Beyond Family Planning

Beyond Family Planning

      I have to say that I am a person who is on the outside of the plan at home. I was born in 1995. Because the number of Chinese citizens was too large and the growth rate was too fast at that time, the Chinese government implemented a very strict policy, the Family Planning. The Family Planning encouraged people to get married later, have children later and have only one child throughout the country. So that there would not be too much people in the country, and the quality of people’s life would also become better. I am the second child in my family, and that was against the policy. The Family Planning Law had brought many affects to my family and me.

      Perhaps the most important aspect of effect was that the Family Planning made me lose the possibility of having brother. Before my mother was pregnant with me, she had had a pregnancy. However, my mother had already had a kid at that time, so she had to have an abortion. She could do nothing, but to have an abortion. Every time she talks about that event, I can see the sad expression on her face. I am very sad too because I could have another brother, but things didn’t happen because of the Family Planning law. A lot of families had the same situation with my family in the same generation. They all lost their second or third children.

      Several years after the abortion, my mother was pregnant again, and that was me. Due to this policy, my mother had to hide everywhere except to stay at home because she was afraid that the government workers would come and take her away to make an abortion. She just lived in my aunt’s house or her friends’ house. Meanwhile, my father couldn’t live with my mother because the government workers always came to our home and look for my mother. If they didn’t find her, they would destroy our house. My father needed to stay at home to protect our hose from their destruction.

      For a long time after I was born, I was a person without an identity. Because I was one of the two children who were born outside of the Family Planning low throughout the village, so the government didn’t recognize my existence and didn’t give me an identity card. I couldn’t go to kindergarten until I was five years old. Finally, the government received a lot of fines from my family, so that I could get my identity, so that I could go to school.

      The Family planning affected a generation in 1990s, most families had only one child. Although it was good for the country at that time, I don’t like it because it had influenced my family too much. Because of the Family Planning, my parents lost fertility. I don’t think it is a good policy.

Starvation Outbreak

    

         In 1983, farming collapsed in Ghana, but my country was among one of the best countries.

in the world. This disaster was a big blow to the entire country. When I cast my mind to this situation, I feel sorry for family at that time. Ghana is a less privileged country, which depends mostly on farming as a major occupation. The dry season or harmattan season caused bush fires, so majority of the farms got burned. Farm products which were ready to dispatch and all food crops got burned into aches. In Ghana food crops plantations are usually cultivated yearly, so the season was miserable for the farmers. Ghana was in a tragedy, since farming didn’t have any stand on that year. The bush fires made the most farm lands unfertile, therefore all the crops my grandparents planted got dead.  My grandparents and my parents got affected because they were all getting their source of income from the farming. Food has to be imported from different country. 

            My grandparents faced a financial hardship because their big cocoa and cotton farms were earning them a lot of money. They became poor because they were depending on the farming for their living. Financial crises were   a major problem for them.  Their customers couldn’t get the cocoa to make chocolate and other cocoa products. Cocoa consumers were starved and other cocoa manufactures got affected. Eventually my grandparents couldn’t afford to pay my uncle’s school fees, so he was dropped out. In fact food manufacturing and all across food production companies were shut down, because there were no money in the system.

            In addition, individuals who had opportunity migrated to a different country because food became expensive in Ghana.  My cousin suffered from malnutrition and died, so his parents moved to Togo. So many people couldn’t afford to buy balanced diet for their kids. My uncle who was a building contractor left Ghana to another country, he didn’t want his kids to suffer from any malnutrition. My Aunty who was into business with farmers has to travel to a different country for farm products. Again my parents and my elder brother left Ghana to Nigeria for years.  Soon after the crises began most of my family members fled from Ghana.

            Furthermore, unemployment became another disadvantage during the starvation outbreak.  Most farmers lost their jobs especially my grandparents, they were old and couldn’t have the chance to do any other alternative job. Again some Ghanaian   who were not educated only depend on farming became jobless or unemployed.  In addition to farming jobs, the traders of farm products also got affected. My mother became unemployed and for that matter she left   Ghana, otherwise her situation would have been worse There were no farm products in most trading centers.

            To conclude, starvation outbreak affected my family a lot because most relatives were into farming and farm products business. My family became disappointed in a sense that, most of them lost their jobs. This situation also made my parents interested in travelling, as at now my parents and siblings are in London. Moreover, my uncles are in Germany, and I have some cousins in Canada. Although my family got affected f in a bad way, but it also made my uncle to choose other alternative for their living.  In the olden days most people were into farming, since education wasn’t a priority, but nowadays   education has been encouraged.  Most Ghanaian are not depending on farming anymore.  Moreover, there are varieties of jobs in Ghana as compared to 1980’s.However farmers must pay much attention when burning weeds, in order not to catch fire.  Again the government should set a rules that, farmers must avoid burning during dry season

Keep Fighting

Keep Fighting

            Italy is famous for it’s history, it’s food and it’s beautiful cities. Despite of all that beauty, people in the world may not really know how my country changed nineteen years ago. In 1999, the new Government was elected with Romano Prodi as President. Like in the U.S., the presidency term is four years, but Romano Prodi was removed from office after just two years. President Prodi chose to be part of European Union, and that was one of the reasons why he was removed. The President didn’t prevent the risk of changing from Lira to Euro, and he especially didn’t prevent the crisis that befell the older people, who had to figure out the value. The economy experienced a big decline, and Italians were desperate. The Euro had a big impact on low-income families like mine. Moreover, it wasn’t our choice but was made from the government without a democratic vote.

I was sixteen years old when one day after school I saw my mother crying desperately with a letter from the bank in her hands. I learned, sometime later, that this was due to the conversion from Lira to Euro, and how that conversion put us in debt. My two big brothers were close to my mother that day, and both were trying to comfort her. Vincenzo, my oldest brother, told me to come close to my mother, ”The family needs to talk” he said. I will never forget my mother’s eyes full of tears, and her voice mumbling trying to explain our debt to the bank had doubled. I knew that one Euro was double of one Lira, but I didn’t understand at that time why we had to pay double. In addition, the cost of living in Italy was doubled. Despite the fact of the conversion, the problem was because the Italian salaries converted to Euro didn’t double. My mother started to receive only the fifty percent of her salary, and it wasn’t enough for four people. Many bills were paid late, and my mother wasn’t eligible anymore to saving money.

After six months without paying our debt, the bank repossessed our house for half of our debt. My family and I slept inside the car for one months before moving to a rental apartment to save some money. My brother Vincenzo dropped out of college and he went to work with my mother on the farm. However, our situation with the bank didn’t change. The money wasn’t enough. Some days, we ate one meal a day trying to save more money. The electricity was cut off because my mother couldn’t pay several bills. She asked my second brother Emiliano and me to drop out of school and go to work, because having two more salaries would help her to pay the bills. My mother after my father passed away, knew the life without him would not be easy, but she never thought it could be hard like that.

My family and I were determined, and we fought hard to get our life back. I was working three jobs to have enough money to help my family and kept dreaming to finish my high school. My goal was to build my instruction and give back to my mother the most important thing the government took away from her, her happiness.  Moving to United State was one of my dreams to have a better life for my family and me. I was focused on achieving my goal. After I graduated and took the international Bodyguard license, I moved to Unite States. It was hard to leave my family and my friends. Moreover, I didn’t know if my dream could work. 

When I think of my childhood, sometimes I cry because my family was poor and couldn’t pay the bills or afford daily supplies. Today I have a wonderful life with a good job. I can help my family. Furthermore, I can have the opportunity to change from Bodyguard career to a Police Officer career. I keep working hard and trying to reach my goals. In my opinion joining the European Union was a big mistake. Moreover, the economic data of the Italian low-income family still demonstrates after almost twenty years that Italian families are poor and can’t save money. Nevertheless, the United State has given me a better future, but I don’t know how my life could be if Italy didn’t become part of European Union. Would I have emigrated? I will never know.

A Loss Special Tradition

     There is something special that most Mexicans celebrate regardless of where they are. I have lived in Chicago for three years, and I have never seen something similar to this tradition. Americans celebrate Halloween at the end of October, which is not similar to what Mexicans celebrate. Halloween it is more to have fun with friends, and the Day of the Dead is more to celebrate ancestors. The Day of the Dead is celebrated on September 2nd by Mexicans. It is part of the culture to go to the churche, and main part of the holiday is go to the cemetery, to visit family or friends that passed away. In Chicago, it is not the same feeling because my family is not buried in Chicago or maybe it is just because it is just not Mexico, the place that I came from. Chicago tradition for this day is wearing make-up and going outside to get some candy. It is strange that people in Chicago do not visit the cemetery on this day because Americans have the same day to celebrate, but people visit the cemetery in a different day. Day of the Dead is about celebrating special people. It is common to take flowers to people, create altars and make a mass. However, the tradition of going to the cemetery and honoring ancestors has been lost for me since I moved to Chicago.
     One of the traditions is taking flowers to people to demonstrate how much their family missed that person. I have lived in Chicago for three years, and Mexican-Americans do not have this culture because they feel more American. For example, I have cousins in Chicago and I have never seen them taking flowers, to a special friend that passed away because they have their family buried in Mexico. In my case, I celebrate this with my family. I go to the cemetery, and then I put the special flower that is just for this day. The flower is called Cempasuchil, which is an orange flower with a really strong smell as the incense of the church. In addition, there are some places in Chicago that make this celebration in a different way. People usually dress like the Catrina or they just create a parade, but honestly this is a different way to celebrate because this day is to celebrate ancestors. Catrina is a skeleton woman that represents death. People usually wear make-up with the shape of the skeleton. This is something different because people wear this on October 31st before celebrating people that we loved.
      Moreover, Mexicans create a type of altar to represent some of the things that the person loved. On the altars, people usually put some of the favorite foods, drinks, and a picture of the person, and people decorate this altar with a special tissue paper. People usually make some shapes that represent the dead and people put some of the favorite food or drink of this special person. In Chicago, I’ve never seen an altar in a school. In Mexico, usually schools decorate the rooms with altars and the students bring a special picture of the person that they miss. Mexico have had a big motivate to celebrate this day because they want to feel closer to the person.
     In addition, the mass is a spiritual way to feel connected with those who have passed away. In Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco where I was born, my uncle Pepe set aside a horary in the church that it is near at my home, and all my family and friends of the person go to the church to listen the priest giving the special ceremony. Most of the time my uncle set aside a time on the next day because sometimes the churches are full. In Chicago people cannot set aside a specific horary because there are more people, and they need to wait some days or just get the mass with different people. I prefer not attend to mass in Chicago because it feels strange because I was accustomed to the small familiar mass.
     In conclusion, I cannot celebrate this day in Chicago because the meaning of this day is to celebrate the ancestors where they were buried. All my ancestors are in Mexico, so they are buried there. I know there are different traditions but I would like to celebrate this again in my beautiful Mexico. It is more special because I can feel myself more connected with my family because I know that I’m going to visit them. I know this tradition changed when I moved to Chicago. I cannot go to the cemetery to honor my ancestors because I lost that opportunity when I decided to stay in Chicago.

3.11 Earthquake and Tsunami

            

             “Please spend all day today mindfully. Watch out outside. Stay safe.” My mother always said this to me when she had a nightmare. That’s one of her superstitious fears, but I really didn’t care about her premonition before the disaster.  The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami broke my heart deeply. Regardless of any religious beliefs, I just prayed to God. The disasters occurred on March 11^th, 2011. It was a magnitude of 9.1 and recorded the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world. About 16,000 people died, and over 3,000 people were missing. Many people lost their families and houses. The disaster was the most difficult crisis for Japan since the end of World War II.  After the tragic disaster, I began to consider any sign of premonitions. In addition, I accepted the importance of the family bond.  When life is difficult, my family members will encourage and support each other always.     

                   Since the disaster, I stated paying attention carefully to all kinds of information.

Furthermore, I try to stay calm and think clearly if any emergency happens. I decided to become more reliable, and I can support my family if they need help. When this disaster happened, breaking news video played suddenly about an unusually big wave that crashed into peaceful seaside towns in a flash. Then, I was extremely shocked at the same time because I never believed that it just happened in Northern Japan. “Why was the movie playing again?”, my eyes flickered. Before that night I coincidentally watched the movie, Deep Impact at home. It was like déjà vu, and naturally I had goosebumps. Until then, the myths were interesting for me, but I had never believed some predictions or premonitions. On the contrary, my mother always considers intuition or a sign of bad luck as unfortunate. When she doesn’t feel comfortable, it seems like some negative thing will occur. Actually, when the earthquake happened, my parents were at a grocery store in a suburb of Tokyo. Right before the earthquake started, she got dizzy and felt like vomiting. A store employee came and tried to help my bending over mother, and then, the ground intensely shook. The disaster changed my agnosticism.

            Moreover, I recognized the importance of a family bond. After the disaster, I started contacting my family more often. Now, when I visit Japan, I enjoy spending time together as much I can. When the disaster happened, I was in Chicago. Immediately, I tried to confirm whether my family and friends were safe. I called to family, but the telephone lines were downed. Therefore, I was unable to contact them. I tried online calls, such as Skype, and finally, I could talk with my mother. “Hello…” She spoke in a weak voice. “Oh, I’m terrified, but I am okay, also our relatives were safe. Currently, everyone is in extreme panic in Japan.”  I relocated too far from my family. I blamed myself because I was so helpless and useless for them. However, I was sincerely thankful my family was safe.

             I was really impressed because those suffering in Japan continued to have hope and stood up against their broken hearts and damage. “Let’s recover Japan together for the young children in the future.” Even after the disaster was over, Japan faced many problems and side effects. For example, the radiation problem of nuclear plants in Fukushima occurred. Farming and agriculture industries were damaged by the disaster. In addition, the crisis affected the Japanese economy. My parents stayed strong and controlled the stress as well. Since the disaster happened, my parents haven’t recommended me to come over to Japan. Mother explained me on the phone, almost every day, suddenly, the grand start shaking still. She still feels trauma from the earthquake. One year later, I finally visited Japan. When I arrived home, my heart was squeezed. The small entrance gate of the house was dented slightly. My father tried to fix it, but it wasn’t completely straight. The wall of the house got small cracks. I grew up in this house, which my father had designed and had built. My father is an architect and he designed our house to resists earthquakes. I realized how much the earthquake was powerful. There are two large China cabinets in the living room. My mother collected tableware and decorated them on the cabinets. Those collections were beautiful and had family memories. However, the cabinets were almost empty because some pottery was broken. I was speechless and just kept staring at the cabinets. Mother explained me quietly, “Most cups and plates had fallen down from the cabinets and broken.” My heart was beating fast. “Well… I’m glad that no one my family injured at the disaster.”  If my parents were in the living room, they might get hurt with glass and furniture. Actually, I realized that life is most important thing. From this experience, my family and I learned to declutter the house. 

            The disaster crashed human lives although the survivors stayed patiently strong. Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict the future completely like a fortuneteller of a fairy tale. However, a strong connection between family will encourage positive life. A family bond is unbreakable easily expect unexpected powerful disasters. Since the 3.11 earthquakes, I have been afraid to check the breaking news although I pay attention to check them because I know that I need to stay informed and be prepared for any emergency situation. Every year on March 11^th, I remind myself in peace that keeping my eye on varieties of social problems, and having self-awareness as a member of society. 

            

                

Domino Effect

         In 2008 when the financial bubble exploded in the U.S, the majority of people didn’t know that the situation was going to affect small countries. Today, I am living in that amazing city which is Chicago. Sometimes, people can me ask why I am here? Moving here, for me was the consequence of the subprime crisis. That crisis really affected the U.S economy. As a result, it touched other countries because the U.S is the lung of world economy. That depression had a violent impact on African countries’ economies, particularly in my country, Benin. It brought poverty, created migration, and engendered other problems. The subprime crisis of 2008 had a deep influence on my family and my country.

When the crisis  touched Benin in 2008, it created a domino effect in the society. Touching one of the most popular banks of the country, the economy collapsed. ICC service was a non-governmental organization, and a few years before the crisis, they decided to create a bank. In fact, that was illegal. When people deposited their money there, they could be charged the rate of 200%. That is crazy and it is unbelievable ! It was really attractive for poor people like “Noussato”, taxi, farmers, and the majority of them deposited their money to have an important benefit. They enjoyed their benefit for ten years. This is a big Ponzi system, and it touched more than 300,000 people. They lost more than 400 million dollars when the system exploded in 2010, after ten years of illegal work. Nobody in my family used ICC service, but they  felt a problem since the beginning. For them, that was not normal. However, 400 million dollar depression will certainly touch all the people of a small country with limited resources like Benin.

Moreover, poverty started to increase because a lot of people lost their savings in the Ponzi system. That was coupled with the crisis effects. Less work means less money, and more poverty. Simple traders were touched, and had difficulties selling their merchandise. From that moment, the crisis started touching people of my family. For example my mom was hair braider. Less money for her meant fewer clients, less work, and less money to earn. She was really stressed. I can say that the situation was complicated for everybody. The situation was the same for the members of my family too. it was weird.

            Therefore, people start leaving. Poor people needed a better life somewhere, and a comfortable financial situation. This was similar to in Spain when the big crisis of 2008 created an important number of migration, people looking for a visa increased. Finally, my mom decided to come in the U.S. She applied for the  visa and left Benin when I was 10 years old. I stayed with my grandmother and my six uncles. They all became my moms for a few years. One year after my mom left, one of my uncles decided to come here too. He was a soldier. The government sent him in little village where the standard of life was really low. I was travelling between Cotonou and other cities of the country. After he applied for his visa, he left Cotonou for New York City. I thought the country was emptying itself like water living a bottle. Everybody dreamed about a new life. I decided to join my father in France, and moved in Chicago.

In conclusion, I can say that the crisis of 2008 had an important impact on many countries worldwide. In Benin, it was characterized by the ICC Service problem, the absence of money, and migration. It forced the majority of people to live in bad conditions. I think the economy is an invention of human beings that dominates citizens around the world. The financial situation in Benin is better now. They are judging ICC service’s boss, but only few people were refunded. Today, Beninese are more open to the future and I hope things will stay like this.

Immeasurable Fortune

Being Chinese, my family has encountered a great number of revolutions. Among which, the Land Reform played a significant role on my family members. After the establishment of New China in 1949, the government had organized different kinds of revolutions, and the Land Reform starting in 1950 was one of the most important revolutions in Chinese history. The Land Reform took away lands from landholders and distributed it to poor farmers. My grandfather, a farmer without farmland, gained land thanks to the Land Reform. It freed my grandfather from repression and exploitation of landholders. However, the Land Reform not only affected my grandfather’s life, it also influenced my mother and me.

Benefiting from the Land Reform, my grandfather gained farmland as well as freedom. In addition, his income increased and enabled him to raise a big family with five children. My grandfather used to work for landholders at low wages. He was paid six RMB a month which was hardly enough to support his big family. After the Land Reform, my grandfather earned about fifteen RMB per month, which helped to improve the family’s economic condition and enabled his family eat better. Moreover, my grandfather used to work more than twelve hours per day, which left him a backache for the rest of his life. After gaining farmland, my grandfather eventually got rid of oppression and exploitation of landholders.

However, since my grandfather had his own farmland, my mother had to work communally when she was a little child. Therefore, she dropped out of school when she was ten years old. Due to the poor financial condition, my mother had to work with my grandfather on the farm, so she was not able to continue studying which influenced her whole life. My mother used to work from sunrise to sunset, even though she was supposed to be in school. After being absent for a whole year, my mother decided to drop out of school to save money on tuition. With a poor education, my mother had no choice but to be a textile worker when she grew up. It is not hard to imagine that textile workers were not paid well, so my mother had to work hard to afford my education.

People working communally on farms

Knowing that better education would lead to a better job and an easier life, my mother was determined to send me to school. Owing to continued studies, I was able to work as a brand operator, who was responsible for running the social media, in a cultural company in China, and I was able to communicate with foreigners without difficulties in Chicago. As I was working this well-paid job, most of my peers worked in factories in my hometown. Consequently, I was able to earn more and led a better life compared to them. Since I was able to talk with locals without difficulties, I have faced less challenges as an immigrant, and I was able to continue my studies in Chicago.

The Western Music Festival conducted by my team

The Land Reform was a turning point for my family. After gaining farmland in the Land Reform, my grandfather not only changed his whole life but the life path of my mother and me. It was a generational improvement. My grandfather fed my mother physically, and my mother fed me spiritually. Since knowledge is an immeasurable fortune in life, I can picture that I would do my best to let my children receive better education just as my mother when I have a child.

Kwun Lok, Yuen 

ESL 100

17 February 2019

Exploring Places

I am an explorer. When I was bored, I loved to walk or cycle around the city in Adelaide. If I had more time, I would take a bus and go to rural areas or somewhere that hardly someone would go and explore the areas. These kind of exploring helps me balance out my busy life, but only when certain conditions were met. Whenever I want to go out and explore or just for a walk, I have to have time to spare and good weather. Since I have moved to Australia from Hong Kong and to The United States from Australia, I have explored a lot of places all around the world. However, since I moved from Australia to The United States, I have less time to kill and unable to explore as much as I did in Australia. It is difficult for me to find free time and good weather at the same time in The United States as living as an American have a lot of work to do and the weather in The United States is often gloomy compared with Australia. Due to these reasons, I had less time to go and explore the place since I arrived in Chicago. I need to find a new hobby to replace my old one. 

            When I was in Adelaide, I used to explore the rural areas all the time to spend my spare time at least once a week. When I went to places like national parks in Alidade, I can relax and clear my mind with nature’s beautiful view. The Belair National Park is one of my favourite place to clear my head as I use to live close to it. Chicago, however, there are fewer national parks that I can go explore and the weather is often gloomy in the winter. Although there is snow in Chicago and it gives me a new experience, it gets too cold for me to explore places as much as I did in Australia. Furthermore, the park that near my place is really small and poorly maintained. On the other hand, in Adelaide, there are parks all over the places and they are maintained by the government.

            In addition, I explore cities all around the places like malls. During weekdays, after school, I would go to the city with my friends and walk around the places. We often go to places like plazas and malls to find something to eat. Th city in Adelaide does not have many buildings, and if there is a building, it only has about three to four floors. Unlike Chicago, the city is packed and full of tall buildings. The city in Chicago also larger than Adelaide. There are a lot of different malls and plazas to explore.

            The streets in the cities are also different. There were only a few shops in Adelaide’s city and most of them were local shops with local brands. In the other hand, in Chicago, there shops includes brand from locals to brand from overseas. There are a lot more choices make when shopping comparing to Adelaide. Furthermore, in Adelaide’s city area, the streets were often clean and quite. Which in Chicago’s city area hardly see places without rubbish or cigarette on the ground as well as always have cars making noises. I missies the peacefulness and tidiness in Adelaide.

            Since I left Adelaide and moved to Chicago, I am having a lot less time to go and explore different areas of the city.  I am not a explorer anymore. As I have less free time than I use to have and I could not spare much time to go to rural places to clear my mind like I use to do in Adelaide. Even though there are a few acceptable parks, the atmosphere is different than in Adelaide. At the end of the day, I realized that my life style have changed dramatically after I moved to Chicago. Although I only moved to Chicago for a few months, it is a good time for me to find a new hobby to clear my mind like going to the gym or read a book in a coffee shop. 

Eating Pastel

Eating Pastel Food is the number one thing most people think about, and especially in Brazil has its typical flavors and the dishes are prepared from regional ingredients. I have always loved to eat and try new foods so I created the habit of cooking when I started to live on my own and buying groceries became a daily routine. In Brazil, the variety of fruit, vegetable and meat is amazing, but buying from grocery store is not the best option since is expensive and not always fresh, so people often prefer to buy groceries at farmers markets. The purpose of going to farmers markets are not only to buy groceries but also because it became sort of a way of life for most Brazilians. Farmers markets in Brazil are huge. They can occupy many blocks, and there are booths selling from all sorts of fruits, vegetables to clothes, random kitchen utensils and even books. The amazing part is that people also can spend many hours there without getting bored. There is so much to do such as trying exotic fruits, learning about the variety of vegetables with the vendors or just wandering around the market. Everyone is so friendly. After buying my groceries, I would always stop in a booth to eat one or two Pastels, which is a deep fried pastry filled with all sorts of fillings such as meats, cheese, fish and vegetables. Pastel is definitely one of the most traditional snacks in Brazil and probably one of my favorites! I miss the excitement of the vendors trying to sell their products, the lack of space to walk inside the markets and even the strong smell of meats mixed with the sweet smell of the fruits. As soon I moved to Chicago, I kind of felt an emptiness inside me because I came from a tropical country, and since this city is cold most of the time, looking for places like farmers markets has become a very difficult task. I always found farmers markets were not important back in my country because I thought it was something common and that it was the same or similar to the rest of the world but now I realized how much they impacted my social behavior and my way of living. I used to meet my friends at least two to three times a week just to see each other and eat Pastel. One of my favorite hobbies was without a doubt spending my afternoons in the farmers market with my friends or by myself, so I started to feel a little bit depressed not be able to do that anymore. It took me a while to get used to the idea of not having a place similar to buy my groceries, to meet my friends or just for enjoy a moment of relaxation in Chicago. The farmers markets here only sell the basics. There is not much to do, see or to grab a bite, so is not convenient at all and because of that I started to cook less and started to get discouraged. Of course, I should not compare them since the cultures are totally different from one another. For instance, the weather in Brazil is usually hot so people could spend more time outdoors enjoying through the markets all year. There is also the fact that does not have the same atmosphere, the smell of the food, the smell of exotic condiments and the meat pieces hanging on the hooks to be sold. It is completely different from here. In Chicago, the cold weather does not help at all, so you will not find that much of outdoor farmers markets that often with the same variety of products. I know that in summer the amount of markets increases but still not the same and the fact that it is not a cultural thing for Chicagoans, many would buy their groceries in super markets or groceries stores instead, probably because it is more convenient and cheap. Since I miss my habits that I had in Brazil, I wish I could be able to insert more of the lively Brazilian culture into Chicago, mainly in the Chicagoan farmers market culture, it should not seasonal. They could have more food, fruits, meat and seafood booths, and even clothes or books booths. The fact of buying groceries in supermarket or grocery store now is disappointing, and I am still trying to adapt this in my daily routine, it has been difficult, but what keeps me going on is the fact that I keep looking for new ways to adapt myself, and maybe someday I can change this culture scenario in Chicago and of course eat tons of Pastel.

Lost in Translation

My Obsession

Everything can change at some time. However, it is difficult to change one's taste. With the development of science and technology, a lot of families  have water purifiers at home. Because tap water does not need to be boiled, it can be drunk faster, therefore it is convenient. However, in China people like to drink boiled warm water. I have an obsession with plain boiled water, which I like to drink. Even though I have been in Chicago for almost a year, I still cannot get used to the taste of the tap water.

People like to drink boiled water in China. The reason why people don’t drink boiled water in Chicago may be because of the price of bottle mineral water is cheap and tap water is cleaner than China.  In addition, there are water fountains everywhere, and people here like to drink bottled mineral water. Mineral water is very convenient, and can be brought everywhere and provide people the water that they need. There are a lot of students that prefer to have bottle of mineral water in Chicago. For the price, Chicago’s mineral water is cheap. For example, four dollars can buy a pack of  24 bottles of mineral water. The opposite of the price of Chinese mineral water which is 35 yuan for a case. However, people like using bottles to carry water from home in China, and I  have continued this habit.

When talking about the drinks in Chicago and China, fruit tea which is found in milk tea shop is an important member. Fruit tea has become popular in recent years, and many people think it is better than milk tea. In Chicago, there are many milk tea shops that use tap water for ice drinks, especially fruit tea. In the past, I was a fruit tea lover. However, I changed my mind when I drank a fruit tea with the taste of tap water here, so I don’t drink fruit tea in Chicago anymore. I have drunk some great fruit tea in China. The real fruit tea should be tea plus fruit, not fruit plus tap water and sugar. The difference between these two ways to make the fruit tea is that one taste is tea with a real fruity aroma, the other one is only sweetness. Since coming to Chicago, I have stopped my love of fruit tea because of the tap water.

In fact,  when I was in China, I am used to drink the boiled water. In U.S., because water purifiers have become popular, people just like to drink the tap water without boiling. Nevertheless, I don't like the taste of the tap water. In my opinion, tap water tastes the same as the smell  of the water in the fish tank in my house. I had an awkward experience few months ago, one of my friends who grew up here, saw me fill my bottle with hot water and asked me why I didn't like to drink tap water. I thought in my heart how does he drink the taste of the fish tank water? However, I only know that science shows boiling water can remove some impurities and it is healthier. It will change the taste such as the difference between raw meat and cooked meat.

People like drinking bottle water, fruit tea plus tap water and tap water in Chicago. However, I don’t like the taste of tap water or the fish tank water taste, so I prefer bring water by myself. I miss some friends who bring water from home like me, I am a bit like an exception now. In a word, I can't adapt to the habit of drinking tap water. It is difficult for me to change my taste. Therefore, wherever and whenever I go out, I will still carry a bottle of boiled water from home.

lost in translation

Looking for Fun at Night

      Every culture has its own way to have fun with friends, like parties, receptions, picnics, and proms. I lived in China for twenty-three years, and I have many friends from my hometown. We always played, ate and drank together, but the best time we had together was at night. China has a wonderful nightlife, and I used to have a lot of fun hanging out with my friends. However, things have changed since I came to the U.S. I lost my favorite things----hanging out at night, barbecue stalls, and buying alcohol anywhere.

      Each moment I spent with friends, we always stayed out very late. We might go to the KTV to sing, or just hang out on the street. We played some table games while singing, or we talked about funny or unhappy things about ourselves on the street, or sometimes in a quiet park. We always had a lot of fun. We stayed until midnight or even the whole night. We could go back to home very late or even not to go home and don’t need to worry about our safety. In the U.S, I haven’t been able to do that again, because some part of Chicago is so dangerous that I fear staying outside too late here. There are a lot of guns, robs, and crime. I can only stay at home or go home early.

      Another part of my nightlife was going for the barbecue stalls or other snacks. There are lot of stalls and snacks at night in China, like kebabs, fried tofu, and roasted fish. I could go to the street stalls which have a lot of delicious specialty food, I could eat and drink here. However, I haven’t found anything like that in the U.S, no street stalls, no special Chinese food, and even no friends. There are just indoor restaurants, but they are too quiet and just have small rooms, and they always close too early.

      Chinese people like drinking while eating with family members or friends. Anyone can buy and drink alcohol without ID. Even a little boy can buy and drink alcohol. There are a lot of stores everywhere in China, even a very small store will sell alcohol, and many of them open all day. I can buy wines and beers wherever and whenever. However, in the U.S, people can’t buy any alcohol without an ID. I never succeeded to buy a bottle of beer in the early days I came here. The wine stores are very few and they are far away from my house. It’s very inconvenient to buy alcohols without a car and an ID.

      I have been in the U.S for eight months, but I still haven’t found a nightlife culture that I can be part of. One reason is that I don’t have many friends here, and another is that I don’t know much about Chicago. I really want to find some places where I can have fun. I miss my friends, miss the barbecue stalls, and miss the interesting night life.