hotel.

   I ate berries a lot in America. A friend who shared one host family with me bought a box of blueberries to share then I came to know berries. I thought blueberries were a kind of cute fruit. They were sweet and small. Besides I liked their color a lot. After I arrived on the east coast I lived in hotel. I was told to stay inside and go nowhere but I kept thinking about blueberries so I slipped away with a friend to a market. I was so lucky for there was a market which only took 5 minutes to arrive. I saw blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. I fell in love with them in first sight so I bought all kinds of them. I liked blueberries best among 3 kinds of berries. By the way I was not found in the room so I was scolded by our teachers, more than once.

People

 All people I met in America were so friendly and nice.

I met Konnie in a restaurant in airport when I was about to go back home. That was my first time to be in an American restaurant along. I ordered Taco and had no idea if I should use a fork or my hand. I turned to her table, greeted her and asked for her idea. She answered me patiently and friendly. I met difficulties when I paid the bill. I asked for help again. Then she told me how to read the receipt, how much I should pay for tips and how to pay. Then I made it to leave the tip on the table and left. She promised that she will make sure the waitress would get it. How nice she was!

On the flight to America I met Mike. He was a nice gentleman. We chatted delightedly. When we were eating on the airplane, he helped me check whether I could use fork and knife correctly and was never stingy with his encouragement to me. When he was going to watch a movie, he asked me to pat his shoulder if I needed any help. How nice and helpful he was!

Church was one of the most touching place. People greeted you more warmheartedly and happily. Lots of people shook my hand and smiled to me like an old friend even I was just a stranger. We sang together in the church, holding one another’s hand and embracing the one who sat next you. Once you stepped into a church, everyone was your sisters and brothers. That’s why I liked being in church.

Culture

In California, you can hardly see other transportation but only cars. You can go everywhere with a car or you have no legs. Here I experienced their car culture-a country on the wheels. My host family have lots of cars whose number was more than people. I was surprised at this at first but soon understood it. They collected cars just like Chinese saved all their money which came after all life- long working for buying even a small house(because Chinese considered family really important). People fall in love with what they live on.

The US was a melting pot! People from everywhere gathered here, bring their own food. Various and different, that could be called American food. I guessed that was why I could not find the answer. The next day, I saw Miss S write down three words on the whiteboard, rights, values and social responsibilities. That was the class which helped me find the answer. I learnt that Americans had lots of rights. They were free to talk. They were free to be anyone they wanted to be, for example. And Americans had a very important value, liberty, which meant freedom of choice. They could choose their life freely. They were freely trying to change anything. I guess that was why there were many historic people who fought for rights. While Americans had lots of rights, they did lots of things for their society. They had lots of social responsibilities.     

Then I totally got the answer. American history was not so long as China and people here were from everywhere so this country could hardly find its own human culture. To find this country’s culture we got to look at their today. How people in the US lived today and what their values were today could tell us how Americans were. Americans did have their own culture. They were special nation.

Meanwhile I learnt that it was important to understand and accept all others, especially in a country like American, which filled with differences. Only in this way could everyone lived together happily.

History

       When I thought of some American history, it was not hard to find there were lots of people who fought for human’s freedom. They were firm and their speeches were motivational. All of them insisted their mission until either success or the last second of their life. I revered this kind of spirit and decided to make it my own mission. Besides, whatever I do I need this spirit. I think this spirit should be valued by all of us then we can own whatever we pursue.