Blog Assignment 4 - American or Chinese? - Due on Sep. 28th

For two whole years, I was dreaming of coming to America, to the place where everything is so perfect that nowhere else could ever compare with. Although I knew, that there must be something not that wonderful in the US, it was still the heaven of all human-beings. One of my friends here, whose name is Eric, proved my thoughts thoroughly, because he’s so delightedly making friends with American people and enjoying his American life. However, after living here for nearly a month, I don’t meet my expectations here, not because America is not good enough according to my judgment standard, but the culture differences make me confused.

I am a pure Chinese born and brought up in China. The reason I call myself “pure” is that I am somewhat very indulgent in traditional Chinese culture and devote myself in learning Chinese culture as much I can. But still, I want to come out of the small world to the global center, where everyone around the world meets their needs, to experience freshness of life. I made up my mind to make friends with American students here after I moved into the school dorm. However, the more time I spent here, the more desire I have towards company of Chinese people. That is what my culture forwards me to do.

But why do many Chinese, including Mr. Liu and I, look forward to being with other Chinese here? The reason is the call for culture complement. Nineteen years is enough to decide what we are and what we are going to be. No matter where we live, we need a support in our heart. This is not what mere family and friends can give us, but a five thousand years of culture in the back that will constantly push us forward. We have a need to fill our mind and heart with resources from our culture to get us work. It is like the need of gas for a car to run. Nobody can live without the support of a culture. But when we come to America, we lack the base sufficiency. And this lack of base sufficiency requires us to turn to Chinese people here for help.

Being among Americans, my eyes become more and more sensitive to Chinese looks. I can easily turn my attention to a single Chinese stranger in the crowd of Americans on the road. When two Chinese meet, it is like two family members’ reunion. We can express our feelings without any doubt because we know what the other is thinking about and we understand how this happened. We can get a great deal of comfort from each other by just talking, and get our mind renewed. And this is the amazing affect we experience every day.

Is living in America just suffer? No! We are learning here. We learn knowledge and technologies that our country doesn’t have, we acknowledge the pain of being alone, and we know how to adjust ourselves to face life optimistically no matter how hard our life is, because we have experienced the biggest difference in our lives – the difference of culture. Although somebody who came to America with me had gone back China, I will continue until I finished my American dream here, and the dream is insistence.


humble: blieving you're not any better or more important than other people.
lectern: an object with a sloping surface that you put an open book or notes on while you are speaking to people in public.
delegation: 1. the giving to someone of part or all of your power, rights, or duties.
2. a group of people chosen to represent others.