Restart
Chinese
people feel proud of those who can immigrate to the United States of America.
It is the dream country. Most Chinese parents hope their daughters can marry an
American man because they want to immigrate to the U.S. When I came to the
U.S., which is my dream country, I realized I had to restart my life. In my early
days in this country, I lost my confidence because I didn’t know much English.
I had a lot of things to say, but I didn’t know how to express my mind. Sometimes
when shopping in the mall, I wanted to ask salesclerks about the new arrival,
but they never understood what I was talking about. In addition, most American
people don’t celebrate the Chinese festivals, so I feel I lost a part of my
Chinese culture. When I came to America I lost confidence, my communication
skills, and some Chinese culture in my new life.
The
first thing I lost was my confidence after I came to the U.S. I was born in the
zodiac sign of Leo, so I will do anything in order to succeed. I was a very
confident girl in China. However, I had no confidence after I came to the
United States. I was afraid of facing
strangers because I was worried that I would say something wrong. When I
started class at school, I wanted to participate. I had some ideas about some
discussions in the classroom, but I didn’t dare to express myself because I
always thought my opinions would not be accepted or I was afraid someone would think
my idea is just a joke. In contrast, I would unreservedly express my opinion in
school in my class in China. I want to regain my confidence in order to become
myself again.
My ability to
communicate was the second thing that got lost in the U.S. I had a smart mouth
in China. Maybe many people think it’s a bad character trait because it is very
easy to offend others, but I don’t think so. I think if people want to have
good relationships, they must be able to communicate well with one another. In
fact, I’m good at Chinese, but poor at English. I had to speak English
everywhere such as school, restaurants and my job. I think I don’t have good
English skills and represent that I lost the ability to communicate. I need to
restart better communication skills in the U.S.
What
I lost the most, however, is my Chinese culture. I had lived in China for more
than twenty years before I came to America. However, after I came to the U.S.,
I found that few American people would celebrate Chinese Festivals. Instead,
they celebrated Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween. For example, I lived in
China for more than twenty years, and I’ve celebrated The Lunar New Year my
entire life. On that day my parents and other married relatives would give me
lucky money in a red envelope, and all the families would get together and have
dinner on New Year’s Eve. Nonetheless, I didn’t feel the atmosphere about the
Lunar New Year in America. Another example of this is when the Chinese have to burn
a sacrifice for their forefathers in China’s Qingming Festival every year. This
implies that people will be receiving blessing from their ancestors. However,
there is completely no way to sacrifice for my forefathers in the U.S. because
my forefathers were buried in the ground in China. I need to find ways of celebrate
my China holidays in this mew country.
Since
the moment I chose to immigrate to America, my life I was doomed. I lost my
confidence, but I was intent to find it again. Although people rarely speak
Chinese in the U.S. I believe that through my efforts my English will become
better. My Chinese culture has accompanied me for years, but I can learn a different
culture in the U.S. “Restart” means to take up or begin anew, and that
represents my American life will have a new beginning.
Abby, the parts you talked about what challenges you encountered in Chicago are very interesting because they were also my challenges when I just came to America. I hope you have found out how to deal with these problems.
ReplyDeleteKeyl,
DeleteThank you very much that give your commen for me. Yes, I think many people have these problems when they just came to America. However, gradually, I began get used to life in the U.S. and try to how to deal with some different problems.
Zhenzheny (Abby),
ReplyDeleteHi, I wish you will regain your confident in the recent future. Challenges is motivation for you to face your new life. Keep going.
Jophy, thanks for that. I know new life is always a challege, however, if I want to prove my life, I have to do that.
DeleteIt is interesting that you feel the lack of your own cultural New years celebration here even if there is a big Chinese community. I feel the same way, our new year celebration is in March and it is called Nowruz. Its a new beginning and really fun time of the year. I hope you will find ways to enjoy and celebrate your cultural and traditional celebrations here with your new friends.
ReplyDeleteAybolek, same to you. I would like to accept the new cultural and enjoy it. Life is short, I prefer to try everything new before I die.
DeleteAbby,
ReplyDeleteIn the first body paragraph you said "I will do anything in order to succeed" well, chines is our first language and we could handle each matter that we had in China. but in the U.S. we really need help for every trouble.
Jiaxin, I agree with you. Even though we learned a lot of stuff in China, we have to restart everything when we come to the U.S. We start with "zero", however, I think can do it.
Delete