Letter Home

Dear Mom,
I just finished up with my first week of school here in China. To say the least, I am in complete
culture shock. I decided to write to you and let you know whats happened so far.
Everything here is so different. The streets are very tight and narrow, filled with so many people
rushing to get to the places they need to be. Everyone seems to know where they are going
except for me. My school is right in the center of the city surrounded by tall buildings that look
like they could belong in New York City. Its much more different from back home, everyone
seems so busy here.
The first day at school was pretty shocking. I look completely different from the other students,
and they looked at me as if I was some kind of alien. No one really talked to me, mostly because
no one here speaks English, not even the teacher. Ms. Chang gave me the books I needed for her
class but theyre all in Chinese, I dont understand anything. I tried to keep up by looking at the
pictures in the book but it didnt help much.
The next few days were a little better, I learned some common phrases in Chinese and sat with
some of my classmates at lunch. They seem to be interested that I am from America. Also an
interpreter now comes to my classroom to help me learn Chinese, and I am starting to pick on the
language. She says the in a month I should be able to start understanding and articulating more in
Chinese.
My classmates are also helping me learn Chinese while I teach them some English too. I feel a
lot better than I did from the first day of school but its still a lot to deal with and am afraid that I
wont be able to pick up the language quickly enough.
I miss the food from back home. Not to mention that everyone hear eats with chopsticks, I dont
think anyone here even has a fork or a spoon. Im trying to learn how to use chopsticks but its
hard for me. A lot of the food here revolves are rice and fish, all I really want right now is a Big
Mac from McDonalds.
I hope things get easier in the next weeks to come. Ill be writing again to update you.
Love,
Fjollza